Dangerous Oil leak on 2003 955i

[Adler]

I got home after a 50 mile round trip out on my 2003 Tiger, to find the back end of the bike (including the tyre)covered in oil.



After degreasing everything and then running the engine, it turns out to be a damaged oil filter. The enamel paint has been chipped off the filter and the oil was seeping out pretty quickley once the engine was running.



I inspected the filter closely and couldn't find the crack in the filter wall, so I can only assume that it was either hidden by the black enamel paint (although I did chip off any that was loose) or it was a hairline crack that only opened up under pressure from the oil pump.



I'm now considering a sump guard, if I can find one long enough to cover the filter.

I'm still a bit puzzled by this as I've only done very gentle off road stuff in the Alps in June (ie driving on gravel tracks and alpine meadows) so stone damage is unlikely. Maybe it was all down to a faulty filter.



I'm lucky that it was a short journey and I never ran out of oil. Has anyone else seen this?

[owen]

Hi,

I had a similar problem from new on my 955 and believe that it was simply the oil filter being loosened by small stones from a gravel road. My leak was not as bad as yours though, just enough to leave a trail under the motor. I cured this by fitting a flap on the front guard, that seems to stop most of the stones being flicked up and hitting either the oil pipes or filter.

Owen