Exhausts and Engine » Blue smoke

I had an odd morning today. I dragged the wife's ER6-N out of the garage so she could set off to work and the battery wouldn't turn it over enough to start it. New battery fitted a couple of weeks ago and it's sat for a week without being run or charged.

So then I get the RS out. It's been sat on its side stand for a few days. Start it sitting astride and I get a big (I do mean big) puff of lovely blue smoke outta the can. Never had this before on several boxers, at least not that I can remember. I was a little concerned but it's been absolutely fine all day.

Has anyone else experienced the same I wonder? I'm not worried but oil has obviously found it's way into a combustion chamber while it's been standing.....

Peter

Yep,mine does it everytime I leave it overnight on the side stand. I've hardly put any oil in over the last 7148 miles since the last service. As you know,you don't need a lot of oil to make a lot of smoke.

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #3

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every boxer does it if parked on the side stand - a little bit of oil stays in the left pot, then, when the piston rings are cold, it slips past into the combustion chamber and burns off

on oilheads like R1150GS, BMW went from 10w/40 oil to thicker 20w/50 to reduce oil consumption.

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My recollection is that the original K bikes were noted for heavily smoking when first started after being parked overnight. BMW mostly solved the problem by pinning the three piston rings at 120 degrees in an effort to keep oil from passing through the gaps in the rings and into the combustion chamber. They claimed that sometimes the ring gaps would align at the bottom of the cylinder and that would allow a lot of oil to get past the rings. Anyway that was the claim and bikes with that modification did seem to smoke less than the previous models.

Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #5

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My recollection is that the original K bikes were noted for heavily smoking when first started after being parked overnight. BMW mostly solved the problem by pinning the three piston rings at 120 degrees in an effort to keep oil from passing through the gaps in the rings and into the combustion chamber. They claimed that sometimes the ring gaps would align at the bottom of the cylinder and that would allow a lot of oil to get past the rings. Anyway that was the claim and bikes with that modification did seem to smoke less than the previous models.

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Mine does it every now and then - about every 20th start or so. I’ve never had to top the oil up between services.

My last BM (1150r) on the over hand would often lay down a smoke screen fit for a destroyer and burnt around 0.5l of oil every 1500 miles.

Hello,

Brief contribution and small interrogation.

Been riding my 12/2016 RS since April 15th this year and I never noticed such smoke... it had 14.000km when I bought it, it has 24.000 now and no matter how long I leave it (1 hour, overnight, weekend, week) it always start with a gentle push on the ignition.

It sleeps in a garage (home, parents, friends) or in a underground parking (girlfriend, work) and on rare occasion outside (weekend or vacation road trips) but it doesn't seem to affect the starting process.

I never thought about the problem of having it leaning when it's on the side stand. Would it be recommended to use the central stand preferably ? (and if so, what is the option for people who don't have it ?)

Thanks for your insignt.

Romain

If some oil does migrate past piston rings (where perhaps the gaps have aligned) then it shouldn’t be an issue so long as it isn’t enough to cause a hydraulic lock.

Personally I mostly leave my bike on the main stand so that it also takes more load off the suspension. If you are leaving your bikes for an extended period e.g. Winter I’d leave it upright myself.....

I always leave bike upright and only start either on main stand or when I am sat on the bike (necessary when touring/loaded and can't park or lift on the stand)
Never had the issue on any of the 5 R1200 models I have owned.
Main reason is I saw an engine strip of a 4 cylinder honda on youtube and straight away you could see wear variations left to right on the piston and bores.
Starting the bike upright makes sure all piston and bore lubrication is as best and equal as possible.

Zitat von Richard230 im Beitrag #5

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My recollection is that the original K bikes were noted for heavily smoking when first started after being parked overnight. BMW mostly solved the problem by pinning the three piston rings at 120 degrees in an effort to keep oil from passing through the gaps in the rings and into the combustion chamber. They claimed that sometimes the ring gaps would align at the bottom of the cylinder and that would allow a lot of oil to get past the rings. Anyway that was the claim and bikes with that modification did seem to smoke less than the previous models.

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I think your bike has some mies on it (three years old?). But you might check that the oil is not over full, and look in the air box to see if you're carrying oil in via the air inlet.

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #3

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every boxer does it if parked on the side stand - a little bit of oil stays in the left pot, then, when the piston rings are cold, it slips past into the combustion chamber and burns off

on oilheads like R1150GS, BMW went from 10w/40 oil to thicker 20w/50 to reduce oil consumption.

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