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General maintenance R1150GSA


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So since I'm not to fond of the BMW dealers here in the Netherlands I figured I'd do basic maintenance on the GSA myself. I used to do most maintenance myself, but after starting my own company I figured my time was better spent working and letting the maintenance be done by someone else. I did miss tinkering though, since I spend my days behind a computer. Besides that, when I started my company I moved to another city where I don't have a lot of room to work on the bike.

So anyways, this weekend I adjusted the valves, replaced the oil and filter, replaced transmission and final drive oil and synched the throttlebodies using a homemade 'tool'.

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Yesterday I finally replaced the sparkplugs as well. Reason I didn't do this right away was because I ordered what I thought was a set of sparkplugs, but only was a single one (geez those Iridium plugs are expensive), then I discovered a regular sparkplugsocket won't work with the boxer engine. So yesterday I fabricated my own tool out of a Ducati (!) socket I had laying around. 

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The left plug came out nice and clean, however the rightside was seized quite a bit so took me a while to get it out, constantly turning it both ways. Turned out to be a bit rusty on the threads, so replacement was well overdue.

There's a tapping noise coming from the left cylinder when at operating temperature which I hoped would be solved with valvu adjustment and TB sync, but it's still there, so I guess next up will be pushrod inspection.

Edited by Motopreneur
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You should try it!  Splitting the bike in half is a lot of labor but not particularly hard.  I think the toughest part is detaching the rear brake line then re-filling/bleeding and that's not really that hard.

Take pics and then post them so others can see your work.

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Luckily no clutch work is needed for now, so I'll postpone that to a later date (but I promise I'll document everything when I do).

For now I'll try to figure out where the tapping is coming from (although I've read a lot of comments of people saying it's somewhat normal, so maybe I'll post a video of the sound first). I also need to figure out why the Xenon light isn't working :-/

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On 6/21/2017 at 10:31 PM, Motopreneur said:

Luckily no clutch work is needed for now, so I'll postpone that to a later date (but I promise I'll document everything when I do).

For now I'll try to figure out where the tapping is coming from (although I've read a lot of comments of people saying it's somewhat normal, so maybe I'll post a video of the sound first). I also need to figure out why the Xenon light isn't working :-/

Good job.Any news from the tapping or Xenon?

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Not really @a_lone_rider... I did realize I forgot to check cam rocker end play while adjusting the valves, so I'll take the valvecovers off at the next opportunity. Besides that I did check the throttlebodies but I'm quite sure they're not causing the tapping sound. 

So the tapping sound is only there when the engine is hot, mostly noticable at low RPM and when the engine is not under load, and in sync with engine RPM. I guess the rocker end play is an option (and easy to check), but also considering to change out the pushrods since they updated the contruction of those. Perhaps I'll also change the cam tensioner(s) if they are not already the updated part(s). Pretty sure those don't cause the tapping noise though.

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1 hour ago, Motopreneur said:

Not really @a_lone_rider... I did realize I forgot to check cam rocker end play while adjusting the valves, so I'll take the valvecovers off at the next opportunity. Besides that I did check the throttlebodies but I'm quite sure they're not causing the tapping sound. 

So the tapping sound is only there when the engine is hot, mostly noticable at low RPM and when the engine is not under load, and in sync with engine RPM. I guess the rocker end play is an option (and easy to check), but also considering to change out the pushrods since they updated the contruction of those. Perhaps I'll also change the cam tensioner(s) if they are not already the updated part(s). Pretty sure those don't cause the tapping noise though.

Check the chain slides,i don't know if i use the proper words.
If it has moved from its position the upper slide usually makes noise but it hasn't other symptom because the tensioner puts it back in its place, the lower slider needs more attention. There is an incident that the lower slide had to be checked, it was not even there, it had been "eaten" by the chain and gear.Even there the only symptom was a metallic noise when engine was hot,at the left cylinder.I am sure you will find the source of the tapping noise and fix it.You care about your bike and do things, that is good for both of you.

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So I have another 'issue' with the bike. The 'choke' is pretty much useless as only at the end of the lever it will pick up the throttle cables at the throttle bodies. So normally you would correct this at the choke lever with the adjusting screws, however the choke is already at the end of its adjustability. The throttle at the bars is hardly adjusted at all, and has 1mm of play.

The cable play at the throttle bodies is a little tight with 1mm (should be 2). But since the throttle and choke cables are both connected at the bell crank to the cables going to the throttle bodies I would assume the play at the throttle bodies doesn't effect the choke. Let alone the fact that play is only 1mm off.

So what am I missing here?

Also, according to spec the bike should idle at +-1100/1150rpm, however it 'only' idles at 1000rpm max. So something is off. The throttle bodies are against the stop on fully closed throttle, so that's OK. I've read that low idle could be related to cable play, although I'm guessing I could probably get idle correct by adjusting the screws on the throttle bodies. Any insights are greatly appreciated.

@Eric HallJust tagging you since you mentioned you are familiar with 1150GS maintenance ;-)

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If my choke was working it would definitely be more useful @a_lone_rider ;-)
However, because of the slack in the cable and the fact that the adjustment screw is already at it's maximum it won't actually pick up on the throttle bodies and therefor it's useless for now.

So perhaps it needs replacing, of maybe somewhere an outer cable isn't seated properly. But as for now the bikes runs fine I'm not going to bother to remove the tank.

Small update on the xenon, I check power to the ballast and that's working properly. I understand the ballast should make a slight humming/buzzing sound when on, so I'm guessing the ballast broke. Luckily these aren't too expensive so I'll order a new set online (and either resell one of the units or keep it as spare).

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If my choke was working it would definitely be more useful [mention=3553]a_lone_rider[/mention] ;-)
However, because of the slack in the cable and the fact that the adjustment screw is already at it's maximum it won't actually pick up on the throttle bodies and therefor it's useless for now.
So perhaps it needs replacing, of maybe somewhere an outer cable isn't seated properly. But as for now the bikes runs fine I'm not going to bother to remove the tank.
[/quote/]

Of course.I just wanted to point out the difference on rpm with and without when everything is ok.
Sometimes the older the better.True story:A friend few years ago when he owned a 1150 was in the mountains during an on-off trip.140km away from civilization found himself with cut accelerator cable.He ride the bike for 140km only with choke full open with speeds around 25-40km.
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I got the new Xenon ballast yesterday, and assembled it today. Works like a charm. Well, the light does anyway, the light socket doesn't match the retainer ring from Touratech so I couldn't put it back it it's housing right away. I need to either modify the retainer ring or find yet again another ballast... sigh.

I'll take some time to think about this as I have other stuff on my mind (about which I'll create a new topic hereafter).

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So today I modified the retainer ring of the D2S xenon bulb. Wasn't very complex, just had to take a bit off half of the ring because the new bulb fixture isn't completely flat like the orginal one. In hindsight it would have been better to rotate the fixture 180 degrees as it's a bit of a tight fit behind the dash now.

As the ballast is only haf the size of the original fitting it in the same location was relatively easy. However the cable to the bulb is a little shorter so it did take some fiddling before I had it all setup.

I'll take some photos of the modifications and mounting of the ballast at a later time, but for now I only have below image.

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