DIY Maintenance 1st attempt – success!

[tobes]

I decided to do the 24k service on my bike, or at least most of it, myself. I got the Jim Von Baden DVD and the BMW service manual on DVD. Between these DVD’s and the BMWMOA tech library I felt confident to give it a go. So I ordered the complete service kit for our bike from the Beemer Boneyard which included all of the needed parts except for grease for the final drive spline. A quick trip to my local Honda dealer and I had all of the needed parts. I ordered feeler gauges from RL Motorcycles and picked up a few more tools and I was good to go.

I started this past Friday night and finished up the job on Saturday. In all I did the air filter, engine oil and filter, valve adjustments, rocker arm end play check, spark plugs, transmission fluid change, rear drive fluid change and spline grease. I’ll need to get the dealer to do the throttle body sync and check for error codes. I used the JVB DVD and BMWMOA tech library throughout the process and checked on torque specs using the BMW service manual.

In all the process went very smoothly. It took a while to get the valves just right. All needed adjusting except for one set of exhaust values. The rocker arm end play was in spec. This was a very good experience and I highly recommend it if you have some basic mechanical skills. Mine are minimal and I managed to get through this with no problems. I took the bike out for a ride today and it runs great! Here are some photos from the process.

Air filter:


Oil:


Valves and plugs:





Transmission:

The built in spouts on these bottles of lube came in handy



Final drive:

[cwrose]

Thanks for the success story and photos. I have been wanting to do some DIY maintenance on my bike for a long time, but I don't have a garage nor a lot of the tools required. I do my own oil changes, but that's about it. The maintenance is intimidating for me, never worked on a bike before, and working outside just isn't a lot of fun when it's cold. I keep telling myself, one day....

But thanks again. I am glad you tackled the project and found it to be fun and successful. An inspiration to us all.

[Rocket]

Thanks for this Mike. Great thread which helps inspire confidence. The pictures are a great help to see the process.
Much appreciated.

[celticus]

Thanks Mike. Great post and pictures. Timely too. I have feeler gauges in the mail as we speak. I'll be adjusting my valves soon.
I have recently changed my air filter , oil change and transmission oil change. Did you change your spark plugs? I need to read up on the rear drive fluid change and spline greasing. Where did you get the squirt bottle shown in the picture of the final drive fluid change?
Is the Jim Von Baden DVD a must have? If it is really good I'll get one.

Mark

[Oaktown]

I have the JVB DVD and recommend it. Looking at the pictures reminds me of one of the best tips on the DVD that Jim does not specifically mention, but that is observed: use a single gauge for both valves, not one for each valve. I have the same gauges pictured, but cut the plastic off in order to reach both valves simultaneously, allowing you to hold the the gauge in the middle. This makes it easy to precisely match both valves, since any variation will cause the gauge to pivot.

[tobes]

Thanks Mike. Great post and pictures. Timely too. I have feeler gauges in the mail as we speak. I'll be adjusting my valves soon.
I have recently changed my air filter , oil change and transmission oil change. Did you change your spark plugs? I need to read up on the rear drive fluid change and spline greasing. Where did you get the squirt bottle shown in the picture of the final drive fluid change?
Is the Jim Von Baden DVD a must have? If it is really good I'll get one.

Mark

Hey Mark, I did change all four plugs as well. I too would recommend the JVB DVD. I'm a visual learner and to see someone doing the work makes a big difference. As Oaktown mentioned, JVB's method of checking valves works well too. One small thing, that could potentially be a pain if you're not paying attention, that is missing from the JVB DVD is he never mentions putting the final drive drain plug back in the bike. Seems obvious but you could miss it with all of the parts laying around. The squirt bottle came from a local beauty supply store. I got the idea from Chitown's DIY post.

[deilenberger]

One other suggestion (I believe we made sure it was in the MOA pictorial..) If you didn't replace the nut on the end of the paralever link to the rear drive (which is removed to pivot it down) - use some medium strength Loctite(tm) on it. This is officially a one-time-use locking nut from BMW. I've used Loctite on them and have experienced no problems.

Just a FWIW.

Satisfying to know the job was done right isn't it? As far as the TB sync - chances are excellent that if (1) you got the valve perfect - sounds like you did and (2) no one has messed with the sync before - the sync won't need adjusting. Mine never has. Get the valves right and mine falls right into place. It is probably worth picking up a TwinMax - cost is less then the dealer is likely to charge you to hook it up and check it. You don't have to worry about balance at idle (it's rarely "balanced" actually) - it's dynamically adjusted by the stepper-motor controlled bypass passages.

[Lost Rider]

Very nice!

Satisfying isn't it?

[tobes]

It is a very satisfying feeling.

Thanks for pointing out that the paralever nut needs to be replaced Don! That is another thing that does not come with the maintenance pack from Beemer Boneyard. Medium Loctite has been applied. Think I'll order the nut just to be safe. I will also look into the TwinMax.

[websterize]

Outstanding, Tobes. Thanks for showing in addition to telling.

[Coyote Crazy]

Great job Mike. Excellent photos. Interesting enough I along with about 15 others attended a "tech session" at my local BMW dealer here in Ca. (BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County in Newbury Park, CA), last Thursday night. They opened the shop after hours and had one of their tech/mechanics (Howard) take us through a complete 6000 mi. service on a R1200. The session lasted 3 1/2 hours and included hot food, beverages and deserts! It was fascinating to watch a professional mechanic do the service. Howard really knows his stuff and shared a number of techniques with us. After attending I feel much more confident on doing my own service. Oh, did I mention the tech sessions are FREE! Check them out http://www.bmwventura.com/

[tobes]

Thanks so much! Hey Rick, that's good to hear you were able to attend the tech class at Ventura. That's where I bought my bike and have had it serviced. I tried to reserve a seat in one of the classes but it was full. Will try and make it into a future class.

[Coyote Crazy]

That's where I bought my bike and have had it serviced.

My son and I both bought our bikes there and I had mine serviced there while under warranty. Now that it is out of warranty I will attempt to do the basic maintenance myself. Great bunch of guys at that dealership. Always helpful, friendly and I have been very satisfied with their service. Just want to get to know the bike better and save a little $$$ by doing it myself.

Will try and make it into a future class.

Would be good to meet you there sometime. Maybe at the next tech session.

[gibbo111]

I recently did all the oil changes on mine and wanted a new nut for the paralever. The bmw dealer here said he didnt have one and would have to order it in, then said he would have to check if there was any in Australia!!. He then advised me they dont replace them just reuse it he said, didnt mention anything about loctite either. I dont get it.

[tobes]

Would be good to meet you there sometime. Maybe at the next tech session.

I look forward to it!

The replacement nut is not kept in stock by my dealer but they are able to order one for me. I just ordered the Twinmax from RL. The procedure on the MOA site seems pretty straight forward so this should be a good learning experience as well. Seems the only part of the maintenance I won't be able to do is to reset the service indicator and check for codes. But, it's probably a good idea for the dealer to do this anyway.

[websterize]

Seems the only part of the maintenance I won't be able to do is to reset the service indicator and check for codes. But, it's probably a good idea for the dealer to do this anyway.

Check out http://www.gs911usa.com/

Who needs dealers?

[tobes]

Here is a quick and not very detailed video of the Twin Max for anyone who is curious and may be thinking of getting one. Turns out no adjustment was necessary so I didn't get into that at this time. Just a demo of how to hook it up and what it looks like when testing the bike. The bmwmoa.org site has a detailed explanation of how to use this tool and adjust the bike if necessary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdzQUUhp2l4

Now, just need to get the GS-911.

[deilenberger]

Turns out no adjustment was necessary so I didn't get into that at this time.

That's been my experience also - once the valves are adjusted correctly - the balance is right on..

Just a demo of how to hook it up and what it looks like when testing the bike. The bmwmoa.org site has a detailed explanation of how to use this tool and adjust the bike if necessary.

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35446 - that does look a bit familair..

[tobes]

- that does look a bit familair..

Yes, thanks for the how-to instructions. I like your MOA avatar.