Beryl Beemer rides again, but $2,263 lighter..

[PhillWard]

Wooohoooooo....rescued Beryl Beemer as from last Friday..............(big grin)
Grroooaannnn ...paid for the ICU treatment for the last 5 weeks......(no grin)

$2,263 for a new exhaust valve?????????????????????????????????????

BMW surgeons took note of the valve clearances before operating...

Inlet (.15-.20mm): .18 .18 .16 .16 .20 .18 .18 .16
Exhaust (.25-.30mm): .28 .28 .25 .25 .25 .28 .25 .28

Hmmmmm ok all valves are within specified limits...

ok ...I take some littery license here........bear with me here, the wound is still painful.

Anyone remember those "wide eyed" encounters that some motorcycle riders experience when they realise they have overcooked a corner or similar....well that was the same "wide eyed" feeling I got when initially presented with Beryl's "medical" bill.

"$2,263????......huh" (or something along those lines)......(I knew taking that defibrillator course would prove useful....

ZZZZZAAAAAaaaaaaapppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beryl has 129,594kms on the clock,....so the theatre staff in their combined wisdom thought they would carry out some extra elective surgery whilst the patient's head was removed.

The list is as:

1 11121464823 Gasket $53:41
4 11627662083 Gasket $10:00
1 11311461380 OAR Rail $26:99
1 11311465011 OAR Guide R $27:17
1 11311465189 OAR Keine U $24:20
1 11311465121 Bush $2.51
1 11311465013 Timing chain $104:61
1 11341465240 OAR valve $86:38
1 11121465139 Gasket $87:08
16 11341340849 Gasket ring $115:84
1 11002300053 Rep kit $34:30
3.5l 16406 Mineral oil $23:87
3.1 16820 workshop coolant $26:78

$545:45

Labour at 10 hours $880:00

Head refurbishment/preassembly $623:06

10% Goods Service tax $205:76

I hadn't asked for this extra surgery as such BUT....I spose if they had bothered to consult me that it would be a good thing to replace the timing chain and guides at this particular operation I would have "consented" anyway.....

All in all I accept that the "surgeons" have done their best for the patient and I can not really fault that....(what if I had had the timing chain replaced 1000kms ago??? ....what if I had done an oil change 1000kms ago???)..then it would have been a bit different, as it was I was gonna do an oil change at 130,000kms...so that was covered, plus the coolant needed doing also.....

One thing they have cured is at start up Beryl would "race" away to 2000rpm then taper back to 1000rpm....now she starts pretty much at 1000rpm. any ideas???

Another thing I found interesting is that the machine shop doing the head were able to reground all the valves, then adjust the valve stem length in order to reuse all the factory original shims....sooooo no shims to buy at $35 odd each (price from another BMW dealer sometime back)....the head was returned to the operating room all preassembled........good stuff huh?

The initial vapour trail is still there but that's Beryl....

Heyyyyy Coni, how are your problems being sorted....do you expect a patient medical bill at all or will yours be paid for by the BMW health fund??

(who was the K12 pilot on the anthracite coloured K12 I waved at yesterday in the Blue Mountains???)

cheers

Phill
'78 XS1100E "The tardis"
'99 K1200LT "Beryl Beemer"

[black1200lt]

Phill asked: Heyyyyy Coni, how are your problems being sorted....do you expect a patient medical bill at all or will yours be paid for by the BMW health fund??

Phill,

My poorer-than-yesterday buddy; Sorry to hear that they hit your wallet so hard.

I bought an extended warranty and I think that I will owe at least a hundred dollars but it should not be too terrible.

The good news is that BMW now gives you two years and unlimited mileage warranty on all of the BMW major components.

I leave in two days to go pick up my bike, so I will be able to fill you in better on the cost after I return.

My bike is still in Reno which is 850 miles to the south of me. They did receive the transmission from Germany and got it all put back together last Wednesday.

Of course this is the year that we have broken a 20+ year record for snowfall in the mountains around here. I'm keeping my ear on the The Weather Channel and all reports so that I can get my bike home in one piece.

Take care Phill and I hope you and Beryl Beemer can get some fun riding in, real soon.

Best,

[jake]

G'day Phil,

Nice to see your bike is back up and running.

[cws]

Welcome back to the tar, Phil.

Maybe you, Peter K & I should catch up for a ride one weekend.
Peter & I had a run together a couple of weekends ago for the first time. Mind you he was on a Boxer Cup beemer as his beloved was in Tassie on a holiday with someone else, but I'd loooove to be sitting behind him on his LT if he can ride it through the corners on the old road like that boxer....!!!

Only one question now..., can you still afford petrol to go riding?????

[Spike]

Go Phill!!
Beryl should be right for another 100,000klm at least.
Maybe we could start a chook raffle to help out in the money department?? Never mind, I know the feeling after the costs involved with totaling my last ride, I'm a little lite on in that department as well.
You mentioned the fact that beryl now runs at 1000rpm straight away as before she would rev out to 2000rpm, just wondering if you could have been getting false air in somewhere which could explain a burnt out valve?? Not that i'm a mechanic mind.
Anyway I'm sure It's great to be back on the road.
Have fun and I'll catch up next time
Nick.

[BrianD]

(who was the K12 pilot on the anthracite coloured K12 I waved at yesterday in the Blue Mountains???)

Hey Phill
I was in the Blue Mountains on Saturday, heading towards Sydney about 4PM or so. Could have been me and the wife you saw :) if it was two up.
Came back through Sunday about 6:30PM.

[PhillWard]

I had asked the mechanics to take some dig pix of Beryl whilst going through the "valvendectomy"....purely for educational and interest to up an coming students of course....

Attached are the pix supplied.

I see they dropped the sump off.....Hmmmmmmmm I wonder why, when the problem was in the head.....looks like they sure gave her a good work over...which helps to deaden the pain I spose...

That valve looks sorta kaput with the edge chipped off it....I wonder if you only get 1/2 the compression test value with one valve with a hole in it like that???? hehhehehehhehehehehehehehehhhahahahahhheheheheh

Coni........good to hear that you also will soon be chugging around the place, but the snow bit is a bit off putting.......it's that white stuff right, that gets in between the tyre and the road thingy.....tends to reduce the co-eff of friction between the two????....is also accompanied by a cold feeling......brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it's coming up to Summer in the great southern land here in a month.....<sigh>.......

Brian D.....the K12 was two up but going towards the Blue mountains as we were heading back towards Sydney....Sunday...about 17:00 I think?? (your profile is a bit sparse)..

see you guys around the traps....

Phill
78 XS1100E "The tardis"
99 K12LT "Beryl Beemer"..one of the first settlers down under.

[dshealey]

I see they dropped the sump off.....Hmmmmmmmm I wonder why, when the problem was in the head......

Hi Phil!

I have had mine apart more than I like to remember. It is much easier to reomve the timing chain cover, and especially re-install and seal it properly if the crank cover is removed first. Only takes removal of a few bolts to drop the crank cover off, and it's rubber gasket can normally be re-used at least once.

[cws]

painful to see Beryl so naked.....!

[onions]

painful to see Beryl so naked.....!
A tad pornographic... Phil, have you not read the site guidelines in relation to posting nudity??? :) ;)

[BrianD]

Brian D.....the K12 was two up but going towards the Blue mountains as we were heading back towards Sydney....Sunday...about 17:00 I think??

Could have been us rumbling down the freeway towards the Mountains, would have been about the right time.

[PhillWard]

Hi Phil!

I have had mine apart more than I like to remember. It is much easier to reomve the timing chain cover, and especially re-install and seal it properly if the crank cover is removed first. Only takes removal of a few bolts to drop the crank cover off, and it's rubber gasket can normally be re-used at least once.

G'day Dave,
Aha...this would also explain why they charged me for an oil and filter change to boot....it seems I managed to time this problem about right as I had bought an oil filter some weeks ago ready to do the 130,000kms oil change....ah well it'll keep for another 10,000kms/6 months.

Soooooo I see that you are still pushing the boundaries of the rubber K1200LT syndrome huh??? I'm sure you'll eventually liaise with BMW on why these bikes bend/break and get totalled...I hope you got off better this time than what you did the first time around...you didn't look a happy chappy in the first Batbyke pix...hehehhehe I bet the insurance company starts to get fidgety when you walk through the door??? was there anything salvageable on this 2nd incident?....any exhaust valves maybe??? what about Coni's transmission??? heheheh

I see you are "holding off" on getting another (3rd???) bike...still happy with the K12 or looking at another model/manufacturer?

cheers

Phill
78XS1100E "The Tardis" (ret)
99K1200LT "Beryl Beemer"