Keyless Gas Cap

[Middleman]

2016 R1200RS with key less ride.  Gas cap no longer unlocks when engine turned off.  Removed two front screws to get cap open.  Cleaned mechanism with lock cleaner and lubed with silicon.  Slide seems free, but will still not open when engine turned off.  Any other tricks or suggestions before I have to order a new gas cap?  Thanks.

 

 

[Cap]

On my latest ride, same problem on my 2019 RT.  I carry a T25 in my toolkit, and ended up removing and replacing the two front screws at every gas station for a week while on my tour.

 

Like you, I cleaned it and lubed it, with no effect.  Based on some older threads, this problem seems to crop up occasionally.  I found one forum post in which the author claimed to have solved the issue by removing the solenoid-activated vertical pin.  On my bike, the failure seems to be that the solenoid is not retracting that pin.  The alternative seems to be to replace the entire gas cap assembly, part number 16 11 8 544 088.  I found the price is currently about $250.  Although with the current euro/dollar conversion rate favoring us in the USA,  I also found an overseas BMW parts etailer selling for about $208 shipped.

 

Cap

 

[Oldrider51]

I have had this happen a few times on my 16RS and have found that placing the key near the cap seems to help, this also places the key closer to the control unit also so maybe that is what helps. Anyway, cap then has always opened. Maybe the battery in the fob is weak?

[Cap]

I reached out to Simeon Simeonov of Genuine BMW Parts.  I have purchased many parts from Simeon over the years, including extra keyfobs.  Simeon offers a small discount to forum members. He can get the assembly for about the same price as the overseas dealers. 

 

In my case, my keyfob worked fine to lock and unlock my cases, and to start the bike.  So, the gas cap failure was not related to the keyfob.

[Randyjaco]

I found on my 17RT that the front bar with the 2 screws sat too low. By shimming it up about a millimeter it is now working fine. I put 2 thin washers between the bar and the tank. Hopefully the pictures will show the difference in height of the 2 pieces.

BTW: Be careful. I managed to drop a driver bit into the tank 

[Cap]

It turns out that my warranty expired last month.  Oh well.  I looked at the factory service repair manual, and found the appropriate pages.  The steps to replace the gas cap assembly are similar to the steps required to replace the air filter.  I suggest using Boxflyer's 12k service videos, parts 1 and 2, to see how to access the air filter.

 

From there, you can follow the instructions in the repair manual:

 

 

[Middleman]

Thanks to all for suggestions.  New battery for the fob didn't work.  Shimming front screws with washers didn't help either. Looks like I need an entire new cap assembly.  This entire mechanism seems like a poor design. I believe in 2016 the RS was available without the keyless ride option.  Anyone know if I could get a gas cap assembly that opens with a key?

[Oldrider51]

Looking at the fiche from Bobsbw.com it appears that there are two caps available, R 1200 RS, 2016- Water Cooled Fuel Tank (16) | Bobs BMW | Bob's BMW, pn 16 11 8544088 is $246.80 so probably for the key version and 16 11 8552106 for the keyless version for $448.72. 

[Kerry in Mpls]

A couple of years ago, I replaced the keyless cap on my '16 GS with a used one from eBay, I paid a little over $100.

Checking just now  -- searching for "bmw r1200 keyless cap" gets a few hits.

[Cap]

On 7/29/2022 at 6:44 PM, Oldrider51 said:

Looking at the fiche from Bobsbw.com it appears that there are two caps available, R 1200 RS, 2016- Water Cooled Fuel Tank (16) | Bobs BMW | Bob's BMW, pn 16 11 8544088 is $246.80 so probably for the key version and 16 11 8552106 for the keyless version for $448.72. 

I can confirm that the less expensive part is for a keyed gas cap.  It comes with everything except the lock cylinder.  Unfortunately, I need the keyless version.   Oh well, my bad.

 

I carefully dismantled the original cap cap, and tried to figure out why it had stopped working.  I removed the small, spring-loaded, vertical pin from the latch mechanism.  Doing that had no effect.  The solenoid-operated horizontal bar is very difficult to move on my gas cap.  I can understand why the solenoid won't move it anymore.  Cleaning and lubrication has not changed anything.  Still, if I set the latch bar in place manually, the gas cap should open and close properly.  The lever on the lid moves the latch striker properly, but somehow the striker will no longer disengage with the catch -- even though it had worked fine for 3+ years.  There is no adjustment designed in to the latch assembly, so I am not sure why it suddenly stopped working.  Strange.

 

I am tempted to do some reshaping of the latch on the old part...  but I want to wait until I have the right replacement part.

 

Cap

 

 

[longjohn]

My gsa’s keyless gas cap won’t lock. Some folks guarantee me that loosening the two screws will definitely fix the problem. It’s still under warranty so I dropout it off.  It no longer takes a definite push to close it, and I can smell gas if I put my nose near it. 

[LAF]

My 17.5 GS has been pretty good about this.

 

My 15 RT had some issues at first.  I found after some time when closing the cap I lift the lock tab when closing and it locks every time no fuss.  Before that I had just been pushing it closed.

 

So on my 17.5 GS I have lifted the locking tab every time and no issues.  I also have a tank bag ring on mine and again no issues.

 

I have seen other reports of this and clean and lube usually solved it.  But in a few the whole thing was replaced.

 

Hope you figure it out and it is not too painful.

[PatM]

Be very careful when closing your gas cap. Forcing it will bend the vertical pin.

From my friendly bmw tech, it seems that is the major cause of keyless caps failing.

That and dirt for the GS crowd. I had to replace the cap on my '18 GSA as it was already defective when I bought it used and out of warranty. 

The assembly is around $600 Canadian. 

[Cap]

I "fixed" my gas cap by removing the vertical pin AND the cross-bar.  Check out Randyjaco's pic above, and then compare to this:

 

[Cap]

I removed these parts:

 

[Cap]

At this point, my gas cap will latch and unlatch properly.  I did not reshape the latch, nor did I need to shim the latch to raise it.  With the parts removed, it works as new.  But it will not lock anymore.

 

In order to remove the vertical pin, I pried it out with a small screwdriver, which is why it bent.  I did this off the bike, so I would not drop anything down the tank.  Nice to have a reminder above. 

Then, I pried the back off the plastic body where the solenoid connection is made.  See this pic:

 

[Cap]

The solenoid cover is attached with some spring clamps that can be pried loose.  After pulling the cover away carefully, you can drive the cross-bar out the back using a punch.  At that point, your gas cap will work again, without the lock.

[Cap]

As an aside, since I purchased the lower-priced part for the keyed lock, I want to show you what you get.  The parts are almost identical, but the keyed lock uses a full ring rather than a split ring.  If you wanted, you could replace the cap from the keyless version into this assembly.  Of course, it would not lock anymore. 

 

And if you get this far with your disassembly, don't forget to drill a 1/4" hole in the filler neck so you get access to your Brad-Gas.

 

 

[tinman]

I found that when my 2015 GS cap wouldn't open I had to press the open lever harder than usual to get it to open. BTW. What is Brad-gas?

[Boxflyer]

HaHa!

Brad-gas is the extra .5 gallon of fuel you carry along with you in the tank after a fill up when the expansion air pocket has been allowed to vent out.

This is done by drilling a 1/4in hole in the stand pipe on the up-hill side of the filler neck and refueling on the side stand.

DO NOT do this if you are not going to start riding a sufficient distance immediately after the refuel to again establish the normal airspace designed into the tank for expansion of the fuel from ground temps to ambient temps.

 

I only did this to try to cut down on fuel stops during a days riding when doing 700-800 mile days...for a couple weeks on end. 

I was riding in the Tour of Honor in 2019 and rode 41k miles in 6.5 months.

 

This is just information...I don't recommend it to ANYONE!

 

Brad

 

 

[longjohn]

On 8/5/2022 at 12:16 PM, PatM said:

Be very careful when closing your gas cap. Forcing it will bend the vertical pin.

From my friendly bmw tech, it seems that is the major cause of keyless caps failing.

That and dirt for the GS crowd. I had to replace the cap on my '18 GSA as it was already defective when I bought it used and out of warranty. 

The assembly is around $600 Canadian. 

Mine would no longer lock but was fixed under extended warranty. I looked up the part number:  $275.