K11 Owners Group

[kly5953]

I got this K11 in december, and have been doing a cafe build. Well it sat for a while with the battery dead, then sat in a shop for a month till just a few days ago when i picked up doing all the wiring. The bike is almost done with blinkers, horn and seat being all that's left to ride (legally that is) on my military base, but everytime i crank it up, it's burning oil like a 2 stroke. I don't know too much about these bikes and was wondering if anybody can give me some quick info on what i can replace and/or fix this week so that it won't be doing that next week when i'm riding it to work. Also, i really would hate to kill the internals on this bike over something i can easily fix. Could it simply be the oil filter or pump?
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GM guy, saved by the graces of BMW

1993 k1100lt soon to be frankenkafe

[Number 6]

How much oil does it burn? They all burn oil, BMW tolerates up to 1 liter/1000 km (should be around a quarter/600 miles).
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I am not a number, I am a free man.

94 K1100LT

[robleyd]

Do you park it on the side stand? Some of the earlier models apparently leak oil past the rings into the combustion space when tilted over that way.
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David, owner of:
1996 K1100 LT

[elecky]

I have a 1999 K1100 ex police bike which burnt oil when the previous 2nd owner rode it. He made the burning of oil worse by failing to service the bike regularly, and it burnt even more when I purchased it from his widow. I've begun using Penrite 30-70 oil and I'm very happy with the results of a quieter motor and no smoke screen when first starting. The bike has about 125,00klms and is a pleasure to ride, over Easter I travelled 2500klms and in one day travelled 1100klms and used about 200ml for the total ride. Our climate is sub tropical and the winters are mild (without snow locally) and I'll continue to use the same oil and see how it is as the winter approaches.

[jr'sbmw]

What Robleyd said above. I had a 1985 K100 for 17 years and it would smoke badly if left on the side stand over night, but didn't use any oil. Newer K's were improved, but my 97LT will do the same if left on the side stand for a few days, so put it on the center stand. It takes a while to get rid of the oil in the combustion chamber just idling, so drive it a few blocks and it will clear out quickly.

[Allen Nelson]

kly5953, a friend bought a '96 Special Edition (BLK&SILVER) in 2,000 from a now defunct BMW dealer. It had been sold to someone in the Army (military who never returned and couldn't be contacted), with a $2,000 down payment only, which sat either in the showroom or storage, unused, never ridden for over 4 years. Fortunately the warranty didn't begin until my friend purchased and took delivery. This thing would consume oil like a baby on a teat, draining it constantly. He was lucky, because the case of his oil consumption was way beyond the BMW's acceptable consumption and BMW replaced his engine.

Back when the K11 series of bikes were new on the market there were two outstanding issues that were constantly being discussed....#1 was oil consumption and what was the best way to break in the engine?....#2 was what the hell do you do to keep from bending the wheels at $750 a pop?

There were several schools of thought about how to best break them in....the prevailing rule was to ride the crap out of the thing after the first 50 miles and an oil change....and keep the air in your tires closer to 40lbs. I didn't learn this until my second K11RS.

My first one was an '95 which I had followed the advice of the dealer to baby the thing and follow the guidelines of the Owners manual....which also told me to run the air pressure at 32 pounds.

Well six months later, 2 wheels replaced and umpteen quarts of oil, my wallet had been raped. To tell you the truth I was never really happy about those 2 issues, because they had turned into a constant state of apprehension and depression....."when was another wheel going to bend? Did I check the oil right, when did I last check it?".....get my drift.

So, to shorten the story, let me just say that in '96, I traded in my '95 K11RS for the new BMW R11RT. Oh boy, I had another boxer, was I excited. I remember riding out of Marty's waiving goodby to Ann and thinking I'm really going to enjoy this........I THOUGHT.....I didn't get much further then 4 blocks away when I noticed my handle bars rocking from side to side. To shorten the story further, the steering crown was out of round the first problem....later it started leaking transmission fluid and burning oil like a baby etc. etc....get my drift. BMW was very nice about it and did everything in their power to satisfy me. But at this stage I was in a constant state of apprehension....."what else can go wrong".

Ann had one last fire engine red '96 K11RS in stock....yeah I got all my money back....took that bike out and ran the living hell out of it....taking it as close to redline as I felt comfortable doing. That bike turned into a 10 year love affair....with the only real problem, "she kept burning my ass on hot days".

Okay....what am I getting at? Simple, if you have a K11 this late in life your chances of mitigating oil consumption are not good. Chances are your cylinder walls have smoothed out as much as they ever will and the rings are simply not going to seat any further. The rings in the K11 are considerably hard and the ultra tough cylinder walls, make these engines capable of outliving all of us. But if they weren't seated properly in their early life, they simply never will. Take my word for it, I've seen the insides of K11 engines with over 200,000 miles on them and you can still see the bore machine marks. Changing out oil rings will probably only make the problem worse. It was suggested by my good friend Mr. Bill, that if a set of rings (the proper size for a K1100 engine) could be found of the same material as a K100 (softer rings), that might just do the trick and allow the proper seating to take place....that was only a suggestion and I don't think he was ever able to find a set, he's not tried it to date.



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REDBRICK, '96RS (formerly owned), K11OG#5
2011 Triumph Sprint GT
Not a turncoat...and do miss my special K

[BobZ(IL)]

I think you have to get out and put miles on it. See if it doesn't clear up and run fine.
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'93 K1100LT
'78 R100S
'05 R1200GS
BMWMOA, CRBMWOA, ABC, K11OG #997

Live well, do good work, enjoy the ride.

[kly5953]

ok will do on putting miles on it, right now in my build i'm having to put a leopard print pillow down for the seat lmao just so my arse doesn't get broken on the frame. But hopefully the new seat will be put on this weekend or sometime soon so i don't look like an old woman riding it anymore
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GM guy, saved by the graces of BMW

1993 k1100lt soon to be frankenkafe