R1200GS 72K service [day 4]
<=== Prev Next ===>
Thursday, Aug 2, 2012 [71,721 miles]
SF BMW called to say the sensor I ordered had arrived. I rode the R69S into the city to pick it up. This is what $62 and a bit of change gets you. It’s very easy to replace. Clip a few cable ties. Unscrew the old sensor and un-clip it from the wiring harness. Clip the new sensor to the harness and install in cylinder head. I put some o-ring friendly grease around the green o-ring before installing. Add a few cable ties and the bike is ready to ride.
Before going on the test ride I hooked up the GS-911 and did an ABS bleed test of front and rear. The unit says the brakes are well bled. After the test ride I hooked it up again along with the Harmonizer to check throttle body balance. At idle the bike is at -6 mbar. Spec is for a max of 25 mbar. Idle was 1140-1160 RPM. I adjusted the throttle for about 1600 RPM. The imbalance went to about +6 mbar. That too was within spec (< 15 mbar between 1400-1800 RPM). I left well enough alone and put the balance tool and the GS-911 away.
Of minor interest. It is much easier to run the GS-911 software in an XP virtual machine hosted on my Mac than to run it on the old windows laptop I used to use. The screen on the Mac is larger and brighter. I think that old laptop is going away.
It is always a challenge for me to get the oil into the catch pan instead of all over the garage floor. This time I’m using a new tool I purchased a few months ago. It mostly worked in that most of the oil went into the catch pan. I’m getting better.
The gear oil I’m using is what one of the local dealers is carrying and recommending. Aparently the BMW branded equivalent is over 2X the cost. OK. The bottle in the back is the tool I use to transfer the gear oil into the tranny through that skinny side-fill hole.
Lastly, while the engine oil is still warm but the pipes aren’t hot enough to worry about burns I drained the engine oil and removed the filter. As long as I was in that general area I took a rag to wipe the most egregious portions of crud of of the bottom of the engine case. My bike has always had a film of oil on the bottom, but it has never been enough to actually drip into the garage floor. I live with it.
I filled a new oil filter with fresh oil before installing it on the bike. Almost done. I filled the bike with oil and started it up to check for any leaks. None seen, but the bike sure is noisy without earplugs. Most of the noise is from the transmission.
The last thing to do before clean up is re-install the bash plate. Done. The bike is ready to ride. Except I need gas. I made sure the tank was almost empty before starting this service to make it easier to move around. Gas is heavy!
<=== Prev Next ===>
![[ARRL LOGO]](/gifs/arrl-3.gif "Amateur Radio Relay League")
