BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

So I just bought an '04 R1150R w/ just under 11000 miles and rode it home 300+ miles yesterday. Today when I was out on it I heard some tapping that sounds like valves to me. I have never owned a BMW before but have several classic motorcycles including BSA's and Honda CB750s. It doesn't sound excessive to me but I want to make sure as I have an untrained ear for BMWs for now. Thanks in advance for any advice.

The valves are more noisy than other makes, but you should contact the previous owner and ask when the last valve adjustment was done. Along with sync'ng the throttle bodies.

If 1 or both are over a year, it would not hurt to do those.

Excellent, looks like it's been a couple of years on that so that will be my next move. Thanks for your help

One side or both?
Could be the throttle shaft is worn on the throttle body. Hard to say without listening.
Anyway the valves operate on solid lifters and they will make a bit of noise, worse when hot.
I would seek out someone who has experience with an oilhead and get an opinion. Dealer perhaps?

It's worth checking all the typical noise making bits.....

but - also - check the oil level. My bike was getting rather tappety recently (which seemed odd not long after a full service), so I topped up the oil (my bike burns about 1.5 litre between services - always has done), and the noise went quiet.

I realised that I hadn't been checking the level as faithfully as I usually do and had let the level drop a bit too low.

+1 on these being a bit louder than most.

as said, check/top off oil, check and adjust valve clearance(BMW boxer is the absolute easiest engine to do this Ive ever come across)

then sync the throttle bodies.

Excellent. Thanks for responses. It seems to me to be coming from the right side, and it is prevalent between 2400 to 2600 rpm. Below and above it dissipates pretty quickly. The oil level looks good and it was only changed a a few hundred miles ago but I'll double check that. I'll be scheduling an appointment to have the throttle bodies sync'd up and my next day off I'll be checking valve clearances. Thanks again for all the help!

On my old 2003 R1150R I put up with what I thought was that clicking valve noise for over a year and never could get the noise to go away with valve adjustments. Then I traded it and it eventually ended up in the hands of a BMW mechanic last year. He found me as the previous owner and let me know he rebuilt the throttle body butterfly shafts and that noise went away immediately!

Worn throttle body shafts/bushings happen with high mileage bikes like Boxer's OilHead, which I believe had about 90K miles. That does not happen with only 11K miles. A BMW mechanic buying an OilHead with about 90K miles says a lot about his confidence in the machine!

FKM32 said: "It (the noise) seems to me to be coming from the right side, and it is prevalent between 2400 to 2600 rpm. Below and above it dissipates pretty quickly".

An RPM sensitive noise that occurs over a narrow RPM band -- and nowhere else -- is usually the result of resonate frequency energy coordinating havoc on ALL the moving parts like the camchain slack, tensioner parts and all of the reciprocating valve train parts.

Will the remaining OilHead riders here give their bikes the hot engine in neutral 2,400--2,600 RPM rev test and tell us if a noticeable valve noise increase happens to their bikes too? I think you'll find it is normal.

I agree with the resonance. My bike always sounds a bit different when it's hot and throttled up. I was once told that clicks and taps are to be expected and if the bike is broke it will let you know by a bad idle or surging. If you haven done the throttle sync and valve adjustment do, it kinda fun and one of the most inexpensive "upgrades" you can do. And yes I know it's a maintenance item but it improved my performance considerably. My manometer is just some 1/8" tubing, a 4 foot 1x4 and a Copenhagen can.