What did you do to your RT today?

147063 Views 1325 Replies 154 Participants Last post by pchrt, 6 h ago

Aussie Mark

Discussion Starter · Apr 9, 2021 (Edited)

Working on the RT is a little bit of therapy and a break from my daily work routine.
Spent a couple of hours this afternoon replacing the RH cylinder head cover and detailing the bike for a weekend ride. Last week I completed the 100,000KM service, including the valve and ignition timing checks (thanks Boxflyer for your assistance).
Hopefully it stays dry this weekend..

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Scott9999

· #1,201 · 3 mo ago

Mellow said:
Love the color scheme, wish they'd done something like that w/RT.

BMW did do this special paint on the camhead's (don't recall what it was officially called), that I loved. Unfortunately, it was apparently just a one-off year thingy. I guess every once in a while, a BMW Motorrad designer hits the Ratskeller a little to hard, and comes up with something off the wall. They should let that guy loose more often. 😁😎

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RTDragon

· #1,202 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

@Scott9999 I realised that with the hex on top filler plug and t45 (i think i tried t40 but was loose but maybe because it was damaged the t45 worked) but still was a pain to remove. They seemed to be way too tight (def not 20nm as I was tapping with rubber mallet to try break seal and cursing the monkey who did work on her last - not only issue I've found so far. No doubt more to come). Got them off, gave them a clean and just refilled it with fresh oil. I plan to change again once I get the new drain plug. Now if I can't get then off again it was my fault! Lol.
Next jobs to actually get my crash bars I bought before Christmas fitted to her as need to practise my slow speed manoeuvres and hopefully they'll put my mind at ease before I try!

Actually quick question for you all. When I turned on ignition to get odometer reading for my notes, a date shows where odometer is shown then changes to odometer but it's not todays date - is that the service or service due date? Thanks.

Picture is of shaft oil I dropped from her. Definitely needed it I think.

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The_real_hati

· #1,203 · 3 mo ago

RTDragon said:
Picture is of shaft oil I dropped from her. Definitely needed it I think.

Woah, that is properly dirty. I change main every service interval, so 10000 km apart. It comes out almost as it goes in. If I don't forget it in 4k kilometres, I'll take a photo of my used oil. I was under the impression that the '18 and '21 bikes share the exact same final drive. Weird yours is so dark...

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Ultra54

· #1,204 · 3 mo ago

Scott9999 said:
I was being sincere on the other thread on the bmwst site: Live and learn. You're the most thorough engineer/wrench I've ever met (virtually, still, at this point). We all make mistakes. I was kind of laughing there, and on this thread, because I've seen both the T45 and TP40 cited, and again, authoritatively. It's good that it's "settled science": T45 it is. When I got stuck removing the fill plug, and immediately retreated to the computer to verify my erroneous "common knowledge", I also laughed at post after post, where other owners were saying "Hey, ya know, I was trying to remove the final drive fill pull and darned if it isn't all seized up ...". 🤣 Seems like while there's an "TADT" (i.e. they all do that") for Beemers, there's also a "WADT" (i.e. we all...) for the owners.

Now THAT's the kinda star power one gets with "Boxflyer". It never occurred to me that metal shavings in the FD were fouling the threads. At the very least, I should run a brush or maybe a greased pipe-cleaner through the threads to clean them out. 👍🍻

Great idea. I've never heard of starting and bottoming taps. Will pick one of these sets up to go in the motorcycle tool box for next time.

As I have mentioned, I probably only have 300 miles on the bike since I bought it, and even if it was ridden a bit since the 12K service (at 11,500 miles) while it sat on their sales lot, there couldn't be more than 500 or 800 miles on it since. The oil and FD lube came out pretty clear, as one would expect. Changing the fluids is overkill, but I feel better about starting this season with fresh fluids. (I didn't even both to capture them for testing, as I intend to do in the future, because Blackstone would have laughed at me, while they took my money of course. 😏

Thanks for all you do for the Beemer community. Don't ever switch to all-Honda's or all-Harley's. We need to keep you on our team. 😁

I’m curious if some of you change out all the fluids if your car or truck every season like you do on your bikes?

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Scott9999

· #1,205 · 3 mo ago

Ultra54 said:
I’m curious if some of you change out all the fluids if your car or truck every season like you do on your bikes?

Never an issue. The car is in continuous use and is serviced based on mileage. Unfortunately, my BMW RT is not in continuous use.

In California, I rode my (older) RT(s) twelve months a year, so it was less an issue. There were, in fact, long periods where for either business or personal reasons, the bike sat unused in the garage, and should have been better maintained. This (2018) RT has under 12K miles, is still (to me) a fairly new bike, and I'd like to keep it that way for a couple more years, or perhaps, 100K miles, whichever comes first. Also, since I'm in Northern Idaho, riding the bike 12 months a year is, um ~~~ fairly impractical.😏

(Side note: If BMW doesn't start selling manuals for their shiftcams and newer Beemers, this bike may have to last a whole lot longer than a few years, 'cause I'll never buy another one that I can't at the very least, understand what a mechanic is doing to my bike, if I'm not doing the work myself.)

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RTDragon

· #1,206 · 3 mo ago

The_real_hati said:
Woah, that is properly dirty. I change main every service interval, so 10000 km apart. It comes out almost as it goes in. If I don't forget it in 4k kilometres, I'll take a photo of my used oil. I was under the impression that the '18 and '21 bikes share the exact same final drive. Weird yours is so dark...

Ya the dealer I bought her from, I doubt did any fluid change except for engine oil (but didn't touch oil filter) so according to my owners manual her last bmw service was before she left the UK in Oct 2021 (not sure how much done offhand). So maybe that is why it was so dark and magnet full of crud.
But I will change it again (a worthwhile flush) when I get the replacement plug and see if there is more crud in the magnet and if I have anything to worry about. If you remember I'd appreciate seeing pic after your next fd change so I've something to compare to. 😊

Scott9999

· #1,207 · 3 mo ago

RTDragon said:
Ya the dealer I bought her from, I doubt did any fluid change except for engine oil (but didn't touch oil filter) so according to my owners manual her last bmw service was before she left the UK in Oct 2021 (not sure how much done offhand). So maybe that is why it was so dark and magnet full of crud.
But I will change it again (a worthwhile flush) when I get the replacement plug and see if there is more crud in the magnet and if I have anything to worry about. If you remember I'd appreciate seeing pic after your next fd change so I've something to compare to. 😊

My bike supposedly received it's 12K mile service at the dealer, at about 11,500 miles, 4 months before I bought it. When I drained the FD last week, the fluid looked pretty clear (as it should after perhaps 300 miles on it), and I just popped the drain plug back in. Before I filled it, I recalled that I didn't look closely at the plug, so I pulled it again to double check.

Short story long: I was mildly shocked at what was in that magnetic plug. No WAY did the dealer's tech clean that out, more than a casual wipe prior to reinstalling the plug. It took me a while to push oil filled paper towels in there to get all of the fine metal shavings out of there. It's not unusual to have 'em there, it's going to happen with all bikes (which is why I believe the FD should be serviced alongside very oil change), but that build up didn't happen in 300 miles. I was shocked that the tech guy didn't do his job. It's a SIMPLE part of the FD service, for which the dealer probably billed 45 minutes at $170 USD per hour.

I'll definitely ship both FD and the engine oil to Blackstone labs for evaluation at every future service. It'll give me the most complete picture, I believe, of what's going on inside those two critical components (i.e. engine/wet transmission, and final drive). I didn't do this during this change due to the limited miles on the oil, but will during my next scheduled services at 18K miles. (I hope to ride enough this year, to do in late summer.)

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speedtoys.racing

· #1,208 · 3 mo ago

Ultra54 said:
I’m curious if some of you change out all the fluids if your car or truck every season like you do on your bikes?

Yup, once a year regardless of miles.

928 in a hard year will se 10k, but that was during covid.

davebullock

· #1,209 · 3 mo ago

I had an LT for years-sold with over 220,000 miles. I now have a 2019RT, and plan to keep the same rhythm of changing oil and final drive every 5000 miles. It's so easy for me to remember 5000 mile intervals, and changing the final drive on the R1250RT is a breeze compared to my 2010RT. So, for the small price of couple gaskets and fluid, just do it. I can keep close eye on what the plug looks like, and generally feel good about knowing I'm running with clean stuff. It's more of a pain to reset the 911 for service intervals!

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speedtoys.racing

· #1,210 · 3 mo ago

N00b question:

What about fork oil?

I did this on my K75 once a year as well..

Scott9999

· #1,211 · 3 mo ago

speedtoys.racing said:
N00b question:

What about fork oil?

I did this on my K75 once a year as well..

I used to do that on non-BMW bikes when the shocks were in the fork, but haven't seen the need (or a BMW requirement) for that thus far on the telelever based Beemers.

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steveaikens

· #1,212 · 3 mo ago

speedtoys.racing said:
N00b question:

What about fork oil?

Unless something tells me there may be a problem - I don't worry too much about fork oil on my RT. When I feel it's time, I add it to the dealer service.

However, if you feel you'd like to do it yourself, you sure can.

https://www.xtgaby.com/post/bmw-r1200rt-leaking-front-fork-repair-step-1-remove-the-fairing-panels

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Audi403

· #1,213 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

Installed the Akrapovic slip-on, as well as the stainless steel headers. The headers were a bit more work than I expected. I don't like twisting the shit out of the O2 sensor wires so I disconnected the connectors to each sensor for removal/installation. That added quite a bit of time. I also wasn't able to find any way to torque the O2 sensors onto the new headers. I do have a 17mm O2 sensor socket, but the space is too tight to get the ratchet onto it. I tried a flare nut crowfoot wrench but couldn't make that work either. There are 3 O2 sensors. The upstream ones use a 22mm wrench. I ended up just doing them all good and tight by hand with a wrench.

I think it looks awesome. The sound is a bit more aggressive now. It's a bit louder, but not obnoxious like some previous bikes I've had. My Victory Highball and Ducati Supersport were both much louder. I don't enjoy extremely loud exhausts anymore. I ride with NRR 33 earplugs, which are the highest rating available.

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kbob12

· #1,214 · 3 mo ago

It looks great! Cheers!

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Ugly Betty

· #1,215 · 3 mo ago

Finished my Innovv K3 install.

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2tired

· #1,216 · 3 mo ago

Ugly Betty said:
Finished my Innovv K3 install.

Where is your front camera mounted?

Ugly Betty

· #1,217 · 3 mo ago

Ended up putting it here. Wanted to mount it through the trim panel just above, but was just too tight to get my fingers in there.

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2tired

· #1,218 · 3 mo ago

That works very well.

I ask because I have ACC and, when using the supplied bracket, was getting just the SLIGHTEST scuffing on the fender... so I removed it before bad things happened.

I moved it up in the right cowling forward of the radiator, but parts of the bike obscured the view. Now I'm trying this...

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I gained about 12mm over the INNOVV mount. Just a prototype at this point; we'll see where it goes. I'm hoping this is high enough to avoid the fender at full compression.

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Ugly Betty

· #1,219 · 3 mo ago

2tired said:
That works very well.

I ask because I have ACC and, when using the supplied bracket, was getting just the SLIGHTEST scuffing on the fender... so I removed it before bad things happened.

I moved it up in the right cowling forward of the radiator, but parts of the bike obscured the view. Now I'm trying this...

View attachment 181982

I gained about 12mm over the INNOVV mount. Just a prototype at this point; we'll see where it goes. I'm hoping this is high enough to avoid the fender at full compression.

Yeah, that stupid block at the top of the bracket really hung the camera further down than I wanted. I bent the bracket out a bit so I could move the camera back and up to get it closer to the trim panel. I was concerned it might be too far back and have some of the view blocked by the bike, but it's fine, no obstruction.

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speedtoys.racing

· #1,220 · 3 mo ago

Ugly Betty said:
Finished my Innovv K3 install.

The killer app here would be if it could cloud upload everytime you get home and on local wifi...

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