Folks-

I would appreciate your insight here. The best way I could think of to easily post my reports is from this link;

http://www.lakeerieislands.com/k1200gt.html

* I am the second owner of this bike, obtaining it at around 3,200 miles- I have no idea how it was broken in.
* I change the oil religiously at 3,000 miles using BMW, then recommended Castrol oils.
* This bike has a wet clutch, with a seperate reservoir and sump.
* I usually change the oil be warming it up in the garage until the electric fan comes on, ~ 15 minutes.
* I then using a marine oil sump vacuum for the reservoir, and then draining the sump.

Questions-

1. Why do aluminum and iron remoan so high now at 18,000 miles?
2. I understand my method of warming the bike up for the oil change may be attributing to high fuel content in the sample- true?
3. Even if my method of warming up my bike is skewing the fuel reading, that wouldn't effect the aluminum and iron readings- true?
4. With readings consistantly high with aluminum and iron at 18,000 miles, should I be worried or could it still tame down?
5. What, overall, can I do to settle this bike in?

Thanks!

B.

__________________
Proud Owner
'85 K100RT
Baja Red
US Prod# ~576
89,000+ miles
'06 K1200GT- Sold
Dark Graphite Metallic
US Prod# ~111
17,800+ miles
'07 R1200GS
Night Black
US Prod# ~?
12,000+ miles

The engine is probably still breaking in, believe it or not.
Not sure where the iron is from, though, I don't think there is much iron IN the engine. Possibly clutch pack or clutch?
I would ride the bike to warm it up, not idle it.
MY OPINION only is I would also change the oil LESS often, what oil do you use (I see Castrol, are you finding the Castrol GPS oil?)


Gilly

__________________
"No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from"

Yes, it's fast.
No, you can't ride it.

Is it possable that the pump your using to remove oil is contaminating your sample? the normal proceedure for a drain sample is to collect warm oil mid way thru the gravity draining proccedure or to use an approved sample pump.this style pump NEVER comes in contact with the oil !! you have some other numbers on your samples that are trending in away that may indicate outside contamination

I am not taking the sample rom the pump- I use the pump to vacuum out the tank. I take the sample while draining the sump, straight into the sample bottle.

I posted the same post on http://www.bobistheoilguy.com where they have a forum for posting UOA. One person there suggests that it is possible that the database Blackstone has for comparing samples might include older K1200GT's- where the engine and transmission aren't using the same oil. That person suggests that wet clutch bikes might have a higher aluminum content in their samples, and goes on to say many of those bikes in that forum do have similar readings.

Anyone here ever get UOA's on their 2nd Gen GT's for comparison?

Thanks-

B.

__________________
Proud Owner
'85 K100RT
Baja Red
US Prod# ~576
89,000+ miles
'06 K1200GT- Sold
Dark Graphite Metallic
US Prod# ~111
17,800+ miles
'07 R1200GS
Night Black
US Prod# ~?
12,000+ miles

I've got them but don't know how to post one. Your numbers do seem a bit high and the fuel is much higher than mine. Mine is 0.5 fuel and yours is 2.0? That's odd.

My aluminum is at 16. Yours is at 24.
My iron is at 20. Yours is 26.
My magnesium is 10. Yours is 1296 !

Rest of your numbers are close to mine. Mine's an '06 fwiw.

My report is on whatever the heck the dealers toss into it which seems to be whatever they stock since BMW cannot make up their fricken minds as to what oil to use.

I changed the final myself to some Amsoil stuff and I need to get back to them in another 3000 miles to see what's up with the high numbers initial numbers (chromium and iron) on my final drive. Probably gonna croak sometime. Ugh!


Mack

Mack, how many miles are on yours, or specifically, how many on when the oil was samples with those readings?? Very important to know.
Gilly

__________________
"No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from"

Yes, it's fast.
No, you can't ride it.

Your results are almost identical to mine, however, I was never able to sample the oil prior to the 18K service. I sampled mine @ 18K and 19.3K (because of what I found at the 18K sample). I'm also very concerned about the high iron/aluminum wear, fuel dilution and lower viscosity. I'm running a Power FRK and will pull it and change the oil at the same time, then resample after 1K to 1.5K miles to see if it changes anything. I've contemplated paying the dealer to troubleshoot it, but that could get pretty expensive. Let me know if you find anything out.

Well- this is progress, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone.

The next time I will go run the bike instead of isling it to make sure any fuel is processed out instead of possibly skewing my sample. Problem is that I doubt I will get another 3,000 miles on the bike before winter!

I'm hoping to hear more from Blackstone today...

Thanks-

B.

__________________
Proud Owner
'85 K100RT
Baja Red
US Prod# ~576
89,000+ miles
'06 K1200GT- Sold
Dark Graphite Metallic
US Prod# ~111
17,800+ miles
'07 R1200GS
Night Black
US Prod# ~?
12,000+ miles

Mileage was 12K at the time of the test. Still seems more odd that your magnesium was that high - a 100x times more! ? ? Next test will be around 18K which will be around February I'm guessing.

I'm not concerned with the engine as much as I am with the final drive. I'm not hearing any odd engine noise nor clutch squeals so I doubt if it is self-disintegrating. The engine numbers weren't alarming to them and they still called it residual-breaking in.

My final drive had unusually high chromium and iron content and they advised me to keep an eye on it and change it around 5,000 miles ("lifetime-lubricated" my butt!). I'll do it in Feb. as well.

For now, it's running like a champ after spending so much downtime in various shops chasing out the niggles the thing had (e.g. two fuel strips, BBS, stalling, centerstand, oil caps, idle control servo, airbox (times 2), fuel fittings, bloated gas tank, cam chain tensioner (times 2), funky fault codes, bulbs, slow-cranking stock battery, a bunch of drops, severed clutch line, tows, and whatever else).

Taking three years to get the thing straightened out is annoying, but for now it is acting real sweet. As a result, I'm hesitant to move on to the K1300 as that stalling thing and the endless chase for a cure still seems distant on that model. Having a very heavy bike stall on a steep 180 degree hairpin turn isn't cool.


Mack

Mine is running great too. I have no issue with how my questions and concerns were addressed with updates etc- the bike is a champ. Just don't like to see the wear...

__________________
Proud Owner
'85 K100RT
Baja Red
US Prod# ~576
89,000+ miles
'06 K1200GT- Sold
Dark Graphite Metallic
US Prod# ~111
17,800+ miles
'07 R1200GS
Night Black
US Prod# ~?
12,000+ miles