POS Alert!

[RonR]

This topic will probably be of most interest to those who, like me, are just now learning to do their own R12R maintenance. Those who are old hands at this may have had this specific experience, maybe not. I searched the forum for the subject but didn't find any discussion of it.

In your BMW tool kit you will find one of these:



When you are ready to do a valve adjustment (or need to remove the valve cover for any reason), you first need to extract the direct ignition coil/spark plug wire. Take the above coil extractor tool, walk to the nearest trash can, open the lid and drop it in. If you do decide to use it, understand that it is a cheap, flexible plastic piece of sh!t. Proceed with extreme care, and by that I mean you should also apply some pressure from behind the head of the coil with a flat head screwdriver or something similar, and work the coil out VERY slowly. If this is the first time anyone other than a BMW tech has removed the coil it may be extremely tight and difficult to remove. Tight enough that if you choose to simply pull on the coil with this tool alone, as I did, you may find yourself looking at something like this:



In addition to providing a tool ill-suited for its purpose, BMW also designed the plastic coil head in such a way that the end would shear off in response to even a moderate amount of force. Further, in their infinite wisdom, BMW technicians apparently think it's a bad idea to apply a dab of dielectric grease in the hood in order to make subsequent extractions easier.

So, before you start down this road I recommend investing in this substitute tool from Marc Parnes:



It's $25, postage included, and available here: http://www.marcparnes.com/BMW_Plug_Tool.htm

The same cautions apply for the first-time extraction until you grease up the hood, then it's much easier.

Also, the replacement coil ($121 list price plus tax from your local, smiling BMW parts guy; $104 including shipping from Chicago BMW) has a light gray end piece and a different part number from my original. My R is a 2007, built in late 2006, so newer models may have the new part from the factory. The Chicago BMW guy didn't know what had changed, only that BMW had been having a problem with the earlier version. I'm guessing the problem was as described above and the light gray color indicates a tougher plastic end piece.

[bobw]

OUCH! Thanks for the heads up. There are a few things like this tool (term used lightly) that can subtract so much more than the costs involved from the ownership experience. If your going to do it, do it right kind of thing for me. At the OEM level $50-100 bucks goes a long way on QC.

Good luck.

Bob

[nixdsg]

Interesting.

I completed a valve adjsutment and didn't use any tools to remove the coil. If I remember correctly I removed the valve cover with the coil intact. After the valve cover was removed, I removed (I think, it's been a while) the coil. At the completion of the job I installed the valve cover, then the coil. I don't remember any issues with the coil removal or installation. Hummmm.

Nic

[WILDPIG]

YEP-- YER CORRECT -- THAT PLASTIC POS IS ZACTLY THAT. HEY YER LUCKY, I DIDNT EVEN GET THAT PULLER IN MY "TOOL KIT"-- BUT WAIT-- BMW'S ARE PERFECT --RIGHT? THEY DONT NEED TOOLS ACCORDING TO SOME ON HERE.

[winkeldc]

What tool kit came with your bike? That puller is not listed in the manual for the OEM kit, at least not in my owner's manual.

WILDPIG: surprise, surprise. I could have guessed you'd be one of the first to chime in on the negatives. Why bother?

[deilenberger]

What tool kit came with your bike? That puller is not listed in the manual for the OEM kit, at least not in my owner's manual.

WILDPIG: surprise, surprise. I could have guessed you'd be one of the first to chime in on the negatives. Why bother?

Indeed - no tool came with mine. That tool looks like the one that came with the oilheads. One of my first investments in tools was the Mark Parnes tool. Works a charm as they say.

And is WILDPIG around again? Couldn't tell - he's on my ignore list and will stay there. It's nice not having to read his drivel.

[RonR]

Interesting.

I completed a valve adjsutment and didn't use any tools to remove the coil. If I remember correctly I removed the valve cover with the coil intact. After the valve cover was removed, I removed (I think, it's been a while) the coil. At the completion of the job I installed the valve cover, then the coil. I don't remember any issues with the coil removal or installation. Hummmm.

Nic

Using the valve cover as a coil extraction tool...hadn't thought of that approach, but I guess it might work. I'm guessing that's not what BMW had in mind, though, when they wrote the service manual where they make it clear that you should disconnect the wiring from the coil then extract the coil before removing the cover. Whatever works, though, right?

What tool kit came with your bike? That puller is not listed in the manual for the OEM kit, at least not in my owner's manual.

Again, a surprise. Not only was this tool in my kit, there also was one in the kit that came with my 2005 RT, although I never used it. So this is beginning to look like a non-issue if this is a non-standard tool. Sounds like folks are finding other ways to deal with this procedure without being done in by this POS.

[curmudgeon]

YEP-- YER CORRECT -- THAT PLASTIC POS IS ZACTLY THAT. HEY YER LUCKY, I DIDNT EVEN GET THAT PULLER IN MY "TOOL KIT"-- BUT WAIT-- BMW'S ARE PERFECT --RIGHT? THEY DONT NEED TOOLS ACCORDING TO SOME ON HERE.

BMW's goood ....... Harley's baaaad ....... ummmkay?

[bobw]

Interesting.

I completed a valve adjsutment and didn't use any tools to remove the coil. If I remember correctly I removed the valve cover with the coil intact. After the valve cover was removed, I removed (I think, it's been a while) the coil. At the completion of the job I installed the valve cover, then the coil. I don't remember any issues with the coil removal or installation. Hummmm.

Nic

Using the valve cover as a coil extraction tool...hadn't thought of that approach, but I guess it might work. I'm guessing that's not what BMW had in mind, though, when they wrote the service manual where they make it clear that you should disconnect the wiring from the coil then extract the coil before removing the cover. Whatever works, though, right?

What tool kit came with your bike? That puller is not listed in the manual for the OEM kit, at least not in my owner's manual.

Again, a surprise. Not only was this tool in my kit, there also was one in the kit that came with my 2005 RT, although I never used it. So this is beginning to look like a non-issue if this is a non-standard tool. Sounds like folks are finding other ways to deal with this procedure without being done in by this POS.

How dare you have something different. At least you had some helpful replies.

Cheers

[NeilS]

I think that tool was designed basically for one-time use. It worked pretty well the first time and thought seriously about slipping off the second. But it's only $2, less than a quart of oil. So think of it as something you buy every oil change, just like the crush washers. Or buy the Marc Parnes tool. For me, break-even will be at about 12 years