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Cam Timing and Valve Clearance Checks at 12k

7K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  Scotto 
#1 ·
I recommend that EVERY R1200 or R1250 WetHead or ShiftHead engine gets an all important "First Look" at both the Cam Timing and the Valve Clearances.
It does not make sense to do it anytime before that mileage as the engine is built pretty well from the factory, and needs all of the components in the Valve Train to wear in and be normalized.

I've done about 120 Cam Timing and Valve Clearance checks on R1200 and R1250 WetHead/ShiftHead bikes and about 90% of the engines need some small adjustment to the Cam Timing as well as setting the Valve Clearances to what I believe are the "optimum" values of 0.12mm for the Intake and 0.36mm for the Exhaust.

My experience is that once the Cam Timing is set at about the 12k miles point, that it will almost NEVER change for upwards of 100k miles.
If you set the valves at the values I recommend, then the valves are not so annoying with the ticking that lots of folks say "that they all sound that way"...they don't need to.

The valves may also not need to be adjusted until somewhere around 100k. My experience also shows that clearances OPEN up vs getting tighter.

Lots of reports of hard starting, poor fuel economy, and degraded performance have been solved by doing an initial Cam Timing that includes correcting the LH Exhaust Cam Timing Reluctor input to the ECU.

I've posted this article on other Forums, so will paste it in here for those of you that may not be frequent visitors to the websites that I participate on the most.

Hope this helps,
Brad Smith
Boxflyer


Why we check Cam Timing on WetHead / ShiftHead Boxers
My belief is that the cam timing IS correctly set right from the assembly line.
When a WetHead/ShiftHead gets somewhere between 10-12k miles, all the valve train finally normalizes the wear and settles in to this state for the next 100k miles or so.

Thinking about what we do to check/set the cam timing, it makes sense to me why we need to do this early on in the typical service for these WetHead engines.
For the LH cylinder my observation is like this….inserting the 8mm TDC locking pin in the perimeter of the alternator rotor has a very small tolerance in that slot or it would get stuck there.

This LH side cam chain is driven from a sprocket on the crankshaft just between the alternator and the rod journals, so this is the shorter of the 2 sides to transfer rotation out to the cams. Both the pulling, top side of the chain, and tensioner bottom side, of the chain slide along about 8 inches of phenolic rails that are prone to some grooves from the edges of the chain links as they break in initially. All the links, (102) on this side, as well as the sprockets have lots of contact points that change as they initially wear in.
Then the sprocket shaft has the drive gear that rotates the cam gears on both Int and Exh cams…again some gear face contact wear-in is normal.

The RH cylinder has the added driveline parts before getting to the drive sprocket at the cams …there is the large gear on the front end of the crankshaft that drives the smaller gear on the clutch basket and then back thru the clutch/counter balance shaft to a similar sprocket for the 106 link chain going out to the cam drive gear.
The RH side chain has more distance from the counter balance shaft drive sprocket that is lower in the engine than the LH side driven straight out from the crankshaft.

(The ShiftHead 1250 has a link chain vs a roller chain so the left side has 130 links and the right side has 136 links)
The engineers determined that the specific pressure applied from the Cam Chain Tensioner Tool standardizes the removal of the clearance/spaces all along the components just listed to use the Cam Alignment Jig on the flats on the ends of the cams and correctly align the 2 cams for optimal operation.

Pretty convoluted description to point out that there is some normal play in all these components that we are dealing with after initial break-in to reset what the factory set during the buildup of the engine.

If you are still awake after all that, I hope you have success setting the cam timing when you get to it sometime after 10k miles minimum break-in.

It’s my experience from doing well over 100 of these Cam Timing checks that about 85-90% of the cams on each side have to be adjusted after initial break-in.

This will give you easier starting, smoother idle, smoother throttle response throughout the RPM range, and possibly better gas mileage (that’s a guess since I don’t know anyone that seeks MPG over Smiles Per Mile!)
 
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#3 ·
Good info and nice video. I regularly check my valve clearance but have never looked at cam timing on my 2012 cam head. It does start a bit hard, I wonder if this could be a reason?
 
#5 ·
Interesting. It used to be that valves and seats were cut with a 1 degree interference angle (45/46) to facilitate initial sealing and ultimate seating in the absence of lapping. All of my old Neway valve seat face cutters are 46 degrees for this purpose as specified at BMW service school back then. Bikes would come in for their initial 600-mile service and many had lost most of their valve clearance from this seating process. I’m curious as to what they are doing now at the factory. I presume that it’s equal angles.
 
#6 ·
I am having hard time understanding the necessity of cam timing check/adjustment, it’s definitely not in scheduled maintenance for 1200 wet end engines. Anyway, when checking the valves clearance and having the cylinder in TDC (checked physically with long rod through spark plug hole) and having at the same time the flats on the side of cam shafts aligned, shouldn’t I assume that cam timing is correct? Even if cam timing was slightly off, does it have any detrimental effect?
 
#8 · (Edited)
You are right, it's NOT a necessity. The only time that the Factory Service DVD calls for using the Cam Alignment Jig is when a Camshaft has been replaced. (Which I have done as well)

Having done almost 135 of these checks to date, the reports from the riders whom have them done is almost unanimous in new found smoothness, and better running bikes.
Lots of reports of hard starting, poor fuel economy, and degraded performance have been solved by doing an initial Cam Timing that includes correcting the LH Exhaust Cam Timing Reluctor input to the ECU.

Doing a Cam Alignment procedure is an "all or nothing" event. There is just no way to get around having ALL 3 tools in place to verify the engine is in precisely the correct position to verify the relationship between the crankshaft (not the piston) and the camshafts. There is too much angular motion of the crank where the piston has no apparent movement. The valve train, and the cams, reflect this motion very easily when using all the tools.
For the valve clearance check, which IS called for during the 12k/20k KM Service, sure, aligning the flats on the cams is perfectly acceptable and a very expeditious way to accomplish this.

Just some food for thought, not an argument about whether or not you need to do the initial cam alignment after 12k...I believe it's well worth it to check if you can.
 
#7 ·
I don't think that checking/adjusting the cam timing should be regarded as a "necessity." Degreeing cams is a practice that has been around forever for engine builders and hot rodders. My understanding In this case is that it's a matter of adjusting things to factory spec once initial wear and chain stretch have taken place. This is often referred to as part of blueprinting your engine. A little advanced or retarded cam timing can have a small effect on performance somewhat similar to ignition timing. Optimizing both together is the trick and racers would sometimes have track specific settings for short tracks vs high rpm long tracks.
 
#12 ·
Lately I've dealt with several occurrences of bikes that have unusually large clearances and hence noisy valves. A couple of these bikes had made the ride up to Alaska and back to the lower 48 states and had been forced into buying multiple tanks of poor quality gas.

These are bikes that I have previously performed Cam Timing and Valve Clearance Service on and plenty of miles were put on the bikes before they started off on their adventures where they were buying gas with unknown quality.

These folks had also learned how I do the 12k Valve Clearance Service by watching me during WetHead/ShiftHead Tech Day Sessions, or by doing a Ride-In Service at my house, and were doing their own Valve Checks after their extended trips.
Some of the clearances were so large that it indicated that they would need shims that were in the range of sizes near 2.56--2.60mm...well beyond normal sizes and about 0.20mm thicker than what was previously installed just 12k miles ago.

Visual inspection of the cams did not show any abnormal wear that would account for the gross change in clearance...especially since that when cams have failures as indicated by worn lobes, the base circle of the cam is usually not affected. The matching cam follower usually is also damaged when the cam lobe is worn, and therefore will reflect large clearance readings when checked, but with the bikes I'm talking about, the cams and followers were both OK.

As mentioned above, I recommend these settings for the valve clearances on both the 1200 WetHead and the 1250 ShiftHead to help quiet them down.
Intake 0.12mm
Exhaust 0.36mm
The difficult part is to have the 8.90mm shims on hand with 0.02mm spacing between shim sizes so that you can dial in these targets without overshooting the desired value.

Buying a starter Shim Kit from Amazon (Wiseco VSK4) has it's advantages and disadvantages... In my experience, we really only use shims from 2.00mm thru 2.40mm. The 2014-2016 years of bikes tend to use the thinner shims in the 2.00mm -- 2.24mm range, and the 2017-- current years use shims on the thicker range of shims up to the 2.40mm size...but any bike might need any shim size during a normal service and therefore you can't just have the smaller range of shims on hand hoping that you can economize.

This kit has 3 each of 23 sizes of shims, and only 11 sizes are in this range of 2.00--2.40mm. To augment this range with the Wiseco VSK4 kit, and achieve the coverage for the 0.02mm spacing, you would need to acquire 10 more sizes. This would make a kit of 21 sizes of shims from 2.00--2.40mm with shims every 0.02mm in that range.
Now you have a very good chance that you can achieve the recommended target values for valve clearances that I mentioned above.

The solution to the above issue that I mentioned with the GROSS clearances, was to run 3 full tanks of fuel heavily treated with fuel system cleaner. No endorsement, but something like BG 44K works extremely well. Chevron Techron is also a good carbon cleaner.

After these bikes were treated with several tanks of good fuel and cleaner, the valve clearances returned to the same recorded values as before, and the valve train noise quieted down.
Just having a small amount of carbon build up on the valve seats will cause the valve clearances to open up and make the bike sound noisy.

The takeaway from this is that before doing a 12k Valve Clearance Check, I'd recommend treating the engine with several tanks of Top Tier Gas (Top Tier Gas) and Fuel System Cleaner...then try to continue using Top Tier Gas if at all possible.

 
#13 ·
I recommend that EVERY R1200 or R1250 WetHead or ShiftHead engine gets an all important "First Look" at both the Cam Timing and the Valve Clearances.
It does not make sense to do it anytime before that mileage as the engine is built pretty well from the factory, and needs all of the components in the Valve Train to wear in and be normalized.

I've done about 120 Cam Timing and Valve Clearance checks on R1200 and R1250 WetHead/ShiftHead bikes and about 90% of the engines need some small adjustment to the Cam Timing as well as setting the Valve Clearances to what I believe are the "optimum" values of 0.12mm for the Intake and 0.36mm for the Exhaust.

My experience is that once the Cam Timing is set at about the 12k miles point, that it will almost NEVER change for upwards of 100k miles.
If you set the valves at the values I recommend, then the valves are not so annoying with the ticking that lots of folks say "that they all sound that way"...they don't need to.

The valves may also not need to be adjusted until somewhere around 100k. My experience also shows that clearances OPEN up vs getting tighter.

Lots of reports of hard starting, poor fuel economy, and degraded performance have been solved by doing an initial Cam Timing that includes correcting the LH Exhaust Cam Timing Reluctor input to the ECU.

I've posted this article on other Forums, so will paste it in here for those of you that may not be frequent visitors to the websites that I participate on the most.

Hope this helps,
Brad Smith
Boxflyer


Why we check Cam Timing on WetHead / ShiftHead Boxers
My belief is that the cam timing IS correctly set right from the assembly line.
When a WetHead/ShiftHead gets somewhere between 10-12k miles, all the valve train finally normalizes the wear and settles in to this state for the next 100k miles or so.

Thinking about what we do to check/set the cam timing, it makes sense to me why we need to do this early on in the typical service for these WetHead engines.
For the LH cylinder my observation is like this….inserting the 8mm TDC locking pin in the perimeter of the alternator rotor has a very small tolerance in that slot or it would get stuck there.

This LH side cam chain is driven from a sprocket on the crankshaft just between the alternator and the rod journals, so this is the shorter of the 2 sides to transfer rotation out to the cams. Both the pulling, top side of the chain, and tensioner bottom side, of the chain slide along about 8 inches of phenolic rails that are prone to some grooves from the edges of the chain links as they break in initially. All the links, (102) on this side, as well as the sprockets have lots of contact points that change as they initially wear in.
Then the sprocket shaft has the drive gear that rotates the cam gears on both Int and Exh cams…again some gear face contact wear-in is normal.

The RH cylinder has the added driveline parts before getting to the drive sprocket at the cams …there is the large gear on the front end of the crankshaft that drives the smaller gear on the clutch basket and then back thru the clutch/counter balance shaft to a similar sprocket for the 106 link chain going out to the cam drive gear.
The RH side chain has more distance from the counter balance shaft drive sprocket that is lower in the engine than the LH side driven straight out from the crankshaft.

(The ShiftHead 1250 has a link chain vs a roller chain so the left side has 130 links and the right side has 136 links)
The engineers determined that the specific pressure applied from the Cam Chain Tensioner Tool standardizes the removal of the clearance/spaces all along the components just listed to use the Cam Alignment Jig on the flats on the ends of the cams and correctly align the 2 cams for optimal operation.

Pretty convoluted description to point out that there is some normal play in all these components that we are dealing with after initial break-in to reset what the factory set during the buildup of the engine.

If you are still awake after all that, I hope you have success setting the cam timing when you get to it sometime after 10k miles minimum break-in.

It’s my experience from doing well over 100 of these Cam Timing checks that about 85-90% of the cams on each side have to be adjusted after initial break-in.

This will give you easier starting, smoother idle, smoother throttle response throughout the RPM range, and possibly better gas mileage (that’s a guess since I don’t know anyone that seeks MPG over Smiles Per Mile!)

Do you still sell the tools necessary for a shift cam setup? 2021 r1250gs

Bruce
 
#14 ·
I recommend that EVERY R1200 or R1250 WetHead or ShiftHead engine gets an all important "First Look" at both the Cam Timing and the Valve Clearances.
It does not make sense to do it anytime before that mileage as the engine is built pretty well from the factory, and needs all of the components in the Valve Train to wear in and be normalized.

I've done about 120 Cam Timing and Valve Clearance checks on R1200 and R1250 WetHead/ShiftHead bikes and about 90% of the engines need some small adjustment to the Cam Timing as well as setting the Valve Clearances to what I believe are the "optimum" values of 0.12mm for the Intake and 0.36mm for the Exhaust.

My experience is that once the Cam Timing is set at about the 12k miles point, that it will almost NEVER change for upwards of 100k miles.
If you set the valves at the values I recommend, then the valves are not so annoying with the ticking that lots of folks say "that they all sound that way"...they don't need to.

The valves may also not need to be adjusted until somewhere around 100k. My experience also shows that clearances OPEN up vs getting tighter.

Lots of reports of hard starting, poor fuel economy, and degraded performance have been solved by doing an initial Cam Timing that includes correcting the LH Exhaust Cam Timing Reluctor input to the ECU.

I've posted this article on other Forums, so will paste it in here for those of you that may not be frequent visitors to the websites that I participate on the most.

Hope this helps,
Brad Smith
Boxflyer


Why we check Cam Timing on WetHead / ShiftHead Boxers
My belief is that the cam timing IS correctly set right from the assembly line.
When a WetHead/ShiftHead gets somewhere between 10-12k miles, all the valve train finally normalizes the wear and settles in to this state for the next 100k miles or so.

Thinking about what we do to check/set the cam timing, it makes sense to me why we need to do this early on in the typical service for these WetHead engines.
For the LH cylinder my observation is like this….inserting the 8mm TDC locking pin in the perimeter of the alternator rotor has a very small tolerance in that slot or it would get stuck there.

This LH side cam chain is driven from a sprocket on the crankshaft just between the alternator and the rod journals, so this is the shorter of the 2 sides to transfer rotation out to the cams. Both the pulling, top side of the chain, and tensioner bottom side, of the chain slide along about 8 inches of phenolic rails that are prone to some grooves from the edges of the chain links as they break in initially. All the links, (102) on this side, as well as the sprockets have lots of contact points that change as they initially wear in.
Then the sprocket shaft has the drive gear that rotates the cam gears on both Int and Exh cams…again some gear face contact wear-in is normal.

The RH cylinder has the added driveline parts before getting to the drive sprocket at the cams …there is the large gear on the front end of the crankshaft that drives the smaller gear on the clutch basket and then back thru the clutch/counter balance shaft to a similar sprocket for the 106 link chain going out to the cam drive gear.
The RH side chain has more distance from the counter balance shaft drive sprocket that is lower in the engine than the LH side driven straight out from the crankshaft.

(The ShiftHead 1250 has a link chain vs a roller chain so the left side has 130 links and the right side has 136 links)
The engineers determined that the specific pressure applied from the Cam Chain Tensioner Tool standardizes the removal of the clearance/spaces all along the components just listed to use the Cam Alignment Jig on the flats on the ends of the cams and correctly align the 2 cams for optimal operation.

Pretty convoluted description to point out that there is some normal play in all these components that we are dealing with after initial break-in to reset what the factory set during the buildup of the engine.

If you are still awake after all that, I hope you have success setting the cam timing when you get to it sometime after 10k miles minimum break-in.

It’s my experience from doing well over 100 of these Cam Timing checks that about 85-90% of the cams on each side have to be adjusted after initial break-in.

This will give you easier starting, smoother idle, smoother throttle response throughout the RPM range, and possibly better gas mileage (that’s a guess since I don’t know anyone that seeks MPG over Smiles Per Mile!)
I do so wish I was local to you my friend... S.
 
#17 ·
This is very interesting.
My experience also shows that clearances OPEN up vs getting tighter.
I have a 2015 R1200R I bought in 2020 with about 2,700 miles.
I had the maintenance & valve check done at 12k & 30k at a well-known dealer in Cleveland (I believe the OP knows the mechanic). I have no idea if he checked cam timing.

My intakes haven't budged.
Spec= .10-.17
Mine read .14 .12. 12 .12 at 12k and exactly the same at 30k

3 of my exhaust valves seem to be tightening a bit though, but still in spec.
Spec = .34-.41
12k = .38 .36 .36 .38
30k= .35 .35 .35 .38
Note* no valves have ever been adjusted, just checked.

I wonder which direction the exhaust valves will move (if at all) the next time the valves are checked.
It would be nice if they did indeed "OPEN up" a bit.

BTW, the motorcycle runs perfectly, and has never had a single issue.
 
#19 ·
I wonder which direction the exhaust valves will move (if at all) the next time the valves are checked.
It would be nice if they did indeed "OPEN up" a bit.
In my experience with my 2015 LC, they opened up marginally. Still in spec at over 100,000km I adjusted them just because I’d bought a shim set and I could make them run a bit quieter.
 
#18 ·
I recommend that EVERY R1200 or R1250 WetHead or ShiftHead engine gets an all important "First Look" at both the Cam Timing and the Valve Clearances.
It does not make sense to do it anytime before that mileage as the engine is built pretty well from the factory, and needs all of the components in the Valve Train to wear in and be normalized.

I've done about 120 Cam Timing and Valve Clearance checks on R1200 and R1250 WetHead/ShiftHead bikes and about 90% of the engines need some small adjustment to the Cam Timing as well as setting the Valve Clearances to what I believe are the "optimum" values of 0.12mm for the Intake and 0.36mm for the Exhaust.

My experience is that once the Cam Timing is set at about the 12k miles point, that it will almost NEVER change for upwards of 100k miles.
If you set the valves at the values I recommend, then the valves are not so annoying with the ticking that lots of folks say "that they all sound that way"...they don't need to.

The valves may also not need to be adjusted until somewhere around 100k. My experience also shows that clearances OPEN up vs getting tighter.

Lots of reports of hard starting, poor fuel economy, and degraded performance have been solved by doing an initial Cam Timing that includes correcting the LH Exhaust Cam Timing Reluctor input to the ECU.

I've posted this article on other Forums, so will paste it in here for those of you that may not be frequent visitors to the websites that I participate on the most.

Hope this helps,
Brad Smith
Boxflyer


Why we check Cam Timing on WetHead / ShiftHead Boxers
My belief is that the cam timing IS correctly set right from the assembly line.
When a WetHead/ShiftHead gets somewhere between 10-12k miles, all the valve train finally normalizes the wear and settles in to this state for the next 100k miles or so.

Thinking about what we do to check/set the cam timing, it makes sense to me why we need to do this early on in the typical service for these WetHead engines.
For the LH cylinder my observation is like this….inserting the 8mm TDC locking pin in the perimeter of the alternator rotor has a very small tolerance in that slot or it would get stuck there.

This LH side cam chain is driven from a sprocket on the crankshaft just between the alternator and the rod journals, so this is the shorter of the 2 sides to transfer rotation out to the cams. Both the pulling, top side of the chain, and tensioner bottom side, of the chain slide along about 8 inches of phenolic rails that are prone to some grooves from the edges of the chain links as they break in initially. All the links, (102) on this side, as well as the sprockets have lots of contact points that change as they initially wear in.
Then the sprocket shaft has the drive gear that rotates the cam gears on both Int and Exh cams…again some gear face contact wear-in is normal.

The RH cylinder has the added driveline parts before getting to the drive sprocket at the cams …there is the large gear on the front end of the crankshaft that drives the smaller gear on the clutch basket and then back thru the clutch/counter balance shaft to a similar sprocket for the 106 link chain going out to the cam drive gear.
The RH side chain has more distance from the counter balance shaft drive sprocket that is lower in the engine than the LH side driven straight out from the crankshaft.

(The ShiftHead 1250 has a link chain vs a roller chain so the left side has 130 links and the right side has 136 links)
The engineers determined that the specific pressure applied from the Cam Chain Tensioner Tool standardizes the removal of the clearance/spaces all along the components just listed to use the Cam Alignment Jig on the flats on the ends of the cams and correctly align the 2 cams for optimal operation.

Pretty convoluted description to point out that there is some normal play in all these components that we are dealing with after initial break-in to reset what the factory set during the buildup of the engine.

If you are still awake after all that, I hope you have success setting the cam timing when you get to it sometime after 10k miles minimum break-in.

It’s my experience from doing well over 100 of these Cam Timing checks that about 85-90% of the cams on each side have to be adjusted after initial break-in.

This will give you easier starting, smoother idle, smoother throttle response throughout the RPM range, and possibly better gas mileage (that’s a guess since I don’t know anyone that seeks MPG over Smiles Per Mile!)
Just watched your how to videos box flyer and thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to do them - first rate
 
#20 ·
I'm wondering if this could remedy the much talked about pinging under load in the 1250s. my recently purchased 2019 RT with 13K miles does it and it's annoying. My experience has always pointed towards bad gas or ignition timing for things detonating. Some say the 1250s have knock sensors that let it occur minimally for better emissions and MPG. Once it starts they back off the timing or so they say. I suppose that if the cam timing were off enough it could raise the effective compression ratio enough to cause trouble. My 2016 never does it. What say you Brad or anyone else?
 
#21 ·
You have a couple of things in play here...the 1250's do have a Ping Sensor that is not in the prior R1200 WetHead, so there is additional allowance for timing compensation on the R1250.

One of the inevitable things that must be adjusted with the R1250 when resetting the Cam Timing to factory spec is that the Timing Reluctor needs to be removed and reinstalled...with the opportunity for human perception to set it where each mechanic thinks it should be.
Granted, this is just an input of Cam Position, and there are primary input signals for Crankshaft position elsewhere, but this Timing Reluctor has the 3 "lobes" and each lobe references a different monitor within the ECU. These can be ignition timing, fuel injection pulse width, and shift solenoid timing for example...differentiating when these events should happen on the LH or RH cylinder since the pistons arrive at TDC twice for each complete Otto Cycle.

My technique over the last year or so, is to request anyone that is going to get the Cam Timing and Valve Clearance Checks done by me, is to run 2 full tanks of gas with a high concentration of PEA laced fuel system cleaner. (polyether amine-based detergent)
I ask bike owner to use Chevron Techron because it has published data verifying the amount of PEA, it's readily available, and is a reasonable cost. I recommend folks to use it at the listed strength, not more, not less, which is about 1 ounce per gallon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techr...ha (petroleum), light,amines at 20-49% weight

This alone has helped with several instances of riders complaining about various engine performance problems prior to even arriving for the Cam Timing and Valve Clearance Check.
The primary reason that I ask for this to be done just before these services, is that small amounts of carbon deposits in the combustion chamber, especially between the valve seat and valve face, will cause the Valve Clearance Check to actually adjust the clearances incorrectly. Usually the indication that carbon deposits are going to cause adjustments of the Valve Clearances to be incorrect is some, or all, of the recorded Valve Clearances are open too far.
I've seen this problem occur several times with bikes that have ridden to Alaska and back where they are forced to purchase gas from very questionable sources and then they don't notice the gradual decrease in performance of the bike...but the performance recovery is pretty dramatic after the 2 tank PEA fuel system cleaner treatment.

One more thing that I want to point out is that after every Cam Timing and Valve Clearance Check, I use the GS-911 to reset all the Adaptive Values available on that series of bike...some bikes/year models have different numbers of modules for reset, but I reset them all. It may take 3-4 heat-up/cool down cycles for the ECU to repopulate the "look-up" tables that it references to control the bike during all phases of operation...sometimes, you don't get the engine to high enough RPM's or full throttle runs during a given outing, and the operating envelope doesn't have perfect records of how the bike should be controlled until you hit all the "corners of the envelope".

The last thing i want to add is that the spark plugs are the single most important component in perceived engine operation. The recommendation from BMW is to replace them (not just inspect them) every 12k miles, 20k KM. There have been a lot of threads all over the WWW lately "poo-pooing" the need to change out the plugs as per the service guidelines. There are also several threads complaining about the tip of the NGK Iridium plugs wearing off/eroding away...at some excess mileages! This is an extremely high performance engine, that is really hard on spark plugs...so don't try to save some money by running the spark plugs beyond 12k...you want high performance...then use new plugs OFTEN.

As I said, lots of things going on here, so what most people do is not try to do just one of these things at a time to see if that was actually the causal factor, but do as many of them at the same time as possible to solve the problem...hence, not really knowing exactly what cured their issues.

One way or the other...I hope some of this helps you out.
Brad
 
#22 ·
Many thanks Brad! I'm an old BMW airhead mechanic/engineer so I have no tools for these procedures. I did put new plugs in yesterday, but there's snow on the ground now so no opportunity to see if that helped at all. The old plugs didn't look too bad to my iridium plug untrained eyes, though the gap was definitely opened up a bit from erosion. It sounds like this procedure is mostly one and done at 12K miles from what you said previously, so I'm not too desperate to buy tools that I may use only once (though I do love tools). I did the other 12K service items and was going to check the valves but paused to think about the cam timing. If I let the "sort of" local dealer do the job, I'll never know just what they did or didn't do, but it may be my only realistic option. I will run some Techtron through as you advise. I also pondered doing a power commander to undo the mandated lean fueling but that seems extreme in my opinion. It can also be a Pandora's box of it's own. I'm in NJ. Where are you located?
 
#23 ·
Hi Scotto,
I'm in Rhode Island...you are welcome to come up to my house and I'll do the Cam Timing and Valve Clearance Check and Adaptive Values Reset....for FREE!
After you do the Cam Timing...just once...you may never need the tools again.
The point is to get to 12k so that all the connected components in the engine are normalized/broken in, set everything back to the same condition as when it came off the assembly line, and then just ride without worries. ( the no worries thing is just THEORY!) Doing the Cam Timing anytime after 12k will still be beneficial as well
I typically take my 18ft maintenance trailer to 3 major rallies each summer. The next one is at the end of April.
2024 START (Spring Tune-up Appalachian Riding Tour) April 24-28, 2024 Newport, TN

Brad

 
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