Engine oil leak through the transmission? 1996 K1100RS

[Brickhead]

Is it possible to lose engine oil through the trany or would that show up in the seep hole on bottom of transmission?

I have no seepage at the weep hole. Just trying to figure out where the oil is going. The spark plugs are bone dry and tan in color so I am not burning it.

There is no external leakage e.g - valve cover or crankshaft cover. There is some oil around the oil filler port but no path of oil back so I assume it is not a lot of oil. Question

K-bike owners thoughts? :confused:

[frankenduck]

It's not possible for engine oil to get into the transmission unless you pour some in there.

From an intro post of mine:

ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION: It is normal for K bikes to consume or "burn" oil.  Therefore it is a good idea to frequently check the oil level in the oil sight glass window on the lower right side of the engine on the oil sump. (See attached diagram.) The top of the circle in the oil sight window is the maximum oil level while the bottom of the circle is the minimum level.

The rate of oil consumption seems to vary by individual bike but in my experience generally tends to be about a quart every 1500 to two thousand miles. The maximum oil consumption rate specified in the BMW service manual is 0.15 liters per 100 km (2.57 quarts per 1,000 miles) which seems insanely high to me.

[wmax351]

It's not possible for engine oil to get into the transmission unless you pour some in there.

From an intro post of mine:

ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION: It is normal for K bikes to consume or "burn" oil.  Therefore it is a good idea to frequently check the oil level in the oil sight glass window on the lower right side of the engine on the oil sump. (See attached diagram.) The top of the circle in the oil sight window is the maximum oil level while the bottom of the circle is the minimum level.

The rate of oil consumption seems to vary by individual bike but in my experience generally tends to be about a quart every 1500 to two thousand miles. The maximum oil consumption rate specified in the BMW service manual is 0.15 liters per 100 km (2.57 quarts per 1,000 miles) which seems insanely high to me.

Also, Lower mileage = more oil.

[Brickhead]

It's not possible for engine oil to get into the transmission unless you pour some in there.

From an intro post of mine:

ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION: It is normal for K bikes to consume or "burn" oil.  Therefore it is a good idea to frequently check the oil level in the oil sight glass window on the lower right side of the engine on the oil sump. (See attached diagram.) The top of the circle in the oil sight window is the maximum oil level while the bottom of the circle is the minimum level.

The rate of oil consumption seems to vary by individual bike but in my experience generally tends to be about a quart every 1500 to two thousand miles. The maximum oil consumption rate specified in the BMW service manual is 0.15 liters per 100 km (2.57 quarts per 1,000 miles) which seems insanely high to me.

Also, Lower mileage = more oil.

Do you mean lower total miles or a young bike?

[wmax351]

It's not possible for engine oil to get into the transmission unless you pour some in there.

From an intro post of mine:

ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION: It is normal for K bikes to consume or "burn" oil.  Therefore it is a good idea to frequently check the oil level in the oil sight glass window on the lower right side of the engine on the oil sump. (See attached diagram.) The top of the circle in the oil sight window is the maximum oil level while the bottom of the circle is the minimum level.

The rate of oil consumption seems to vary by individual bike but in my experience generally tends to be about a quart every 1500 to two thousand miles. The maximum oil consumption rate specified in the BMW service manual is 0.15 liters per 100 km (2.57 quarts per 1,000 miles) which seems insanely high to me.

Also, Lower mileage = more oil.

Do you mean lower total miles or a young bike?

Mostly total miles, and total miles weighted towards how they are run. Its an issue of break-in.

[Brickhead]

OK, I bought it with 82k on the speedo and it has 121k on it now. So I don't know how it was broke in.

 It could be my imagination but it seems to use more oil when I am hammering it (+80 mph).

[wmax351]

OK, I bought it with 82k on the speedo and it has 121k on it now. So I don't know how it was broke in.

 It could be my imagination but it seems to use more oil when I am hammering it (+80 mph).

You would be correct. Engines burn far more oil at high rpm and load.

Try 80-95 all day on a k75. I was getting about a qt per 1000 -1500 miles.

[Scott_]

It could be my imagination but it seems to use more oil when I am hammering it (+80 mph).

Nope, not your imagination. Mine burns almost a full quart per 1500 miles when I'm 75+mph. The consumption is almost 1/2 of that when I keep it under 60.

[Brickhead]

That explains a lot...Where is it going? My plugs are dry.
I would think that it would show up there

[frankenduck]

There's a hyperspatial galactic confluence in the engine so it gets transported to a different universe.  Those BMW engineers are pretty clever.

[Rick G]

All of my Ks have used a fairly consistent amount of oil and is almost the same as Mystic has quoted. The K75 is the better of the 3 but maybe because the wife rides it most of the time and doesn't ride as hard as I do.
One thing that I have found with most engines is that when they are used around town and only get short runs then when you take them on a long run they will seem to burn a heap in the first 200miles or so. I have put it down to some gasoline getting into the oil causing the oil level to appear constant then when the engine is hot for extended periods the fuel evaporates and you appear to use a heap in the first few hunderd miles.
I have noticed that this is far more so for the carburetored engines than injected ones but still holds true.
as for it not showing on the plugs, that amount of oil will not show up in the color of the plugs. Even an engine that uses 3 times that wont even show any signs of smoke or plug color.

[Duc750]

I'm looking into the flux capacitor mod to return the oil at the next service

[ReneZ]

I have the same (bike has 80.000 mls) - low revs/easy driving will show practically no oil usage; high revs and particularly braking a lot on the engine will give a bigger usage (up to a pint per 1000/1500 miles.