How do I convince dealer there's a bad gasket

[Mike in Ohio]

I'm starting to get a faint burning oil smell every time I run my bike. A couple of recent times I've had the oil pressure warning light flicker. Somewhere on this forum is a mention of a bad gasket allowing oil to get where it isn't supposed to be, which causes the oil pressure at the warning light sensor to drop, which then causes the light to flicker. When I told my service write up guy about this, he said "the engine isn't even broken in yet at 1,800 miles on the odo, that's what you're smelling" whatever that's supposed to mean. And I've been told you can't go in and say "I read about this on an internet bulletin board" because they'll write you off immediately. So how do I get this guy to tear down the engine to find the bad gasket. The post on here said "BMW knows about this..." And how do I even know that's the problem?
Thank you.

[Marko]

Mike.
Are you riding an ST?
If so, whip off the side panels and check visually for oil leaks areound the cylinder head.
There is an issue of cylinder head oil leaks, which can occur early or in my case at about 9000 miles on the left hand side of the engine. I used the forum to convince my dealer that there was a commonly reported issue [i sent a link], and i took photos and e mailed ahead of the booking in so they could assess and get gaskets in, to minimise waiting time. Even with that kind of planning they still messed up. They got one set of gaskets which also turned out to be faulty, and then had to wait for another set to arrive. You shouldnt be able to smell your engine after nearly 2k miles, i think your dealer is talking bollocks.
This may not be the oil issue you have, as this is an external leak, but you dont really know whats going on the inside. Do a search on my name and you will find the pictures in a topic called, not surprisingly 'oil leak' or similar. They may help you.
Good luck.

[noj]

Hi Mike,

there's two gasket issues that I've had.

1. the leaking rocker cover one that's horribly common (I'm on my fourth) which results in a bit of oil at the top of the engine but no real loss of pressure and therefore shouldn't be responsible for the oil light unless there's obviously oil dripping on the floor!

2. There was a problem on quite a few of the early bikes with another gasket inside the engine which then caused the pressure to drop enough for the light to flicker at idle (when everything was warm). Not heard of this one for a while though...

Both known issues. If your oil level is low then it's a big leak somewhere (but that should be pretty visible) - if you've seen the light flicker and oil level is normal then it'll either be the 2nd one, or a flaky switch

[Pat H]

The oil light shouldn't come on while the engines running.
I'd do a letter to the dealer stating that you reported that the oil light flickered when the engine was idling and was told by the service guy that it was ok. However you've also been told that it maybe caused by a faulty pressure switch or an oil flow problem caused by a misaligned gasket.
Ask them to respond in writing to confirm it's ok to ride the bike as it is.
If they do and the engine blows you'er covered. You reported it.

Even if there is an oil flow issue it's unlikley to produce a burning oil smell.
This may well be just normal new parts burning off smell or possibly a top of engine gasket slight leak.