Oil filter leaking

BMW calls all four-cylinder bikes into the workshop

The four-cylinder models that have been on the market since 2009 are affected.(Bild: markus-jahn.com)

If you have had your four-cylinder BMW serviced at the wrong time, you should urgently visit the workshop - and take a relaxed to normal approach. Reason: The oil filter may be leaking and oil may be leaking onto the road - in front of the rear wheel!

In the course of field observations, BMW Motorrad has established that when using a certain oil filter at high engine speeds, the screw connection can come loose. In this case, oil can leak out, which is not only an environmental problem, but above all extremely dangerous. On the one hand for other road users, but also for the BMW rider himself, because the oil filter naturally sits in front of the rear wheel and you can therefore slip on your own oil - every motorcyclist's nightmare.

Mahle oil filters from Brazil can leak.(Bild: BMW)

However, the problem only occurs if the engine is revved above 12,000 rpm, according to BMW. And only with Mahle oil filters such as the one marked with the red X in the picture above with the designation "11 42 7 721 779 - 04 / Made in Brazil", which were installed after May 23, 2024.

The following models are affected (regardless of year of manufacture)

• S 1000 RR
• S 1000 R
• S 1000 XR
• M 1000 RR
• M 1000 R
• M 1000 XR
• HP4
• HP4 RACE

So if you've had your four-cylinder BMW serviced in the last seven months or so, it's best to check which filter is fitted to your engine. Made in Brazil is dangerous, the Austrian make is fine.

BMW is therefore writing to customers, but will not reach all of them, as some of the motorcycles have been on the road since 2009, may have changed hands several times or are no longer registered because they are only used on the racetrack - where engine speeds above 12,000 rpm are common.