24,000 service ???

[BallsCasten]

Without rehashing the maintenance book. Anything to watch for in the 24,000 mi service?

[zippy_gg]

Filters: Oil, fuel, air.
Fluids: tranny, engine, rear drive, brake/clutch, coolant
Check: valve adjustment, brake pads, tires.
Lube: all around, not forgetting the shift linkage under the left driver footpeg plate.
Beer: Cold ones!:beer: ;)

Get 2 clamps for the fuel pump to the fuel line inside the tank.

Optional: Get screw kit from Dave Shealey for the oil cover plate (will not break when tightened to proper torque)

[McRuss]

Without rehashing the maintenance book. Anything to watch for in the 24,000 mi service?

If you haven't done one before, then you've never had the pleasure of removing the fuel tank. Oh, removal is not bad, it's the bloody right hand bolt that is the killer when going back together! I just finished my 24k and it was a bloody fight to get the tank bolted down! Even the front bolts on the 'bridge' didn't want to line up. Nothing seemed right!

[kevincook]

I just had my fuel tank off this weekend. I thought it was pretty straight forward and didn't have any trouble taking it off or putting it back on.

Why the fuel filter is INSIDE the fuel tank....now that baffles me. :D Oh, and putting the air filter UNDER the fuel tank....what were the engineers thinking? :o

Kevin

[katnapinn]

[QUOTE=kevincook

Why the fuel filter is INSIDE the fuel tank....now that baffles me. :D Oh, and putting the air filter UNDER the fuel tank....what were the engineers thinking? :o

Kevin[/QUOTE]

AMEN 3 hours to change the air filter is a lil bit much to me. :eek:

[boxer259]

AMEN 3 hours to change the air filter is a lil bit much to me. :eek:
You put the filter inside the fuel tank,so when you have to replace it you also
should be removing any water that has accumliated inside the tank,and if our
gas tanks were metal instead of plastic you would reduce the build up of rust.

[ltlfeat]

Hear lots of complaints about dealer costs here. I am due for my 24k service also,what is a fair price and can I expect the dealer to give me a quote upfront assuming there is nothing that needs additional service
Steve M

[zippy_gg]

Parts alone will set you back about $120.00 if purchased from the dealer.
The rest is labor... Several hours at $80.00/hours.
A 24K service can cost you over $600.00 easy... or you can attend a local tech session and just buy parts, beer, etc...;)

[dshealey]

I just had my fuel tank off this weekend. I thought it was pretty straight forward and didn't have any trouble taking it off or putting it back on.

Why the fuel filter is INSIDE the fuel tank....now that baffles me. :D Oh, and putting the air filter UNDER the fuel tank....what were the engineers thinking? :o

Kevin

Look at the design of the bike in total, and tell me where YOU would put them, Without changing the nice sleek looks of the bike.

Yes, a little work, but not a big deal. MOST cars now have the fuel pumps in the tank, and I recently had to put a new one in my BMW 740, no picnic either. They are in the tank for a couple good reasons, first is cooling, second is no return line from the pump relief valve back to the tank is needed. Most fuel injection pumps have an overpressure relief valve in the pump in case of any blockage in the line, to protect the pump.

[mneblett]

Why the fuel filter is INSIDE the fuel tank....now that baffles me. :D Oh, and putting the air filter UNDER the fuel tank....what were the engineers thinking? :o Not a clue on the stoopid! air filter location.

On the other hand, there are at least two reasons to put it in the tank: lower costs -- subtier inserts fuel pump/filter module into a tank subassembly in one operation, BMW takes it and drops a complete fuel system onto the bike, simplifying assembly line operations (no fussing with multiple fittings, no separate operation to install the filter); the other reason is in the event of a failure -- the pump runs at 50 psi; if the filter splits open, or it slips off the pump outlet tube (both of which have happened), the 50 psi fuel stream stays in the fuel tank, not in your lap :)

[hoodoodrum]

Ahh, the fuel filter. I had my r1150r custom painted. I removed the painted body parts including tearing down the gas tank and removing the fuel pump/filter assembly that is mounted inside the tank. PITA to get it back in after the tank was repainted and trying not to scratch the surfaces. I'll take plastic tanks any day.

[kevincook]

Not a clue on the stoopid! air filter location.

On the other hand, there are at least two reasons to put it in the tank: lower costs -- subtier inserts fuel pump/filter module into a tank subassembly in one operation, BMW takes it and drops a complete fuel system onto the bike, simplifying assembly line operations (no fussing with multiple fittings, no separate operation to install the filter); the other reason is in the event of a failure -- the pump runs at 50 psi; if the filter splits open, or it slips off the pump outlet tube (both of which have happened), the 50 psi fuel stream stays in the fuel tank, not in your lap :)

I'm not really complaining. We buy a lot of German equipment in our plant and I deal with many of their engineers so I know the drill. Great Machinery....some quirks you have to live with :D

The pump inside the tank...no problem, but the fuel filter is a normal maintenance item. If you make the filters and fluids easy to change then they are more likely to be done per the maintenance schedule. There is probably enough room to mount a filter externally right where the fuel lines disconnect now. If not the tank design could have been modified slightly to make the room for the filter.

The air filter I'm not sure about but I am pretty sure with a clean slate I could have come up with some idea to make it easy to get at without changing the overall bike design. I guess it's a good thing I like tinkering with mechanical things anyway.

I guess if they made it too easy everyone would own one :rolleyes:

Kevin

[mneblett]

I'm not really complaining. Didn't think you were :)

There's no question that there's room about the bike for an external filter; the question is "is it a good idea?" Every year or so, someone posts the suggestion of moving the filter outside of the tank (not saying you did, I'm just posting to head off the inevitable from someone else :)).

Obviously, I'm very strongly against it. As infrequently as the filter is replaced, and given the fact that there's little additional labor involved (the tank has to come off for the air filter service, anyway), I'd much rather leave the filter encapsulated in the tank and not have the "what if" question constantly in the back of my mind.

There's been more than one BMW owner - on this list alone - that replaced their filter, put the bike back together, and shortly thereafter had the bike stop running -- because the filter had slipped off the pump outlet. If the filter had been outside the tank ... well, imagine what a 50 psi, 1/4" diameter jet of water feels like. Then imagine how quickly and thoroughly that jet would spread all over the place. Now imagine the same thing, with gasoline on you and the bike, with the added joy of the possibility of ignition sources nearby. Ugh.

Maybe this is a case where the design is a pita to service, but the BMW designers did "the right thing." Now about that air filter, and the location of the tranny drain plug! ...

FWIW, I'm apparently not alone in my views on the fuel filter issue, because for cost, better installation space use, and safety reasons, most fuel filters are joining their pumps in the tanks on new cars -- some even in mid-life cycle, despite the added costs of doing it early rather than in the next design. For example, Chevrolet overhauled the fuel system design of the 97-04 Corvette in mid-2003, putting the filter inside the tank, despite the fact that the next generation Corvette was almost ready to release in 2005. This was probably done in part to help push some of the C6 vette's development costs to the C5 program, but also no doubt to get the in-the-tank system out as soon as possible and proven for C6 use.

FWIW2, if BMW really wanted to make an improvement here, they could substantially increase the size of the filter and increase its life -- my '04 vette's in-tank filter is a 100,000+ mile device; BMW should be able to spec a similarly long-lived unit. Of course, then the dealers would be complaining about the lost service income opportunities ;) More proof than no matter how you make a situation "better," someone's gonna complain :)

[McAllister]

For what ever my $ .02 are worth, I've replaced my fuel and air filters several times and I can replace both of them pretty quick now. I've noticed that the plastic removal and installation get quicker each time I go through the drill. Pulling the tank is almost second nature but I still fight getting the five bolts back in every once and a while. I can understand how the task can seem a bit of a pain but it does get easier the more you do it. Maybe everyone needs to ride more to get more maintenance practice! If it helps any, just be glad it isn't an aircraft you are working on. I could tell you some really bad maintenance task that make the LT's plastic removal and filter replacements look easy.

[Ranger6]

I performed this entire drill for the first time myself a few months back. Misery loves company I suppose, but it is reassuring to learn that others are having trouble putting the fuel tank back on, not to mention getting the holes in the bridge to line up for the bolts...ARGH! Interestingly enough, I thought I had lost one of the rubber spacer bushings (never did find it) on the left side of the tank and had to get one from the dealer before reassembly. Upon reflection, I'm not too sure now if the damn thing was even there to begin with and probably wound up on the floor of my dealer's service bay the last time the tank was removed, because replacing it seemed to complicate things and make the tank/bridge reassembly even more difficult than if it wasn't there at all.