48,000 mile service

First, let's talk about money and the cost of owning a BMW K1600GT.  Then, I'll give my notes on the 48,000 mile service.  Below is my maintenance and cost log since I bought the bike new.  It's everything I've done to the bike, except upgrades and any repairs that were my fault or the dealers fault... like replaced Tupperware, broken off bolts, etc.  When you add the total cost of maintenance, plus the cost of the bike and divide by the number of miles, you get $0.55/per mile cost of ownership.   That doesn't, of course include gas.  That varies highly based on country, state, locality, political fervor, foreign nations praying for our ruination, wind and the position of the moon; among other things.

I decided to start doing my own maintenance.  The bike is out of warranty.  This experience taught me that dealers aren't treating my precious bike nearly the way I want it treated, so I'm glad I'm doing this.  Since I am mechanically inclined; but, by no means a motorcycle mechanic, I sought help from my good friend who is that and more.  Scot and his wife invited me into their home, where I stayed a week.  We swung wrenches, barbecued, cooked and had a good time together.  There were delays, trips for parts and tools, etc.; but, we got through the entire 12,000 mile maintenance schedule and the annual maintenance schedule.  I estimate the dealer charge from my 36,000 mile invoice ($1373.89) + new tires + new brakes + labor to do all those things at $2500.  We did all the work for $1030.00.  In the process, we found 2 bolts with their heads completely snapped off, 1 that was rounded out and 1 that was missing altogether.

Below is the list of things that need to be done as part of 12,000 mile service.  In addition to that, I'm losing 500ml of oil every 5,000 miles (I measured).  There is either a leak somewhere, or the engine is burning oil.  In addition, the rear tire pressure sensor is lying to me.  It's reading no pressure in the rear tire, when it is actually at 40psi.

* Run the vehicle diagnostic system
* Valve check and adjustment
*  Replace all spark plugs
* Oil and Filter Change
* Air and Filter Change
* Oil Change Rear Bevel Gears
* Drain Condensate Hose
* Visually inspect brake pipes, brake hoses and connections
* Check front brake pads and disks for wear
* Change brake fluid, front brakes
* Check rear brake pads and brake disc for wear
* Change brake fluid, rear brakes
* Check clutch system
* Check coolant level
* Check ease of movement of side stand
* Check was of movement of center stand
* Check lights and signaling equipment
* Function test, engine start suppression
* Final inspection and check of roadworthiness
* Run the vehicle diagnostic system
* Setting service-due and service countdown distance
* Checking battery charge state
* Confirming BMW Service in on-board documentation

First up, sourcing the parts...  For this, I shopped at Morton's BMW online.  I spoke with Cassandra, who was very helpful, although, we missed ordering the spark plugs.  Morton shipped the tires, oil change stuff, air filter change stuff, rear differential oil, pads, brake fluid all for $30.  Later on in the service, I needed some ideas as to how to get the air distribution rail off.  I called their service department and they were very happy to help me.  They certainly didn't have to and they got nothing for the advice, except the likelihood that I'd do business with them again...and I certainly will.

Right off the bat, and at the top of the post has to be this awesome forum with the service manual in PDF format.  If you can get the DVD service manual, please do.  It will be much faster.  If you don't, you'll still have the information; but, you'll have to hunt for the pages.

Tires

I went with Michelin Road Pilot 4 GT's.  I was happy I ordered these online.  It seems that every time I go into a dealership for tires, I come out with a mismatched set.  Last set was at 33,092.  I had an RP3 on the front and an RP4 on the back.  Interestingly enough, I got about 14,400 miles out of the rear and the front tire.  The front was ready to replace, by conservative standards; but, the rear was worn out; any more, I'd be into the belts.

Getting the tires online leaves the DIY guy with a problem - either mount and balance yourself, or find someone willing to do that for you.  It's not easy being a BMW rider.  Many shops will not work on BMW tires.  Don't ask me why, I don't know.  Still other shops won't mount and balance unless you buy the rubber there.  Deepening the problem is that every BMW dealership is always 500 miles from your present location, unless your're actually making the pilgrimage there.  Fortunately for me, my friend Scot found a local shop that would do the work, since we didn't have the proper equipment to tackle the task.

The next issue is getting the front axle out.  To do that, you have a couple options while your bike is on the center stand.  All options involve weighting the rear of the bike to lift the front wheel off the ground and then supporting the bike in that position while you do the work of removing the front wheel.  Scot and I are a couple of burly guys, so one held the rear end down while the other worked the front end magic.  I had to buy a tool for the job, a 22mm hex axle removal tool.  In order to mate this tool, which is driven by a 3/4 inch driver, I needed a reduction socket.  All that cost $76; but, won't be included in my cost of service because it's reusable and I could have gotten it much cheaper online.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to wait for delivery.

Off to the shop we go to have the tires mounted.  When they got the tires, Gary, our technician, discovered, without any prompting from us, that the rear pressure sensor was broken.  The issue here is that the rear pressure sensor is held in place near the valve stem.  Apparently, it had worked it's way loose.  How anything, traveling at speeds varying from 0 - 70 something something miles per hour could work it's way loose is beyond me; but, it did and, they didn't have the specific part to do the repair.  As good luck would have it, the tire could be mounted so this could be addressed at a time that wouldn't ruin the rest of my travels.  I left the shop with new rubber on my rims and a pressure sensor in hand.  They charged me $98 and change for the service.  I was still way ahead of where I would be if I walked into a dealership.  Here's a picture of the new sneakers.

This guy gets the nod for how to change the wheels on a K1600GT...

Brakes

While the tires were off, it was time to take a look at the pads, hoses, pipes and disks.  I ordered pads for the front and the rear.  I happen to be pretty hard on the rear brake, mostly because I do a lot of slow riding with trail braking.  I really like slow riding, so I do it a lot...much more than I use the front brake to stop the bike.  I typically scrub most of the speed with downshifting.  As expected, the rear brake pads needed to be replaced; but, the front brakes weren't too bad.

We noted that the brake rotor in the rear is starting to develop some grooves.  It's not bad; but, should be replaced.  That will happen next time I'm ready for brakes.  I will change the rear pads and rotor at the same time.  The cost of a new rotor is $700 and change from BMW.  I am told there are good aftermarket rotors available at substantially less cost.

Interestingly enough, the service manual does not seem to supply a torque setting for the bolts that attach the calipers to the bike.  This is unfortunate because I really like to torque things.  Keep that in mind if you do this.  All aspects of replacing the pads, dumping the brake fluid and replacing it are very straightforward and intuitive.

Front Brakes

Rear brakes  - all cleaned up!

One thing that I'll note is that while the tires are off, it's the perfect opportunity to do some cleaning.  You won't get that at the dealership.  Yeah, they will wash the bike for you; but, everything under the wheel guards will be caked with more road grime than you can imagine.  I bought a box of disposable shop rags and a bottle of Simple Green for the purpose.  I'll be surprised if I have any of them left.

Bleeding the brakes

Bleeding brakes is pretty easy, and even easier with a friend and a mini-vac.  These brakes required a little patience.  Initially, we couldn't figure out why the brakes would not bleed and were looking for another bleeder screw.  The shop manual indicates there is a bleeder valve right by the master cylinder; but, there is not one there.  We consulted YouTube for someone who may have done a video on this and ran into a problem when a video, about another bike with linked brakes, indicated that there was as second bleeder valve on the rear caliper, as the linked pistons were independent of the rear brake pistons.   This made perfect sense, so I looked for another bleeder.  There was another rubber cover on the rear caliper and I pulled it off.  Unfortunately, it's not a bleeder, it's a rubber piece that allows the pads to 'float. We couldn't get it back on.  I asked in the K6gt forum for thoughts on this and got no reply.  The solution was to pull the caliper off and separate it into two halves.  From there, the rubber piece is inserted into the caliper from the inside, using the blunt end of a dental instrument to push it through from the inside of the plug.  Any thin, blunt object will do, even a bolt.

Oil Change

Changing the oil requires steadfast attention.  Getting the oil out of the pan isn't the issue, it's getting the oil out of the sump.  When the oil starts to rush out of the sump, you have a problem.  Hot oil is running down your hand and arm, you can't move the bucket anywhere to get better position and so, your arm is contorted into this awful position whilst trying to balance that little plug on the end of a tool.  I happened to lose it in the commotion.  Fortunately, simply inserting the outer plug with it's magnet was enough to pull the sump plug over and I managed to recover it without any issues.

Air Filter Change

A busted bolt.   It looked like 1 of the 3 bolts were simply not reinstalled; but, on closer inspection, we realized that the bolt head was snapped off.  This was probably the result of someone using a power tool to reinsert the bolt and it got cross threaded.  We tried backing it out; but, that wasn't happening.  We used the cutting wheel on a Dremel tool to cut it flush and next service, I'll replace the air box...that is made in Vietnam and sent to us via Germany through whatever dealer we use...most certainly it will be Morton's again.  It will take at least a week and we did not have the time for that during this service.  I'll order it in advance of my next service.

Rear Bevel Gear Fluid Change

Well, here, things took an interesting turn.  BMW, in their infinite wisdom, put the filler hole under the rear rotor.  That means the rear tire has to come back off.  If I had read all the procedures before I started doing the work, I would have known this; but, I was reading them one at a time as I went along.  Sooooo, the rear wheel came back off.  When Scot and I went to drain the rear gear oil, we noted that the drain bolt was rounded out.  This is really bad as we can't drop the oil any other way.  We ended up buying an impact wrench, that we didn't use.  We were able to tap a hardened easy out bit in there and turn it with vice grips.  Once that was done, we drew up 180 ml gear fluid and pushed it through the filler hole.  Mighty Vac sells a hand vacuum that worked perfectly to accomplish this; although, I've read about people using other, less expensive items.  The hand vacuum also came in handy for evacuating the coolant reserve; so, it was a good purchase.

Coolant

This was a major surprise.  The overflow was dry and we couldn't see or feel coolant in the radiator.  What wasn't a surprise is that we had to remove more Tupperware to get to do the refill.  I'm very curious about why this was so dry.  Was it missed last service, or did I just use it all?  Note that I've never seen a drop of anything under this bike.

Spark plugs and Valve Adjustment

Initially, the plan was to leave this part to the dealer; but, because we had to wait for a rear bevel gear drain plug to be shipped to us, we took it on.  Scot was really stoked about this.  I was quite skeptical.  There are a lot of pieces parts involved in this step.  This is, as they say, where shit gets real.  Here's the list of what has to be done, just to change the spark plugs.  The only step beyond this to check the valve clearance is to remove the crankcase cover.  This is also the part where we're most likely to determine the cause of the oil leak or burn.

Bad BMW for requiring all this just to get at 6 spark plugs.  Removing the radiator to access the spark plugs is completely ridiculous and compounds maintenance costs for this bike.  It's no wonder why BMW riders a pissed off about BMW maintenance schedules and costs.  BMW, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Tear down - Getting the Tupperware off

Get your T-25 torx wrench out.  The side panels need to come off, as do the lower panels.  There's plastic bits that go over the radiator, the radiator itself and the mounting piece of plastic that's behind it.

To get to the plastic, we had to remove the Wunderlich engine guards.  These hefty bars get bolted into the engine and protect things should the bike go down.  They look like this:

While removing that, I noted that one of the 3 bolts on the right side guard was broken and just hanging there.

Here's what was left of the bolt above, after we got the cover off to see if we could deal with this.

Fortunately, there was enough there to get vice grips on and back it out.  I was also lucky that the threads were not cross threaded and the new bolt slid in pretty easily.  This makes for the 3rd bolt that was either rounded out, or the head was taken off altogether.  It begs the question; how much of this sort of thing is caused by service technicians who should know better.  At a minimum, if they didn't do it; but, see it, they should tell the owner.   I'm glad I'm taking responsibility for my bikes maintenance now.

After completing this mini-project, we got back to removing all the tupperware on the front end of the bike.  At this point, I found evidence of my oil consumption problem that is making me lean heavily toward the possibility that this is a leak from the valve cover gasket.  When I went to remove the right lower cowling, I got a handful of oil.  It would seem that oil is coming off that gasket, dripping onto the cowling, where it runs off the back side as the bike is moving.  I've never seen a drop of oil under the bike.  This would be the result of the last valve clearance check, which was done by my local dealer.

 This is what came out of the Tupperware on my radiator when I removed it.

Draining the cooling fluid the BMW way.  I think it's easier at the radiator; but, who am I?

 This crispy little guy was wedged somewhere in the Tupperware on the bike.  The bike is an absolute bug killer.   I found two dragon flies of this size.

Here's a view of the left side of the bike once the Tupperware is off and the radiator out of the way.

Once the radiator is off, you can get down to the business of removing the air distribution line, the coils and spark plugs.  I called Morton's service department for assistance in removing the air distribution line.  I am using an online manual and can't click through the links as I should be able to.  I was unable to find the procedure for getting this off.  Morton's was very helpful and indicated that heating up the metal with a hair dryer would help.  It just pulls out.  We did that and removed the plugs and ignition coils.

Removing the crank cover gasket is problematic as there are two bolts holding it on that are in a place where a torque wrench will not fit.  There is not enough clearance.  I put a question out to the forum above and hope for some suggestions tomorrow.  Getting it off isn't the problem.  Getting it back on at the right torque is.  The solution turns out to be a torx bit that would go in a driver, operated by a ratcheting handle.  These will have to be carefully torqued by hand based on the feel of properly torquing the others.

After removing the crankshaft cover, we got a look at the valve gasket, which didn't look so bad; but, when we put a flashlight behind the cylinders, we could see oil that had been leaking at some point.  There was also oil on the outside left front of the cylinder cover, I'm really thinking that the oil leak was most likely the cylinder head cover.  I ordered a new gasket.

Here's a good pic of the engine with the crankshaft cover off.  We measured the valve clearances and they are all well within tolerances.  In fact, I'd say that they are barely worn.   I had to buy a ratcheting wrench to slide over a torx bit in order to get the rear bolts off the cylinder head.  Note that there is a big risk of dropping the bit down one of the holes for the direct ignition coils.  Use paper towels to block these holes and prevent all sorts of aggregation, frustration and general discontent.

The valve clearances are all within spec.  A couple intake valves seem just a smidge tight; but, better tighter than worn and loose.  One thing I didn't mention yet was the cover for the access to the crankshaft.  That cover provides access so we can turn the crankshaft during the valve clearance check.  It was entirely missing one bolt.  That leaves open the possibility that oil could have been leaking from there as well.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

We can't go much further without talking about this dirty rotten scoundrel.  She is this absolutely adorable 50% wolf, 50% German Shepard mix named Grace.  Those precious brown eyes and seemingly innocent looking face are a disguise.  She is a thief, a burglar, a pilferer, a sneaky robber who stole a plastic bit of my motorcycle and absconded to the back yard with it.  Fortunately, she didn't chew it to pieces.  There are only a couple small tooth marks on it and now, I can honestly say my motorcycle was bitten by a wolf.  Gracie, thank you for your contribution.  Don't do it again.

GS-911 to the rescue

The bike didn't start up on first attempt after we got it back together.  We couldn't find anything to let us know what was wrong.  I bought a GS-911 and had it shipped to me.  It bricked 10 minutes after I got it.  All I did was register it and update the firmware.  Fortunately, we were able to find a back version of the launcher software and get it to do what we needed to for this service.  Support says I need to ship it back.

Wiring

The GS-911 pointed out that the crankshaft sensor was unresponsive.  The cause was that it was plugged into the wrong harness.  That was my fault.  This brings about a very critical point.  Wires are not labeled.  Label them before you separate wires from harnesses and save yourself the trouble.

Cooling System

Make sure to burp (bleed) your cooling system.  Failure to do so will result in your engine overheating.  Here's the issue.  When your bike hits about 230 degrees, the cooling fan will come on.  Under normal conditions (proper radiator fluid at capacity), the radiator will cool the cooling fluid down to about 200 degrees F, and keep the bike in that range.  If, you don't bleed the cooling system, a tiny air bubble could keep the proper amount of cooling fluid from being in the bike.  You'll see this after bleeding because once that bubble is gone, your reservoir will dump into the radiator.  Less cooling fluid = less ability to cool the bike.  The fan will still come on; but, there just won't be enough medium to move the heat away from the engine to the radiator.  Burp the cooling system and verify that the cooling system does not red line.  If you have a GS-911, you'll be able to watch the temperatures directly.  If you don't, make sure you test for at least 15 minutes at idle.  The fan should come on and you should never hit red line.  On mine, I get about 7 bars under normal operation.

Tupperware

There's a lot of it.  Putting it back together is a trial and error experience.   You have to be careful about what panel tie into what and make sure that you account for all places that a bolt is supposed to go.  Failure to do so will result in an insecure panel and my bet is that at 70 mph, it might depart the bike with plenty of damage to go with it.  My suggestion is to get out plastic baggies and put all the bolts for each panel in it's own baggie and tape them to the Tupperware in question, or number them, or mark them in whatever way makes you comfortable.  You will spend more time putting it together than you spent taking it apart.  I also recommend that the next time you happen upon a BMW dealer, or come across them elsewhere, you pick up a couple dozen T-25 Torx bolts for the Tupperware parts.  It's easy to drop one and not find it until the next time you take the bike apart, or never.

I still haven't gotten the order down to science yet.  So far, I've figured out that the top 3 panels can go first.  The piece on the bottom by the radiator can be placed at any time before the lower panels and the big middle panels have to go in before the lower panels.  The biggest pain in the neck are the fog lamps and you will have to be patient with getting these right.  If you have crash bars, take note of what bolts you need to use for those and make sure you don't sink them in before you have the crash bars on.

Final notes and impressions:

1)  With 48,000 miles on the bike and the non existent wear on the valves, I'm considering not doing the valve clearance check at 12,000 mile service intervals.  The BMW dealer said that they rarely have to do a valve adjustment and I'm seeing negligible wear.  Every time you remove the gasket, you risk damaging it and creating more problems.  12,000 miles seems like too often.   I'm considering also moving the spark plug maintenance and the valve clearance to 24,000 mile intervals.

2)  There is a lot of time involved in this maintenance.  Lots of it is wasted going on tool runs, parts runs, waiting for parts to be delivered, taking tires for mounting and balancing, trying to do the maintenance on the garage floor, etc.  If you're serious about doing this yourself, you might consider getting a motorcycle table lift and being sure you have everything you will need at your fingertips and the bike is in a position where you don't have to get up and down every couple minutes for a tool.  Being able to mount your own tires would also be very worthwhile.

3)  Having the GS-911 or the BMW tool is a must.  The service for all service intervals calls for reading the diagnostics and it is also necessary to reset the service reminder.  If anything goes wrong, you'll need to have it on hand to diagnose the problem.  I originally was going to do the service and just drive it in to a dealer to reset the service reminders.  I've come a long way from that way of thinking.  There are plenty of switches and such that the rider never even knows about.  If any one of them go bad, you'll need this tool to diagnose the problem.  That crankshaft sensor, for example, will not prevent a running bike from continuing to run; but, the second it's turned off, it won't start back up.