Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:25 pm
What he saidsproggy wrote:I think that's a bit over-dramatic! Although the bikes don't need warming up, leaving a bike running for a while from cold won't do it any harm in the long term, and it won't overheat in 10 minutes if it started off stone cold.tripe wrote:a note of caution, these bikes should never be left siationary with the engine running as they will over heat. You could then find it will blow out the oil sight glass, no fun if your leg is in the way, it won't do the rest of the bike any good either.
Just start and go.
I've sat in queues of traffic for ages on various oilheads in ambient temperatures well over 40 degrees and sure, they get hot, but I don't see why the oil sight glass should 'blow out' as there shouldn't be that much pressure in the crank case.
I can't imagine that BMW would have designed these engines with a cooling system so marginal that they can't handle idling for 10 minutes at lunch time in Arizona in mid-summer, let alone on a cool, UK morning. What do you do, switch your engine off every time you stop at traffic lights?! I know there are reports on Pelican (surprise surprise) of engines dying when left idling for hours in a garage, but I've never heard of it happening in the UK. If you have experience of the sight glass 'blowing out' as a result of idling when stationary then I'm sorry, but I just don't see it happening unless other factors come in to play.
The heat produced in the engine is porportional to the amount of fuel burned, and the fuel burned at idle is the slack side of bugger-all.
I think someone has had a slack sightglass
Al
