Pro injector cleaning

[Dave P]

2007 R1200RT, 38k miles, owned about a year now. She seems to idle kinda rough when cold, pretty smooth when warmed up. Ive run Techron through it and use ethanol free gas, still seems kinda lumpy when cold. I haven't, however sent the injectors out for a professional cleaning. I've used InjectorRX before. Thoughts? Dave

[Lowndes]

I'm not familiar with the R1200 fueling but there are some similarities to my R1100's.  Have you determined for sure it's the injectors, not the coils, wires, cables, or plugs??   Have the throttle bodies been balanced accurately and the cables adjusted properly??  The injectors are just the fuel side of the air/fuel ratio AND balance on these boxers.

 

Bosch injectors are rather durable, but it's easy enough to eyeball the spray, just pull an injector, leave the wires and tubing connected, put the tip in a clear plastic bottle and hit the start button while watching the spray pattern in the bottle.  Do one side at a time, they should be identical.  You might check the tiny inlet filter on each injector for crud.  If you are getting a good strong spray pattern on both sides your problem may be somewhere else.

 

An injector place much nearer to you that I would recommend for cleaning, flow testing, parts, matched injectors, new and used, plus upgrades and adapters is Injector-Rehab in Blackwood, NJ.  Keith Gibbons is the owner and an expert with injectors.  

 

https://injector-rehab.com/

 

Dirtrider will be along shortly to sort it for you.

 

 

[Dave P]

Low- well when I got the bike last summer I put 4 new plugs in, adjusted the valves, oil change and new air filter. A friend hooked his 911 up snd we saw no codes, valves were within spec. I haven't done anything with the stick coils or wires. Haven't done a TB sync (never been comfortable/ confident doing those to be honest). I thought a cold idle problem might be dirty injectors. Dave

[dirtrider]

11 hours ago, Dave P said:

2007 R1200RT, 38k miles, owned about a year now. She seems to idle kinda rough when cold, pretty smooth when warmed up. Ive run Techron through it and use ethanol free gas, still seems kinda lumpy when cold. I haven't, however sent the injectors out for a professional cleaning. I've used InjectorRX before. Thoughts? Dave

Morning Dave 

 

On the 1200rt, there is no manual choke (fast idle lever) like the earlier 1100/1150 motorcycles, the idle speed (even cold fast idle)  is computer adjusted using the idle steppers, the idle balance is also computer controlled & is non adjustable, also the idle speed or idle balance is not effected by the throttle cable adjustment (unless too tight). 

 

That seemly rough  idle is not that uncommon in the early hexhead bikes as the engine is fairly high compression with no rubber motor mounts, the engine is directly bolted to the frame  (actually is part of the frame) so the rider can feel every firing pulse, plus the computer controlled cold idle is sort or low. 

 

My later 1200RT has close to the same thing but those seem to idle slightly higher cold so it doesn't actually idle that rough cold but you can feel it & can definitely hear it in the cold idle exhaust note.

 

If it otherwise runs & idles good once it warms up then the fuel injectors are probably working OK,  & the stick coils are  probably working OK. 

 

I have seen them sound & feel like they will stall  at about any moment when cold  but they never do stall as the fueling computer catches it & prevents a stall. (if it actually stalls then you do have a problem to address)  

 

One thing that can effect the cold idle & make them fairly rough idling is one or both lower spark plugs oil fouling when parked overnight. Those lower spark plugs are at the very bottom of the combustion chamber so that is where the oil ends up that gets by the piston rings after shutdown.

 

If you are parking it on the side stand overnight you might try using the center stand as that can prevent the L/H lower spark plug from oiling up as much. 

 

Another thing to do is to try to concentrate on the actual engine shake & engine without allowing the exhaust note coming out of the muffler to influence you. Then do it the other way to see if what you are complaining about is mostly exhaust note related.

 

BMW changed some things in the engine programming on the later hexheads (somewhere around late 2007) like only using one of the 2  cylinder head temperature sensors, in fact they completely eliminated that 2nd cylinder head temperature sensor on the late 1200 hexhead engines.

 

If it runs good once warm (or even as it warms up) then personally I would just ride it as is but if you really want to put some work into it you might see if your dealer has a firmware update (won't be cheap on the old out-of-warranty bikes) & while that can help in some areas it might hurt in others. 

 

If your friend has a newer GS-911 (WiFi version) &  knows how to use it's capabilities, you can buy (or possibly he already has one) an extension cable that allows the GS-911 to stay connected to the motorcycle with the seat in place so it can be then set to  trap data while riding automatically. The WiFi versions can also hold quite a bit of trapped data internally then down loaded to your computer or whatever later.

 

If you can get him to set that GS-911 up to trap pre-start & cold-engine run engine data, then trap about 3 or 4  cold starts all the way from cold start  until it goes into closed loop then to about 2 minutes of closed loop riding. 

 

Trap 2 with just cold starting & cold idling until closed loop then slightly into closed loop. (trap these just sitting still) 

 

And trap 2 with cold starts as you normally cold start it then ride off allowing it to drop to idle where you usually do.

 

Then send me the GS-911 Excel data & I will look at it for you, I might just spot something in the cold start data or cold idle trapped data. 

 

You might also do a new TPS re-learn to see if that can help the cold start/cold run (open loop) operation. Probably not but it sure won't hurt either. (probably where I would personally start) 

 

Resist using a lot of fuel additives, Techron (at their recommended amount per gallon) is about all I would recommend as some of those additives can effect cold start idle. 

 

One more thing: if you plan on trapping engine data then ride as much that additive containing fuel out of the tank as possible, then put in fresh fuel & put about 50 miles on it with the new (no additive) fuel before trapping the cold start data.

 

 

[Dave P]

Thanks DR, I think for now I'm gonna try to tackle some other 1200 issues. Might try another bottle if Techron, it's been a while since I've run any through the system. probably not bad to occasionaly give her a gasoline/ Techron cocktail.
 

We have recently moved 3 states away, need to buy one of those 911s or find a new BMW friend with one. I could however pull those lower plugs and give them a look, see if they're oily. Dave

[Ron-M]

My 2007 RT with over 140,000 miles has always idled kind of rough when cold, but smooths out nicely when warm.

[dirtrider]

10 minutes ago, Dave P said:

Thanks DR, I think for now I'm gonna try to tackle some other 1200 issues. Might try another bottle if Techron, it's been a while since I've run any through the system. probably not bad to occasionaly give her a gasoline/ Techron cocktail.
 

We have recently moved 3 states away, need to buy one of those 911s or find a new BMW friend with one. I could however pull those lower plugs and give them a look, see if they're oily. Dave

Morning Dave

 

The L/H side lower is typically the worst so start with just that one. 

 

You need to not only find someone with a GS-911 but it needs to be the newer red WiFi version, they also need to know how to properly set it up to trap the correct data. 

 

Join a local BMW club (if there is one) as usually someone in that group will be somewhat of a GS-911 expert & most are more than willing to help.  

 

But if it isn't actually stalling after cold start, or during cold ride-away stops then I wouldn't worry about it as long as it runs good warm & hot. 

 

On the Techron, don't use any more than the directions recommend. (a little goes a long ways)

[Dave P]

DR, we moved to Cincinnati, (about a week ago) and the GCBMWMC, is a large group. Went on a hundred mile ride with them yesterday. About 30 people! I'm sure there is someone with the 911 tool and the smarts to use it.
 

Bike never stalls, just idles a little rough when cold. D