Curious New Model Question

[OlGeezer]

I haven't been keeping up with all the changes, but IIRC, there is a new light indicator which tells the owner it's time to service your bike. My question is, how do you reset the light if you want to do the service yourself?

 

For the Camhead owners, on the shim adjust bikes I'm familar with, one advantage is valve adjustment is less often than with the old style valves. However, according to the service procedures, either valves are supposed to be checked at 12k or the computer will tell you when you need to adjust the valves. In reality, how far do you go between valve adjustments and how much more difficult is it to do than the old style?

 

Thank you,

[dirtrider]

Morning OlGeezer

 

 

On the service indicator?—You will need to communicate with the bikes computer to turn the service indicator off. That will require either a trip to the dealer so they can hook up their diagnostic computer, OR you will need a GS-911 to do it yourself.

 

On the valves?—You should do (or have done) the valves at the BMW scheduled intervals for the first few times. That will give you an idea on how YOUR bike is doing valve wise. Once they stop moving between adjustments then you can extend the service interval a little if you want. The camheads seem to be doing pretty good valve wise but on any low mile engine there is always the chance for valve lash loss until all is broken in.

 

[Paul Mihalka]

With the shim adjustment camheads if you don't want to get into the adjustment itself, you can take off the valve covers and measure the adjustment clearance. Good chance they don't need adjustment. If needed, bolt it up and take it to the dealer.

[OlGeezer]

With the shim adjustment camheads if you don't want to get into the adjustment itself, you can take off the valve covers and measure the adjustment clearance. Good chance they don't need adjustment. If needed, bolt it up and take it to the dealer.

 

Thanks, Paul. I know the exact answer to the question is "it depends", but, based on your experience for the average rider, how many miles are folks averaging when their valve adjustment indicator goes off? Same question for the Ks. The older Ks (longitudinal) could go quite some time between actual valve adjustments.

[OlGeezer]

The camheads seem to be doing pretty good valve wise

 

D.R. - How do you define "doing pretty good"?

I know on my Oilhead, I've adjusted at least two valves on every 6k service.

[Highway41]

Have 12K on mine now and the valves have yet to need adjustment through three service events.

Bill

[Paul Mihalka]

Thanks, Paul. I know the exact answer to the question is "it depends", but, based on your experience for the average rider, how many miles are folks averaging when their valve adjustment indicator goes off? Same question for the Ks. The older Ks (longitudinal) could go quite some time between actual valve adjustments.

I don't have a camhead and I have no feedback from customers/friends how long the valves last without adjustments. The service warning light comes up after one year or after a fixed number of miles for the recommended service interval. It does not know whether the valves need adjustment or not.

[racer7]

With a GS-911 you can set the service indicator any way you wish. You can even effectively "turn it off" by entering a date and mileage so far in the future the bike will be rust dust sooner.

 

My impression is that worrying a bunch about valves on modern BMWs is wasted effort (other than the obvious break in confirmation noted by dirtrider). Certainly on my hexhead nothing significant happens in only 6K though one can touch up a valve or 2 by .001 or a bit more. That's so trivial its basically wasted effort though it affords one some time getting familiar with the machine, if you value your ability to deal with issues on the road as much as I do. And experience/oil analysis shows a 6K oil change interval is also very conservative. So as my warranty goes away I've been pushing out motor service intervals a bit based on my own data and experience. Rear end services tend to get timed to tire changes rather than mileage just for efficient use of time. Rear spline and diff or bearlng lubes are done while the wheel is off anyway. Brakes just get done when pads are shot or its time for an annual fluid change- the last is one place where overdoing the factory 2 year suggested interval might be of some help- I find quite a few small particulates in year old BMW brake fluid in the reservoir and those make me nervous given the cost of the ABS unit (though I'd be just as happy without ABS).

 

The camhead valve adjustment is actually very simple BUT you do need PARTS (shims) to change a setting, not just wrenches. So an owners problem is either you need to inventory few extras (wasted $) or be able to get them quickly from a dealer. As a practical matter, some owners doing their own work will find their bikes down for a few days while the right parts are delivered from a dealer. My choice for dealing with this would be to do valve checks only during the non-riding season, if I lived somewhere one couldn't ride all year. Here in NC, I'd do the valve measurement a day before I was planning travel somewhere near the dealership - then I could just stop in and pick up the part and pop it in when I got back.

 

Given what the factory says about the camhead, prior boxer history, and use of similar bits in the cars, it a pretty safe bet you won't find much at a 12K interval (after break in is complete).

[GRB60]

The factory settings are for service intervals of one year or 6000 miles (after the initial one at 600).

[racer7]

GRB60,

The bike only stores what gets put into it by a service tech. It does NOT come preloaded with a full set of service interval settings pre-programmed like some sort of computer program on a hard drive.

All you see if you read the computer (with a GS-911 for example) is the date or mileage the service reminder is presently set at. It has built in logic that will show a warning of impending service a little ahead of when its due, also. (That logic can't be altered by the GS-911)

When a service is conducted, part of service is to reset the interval by putting in a new mileage/date to replace the old one. Yes the factory recommends 6K or 1 yr (the GS-911 will use this as a default if you let it) for a basic interval on the boxer but the tech or GS-911 owner is free to enter any mileage or date of his choosing should he choose to do so. Valves on camheads are due at longer intervals than the hexhead but there is no specific service reminder for valve systems or other bits of the bike- just the general reminder re the basic interval.

[OlGeezer]

You mean the thing only tells you when you've rolled 6k miles? What Beemer owner can't remember THAT? We've got 6k miles drilled into our heads.

[dirtrider]

----but the tech or GS-911 owner is free to enter any mileage or date of his choosing should he choose to do so. ----

 

Morning Racer7

 

Unless there has been a very recent change in the dealer computer system software/firmware the dealer tec can’t enter more than 6k/1year into the bike’s computer for the service interval.

As you mentioned with a GS-911 it can be set longer but AFAIK not at dealer level.

 

[OlGeezer]

From this threade so far, I have not been able to determine the real world frequency of valve adjustments for Camheads.

6k?

12k?

18k?

24k?

The old (longitudinal) K bikes recommended checking the valves every 16k, but after the first adjustment, it maybe only needed one more adjustment in its lifetime. I'm assuming that, to go from 135 hp to 160 hp (+/-), that is no longer true on the new (transverse) K bikes. Right?

[racer7]

Dirtrider- thanks for your comment. I have not used a dealer computer so can't comment directly on that. Had assumed that the dealer computer could do whatever the GS-911 can do- after all, the GS-911 is simply a reverse engineered code reader.

I do know for certain that the GS-911 can do what I said on my RT- I've done it. It does require that you enter a value you choose (though it also displays a default 6K/1 yr interval that you can just accept). I have played with putting assorted values in and they're apparently accepted by the bikes computer module. Haven't left an absurd long value in the computer to "turn off" the service indicator, though. I don't find the reminder that annoying.

[Don_Eilenberger]

Posted on another forum I frequent was the story that BMW-Motorrad is going to be issuing revised service intervals for the valve adjustment/check for the new DOHC bikes. It was implied it would be a considerably longer interval.

 

FWIW - the design is very much like the design used on BMW's M engine - the S54.. which has a valve check/adjustment interval of ~30,000(+/-) miles. I might expect to see the DOHC boxer set to at least 15,000..

[w2ge]

Don, I hope your right! I would love to hear that...

 

(I'm going to the New Sweden Meeting tonight, btw)

[racer7]

Finding out the factory valve interval as confirmed in factory published stuff is a bit tricky because its apparently only in the camhead service DVD that I don't own, if its anywhere accessible to owners. It appears that despite factory claims that the motor will need less valve service, they have hedged their bets on the service interval for valves. Here is what I've found that is web-available.

 

1) The camhead Owners Manual (2010 RT) downloaded in English from the Danish BMW Motorad site calls only for the usual 600 check and an annual service and has nothing specific re valves or mileage guidance (yes, really true- it says nothing whatever about distance except that riders who do high mileage may need to bring the bike for service more than annually). It also describes the changes in the service indicator display that is slightly altered from the hexhead and notes that the date displayed post the diagnostic check can be scrambled/lost by a sustained battery removal so can require a reset.

 

2) Jim Von Baden's site specifically states a 6K interval for camhead valve checks (not necessarily an adjustment) and also shows the pdf's of the factory maintenance check list for both the 600 running in check and the regular service. The 600 running in check DOES NOT CALL FOR VALVE CHECKS but does call for a synchronization check. The annual service call for a valve check and specifies a 6K miles interval.

 

3) A few web references say initial break in checks at 600 and 6K then every 12K for valves but I can find nothing BMW has published that confirms this. It may or may not be in the factory service DVD info.

 

So who's got the current official factory service stuff? I will be going past my local dealer in a few days so may stop in and see what they've got in writing.

 

Anyway, based on how previous boxers behave and especially the need to confirm at break in, if I owned a camhead I'd check at the 600 (only because I do my own and its easy to do), again at 6000. After that, I put enough miles on mine that I'd do it only every 12K unless one of those checks or some riding indication of bad synchronization suggested needing to go back to shorter intervals.

 

The factory maintenance checklist for the camhead shown as a link on JVB's site is formatted differently and has differences from the official maintenance checklist for the hexhead that is on my factory service DVD. One very notable one is that it has doubled the frequency (yes, increased it!) of sparkplug changes on the camhead to every 12K miles, not every 24K miles as is called for on the hexhead.

[OlGeezer]

(2) Jim Von Baden's site specifically states a 6K interval for camhead valve checks (not necessarily an adjustment)...

 

On my Oilhead, if I'm going to check the valves, I might as well adjust them while I'm there (yes, even if they are just slightly off). The biggest part of the task is getting to them. I understand it's not quite the same with the Camheads since the purchase of shims is involved.

 

Now, if I don't have to even worry about it but every 24k miles or so, that would be attractive to me, but I would still have to be able to do it myself.

[ProductUser]

Comment on resetting the service indicator:

 

On my Z3 M, you can reset the service interval by jumping a few of the service plug pin-outs for n-seconds. I wonder if this is possible on the 1200's?

 

Tony

[Ken H.]

On my Z3 M, you can reset the service interval by jumping a few of the service plug pin-outs for n-seconds. I wonder if this is possible on the 1200's?

Nope. The service device (dealer GT-1 or aftermarket GS-911) is talking digitally to the ZFE module to do this. The days of 'pin jumping' are over.

[James Clark]

I haven't been keeping up with all the changes, but IIRC, there is a new light indicator which tells the owner it's time to service your bike. My question is, how do you reset the light if you want to do the service yourself?

 

 

After advise from my mechanics . . .

 

 

I recommend this:

 

[OlGeezer]

Thanks.

 

That solution is not foreign to me.

 

 

Still, no data on actual miles between valve adjustments?

 

Are the Camheads THAT new so that no one has enough miles for a reasonable estimate?