Last week during our coldest day since 1983 I decided to see if the 1600 would start. I rolled it out of the unheated garage and into the driveway after it warmed up to a balmy 17*. Sure as the world the bike started right up and after 20 or so seconds of rough idling, it smoothed out into that sweet straight 6 purr. I let the bike run for roughly 5 minutes and revved it up to about 3K rpm intermittently. After I shut the bike off, I pushed it back into the garage and later noticed two drops of fluid under the bike. It was colorless, and felt slippery like oil or coolant. Fearing my water pump was going south I checked that first but everything was good there. I thought it might be moisture from the cats but the fluid wasn't water. I took this picture. The fluid is dropping off the shackle the rear shock bolts to. It my rear shock leaking? Or could it be an oil leak from the engine? Or did the tech just not clean off the oil pan after the oil changes?
The fluid wasn't dirty, like used oil, but since there was only a couple of drops on the ground I probably wouldn't see it as dirty oil. I'm confused. Of course at 37,390 miles it's now out of warranty. Hopefully if it is the shock BMW will drop a little goodwill my way. I'll keep you posted if it ever warms up enough for me to ride it 100 miles to the dealer.
The fluid wasn't dirty, like used oil, but since there was only a couple of drops on the ground I probably wouldn't see it as dirty oil. I'm confused. Of course at 37,390 miles it's now out of warranty. Hopefully if it is the shock BMW will drop a little goodwill my way. I'll keep you posted if it ever warms up enough for me to ride it 100 miles to the dealer.