R1200ST Issues

[DirkB1980]

Good morning! My name is Dirk, I ride a 2006 R1200ST here in South Africa. I have some crappy issues with the bike.

 

A couple of days having it serviced at BMW I started it and it sounded different, a bit noisier, rougher than usual. I thought it sounded cool but it was quite noticible. Then I went on a trip with it. First off, it died a couple of times when idling at traffic lights and stops. Then I noticed how heavy it was on gas, crazy heavy, I got about 2/3's of my usual consumption. When I start it cold, it sounds fine. After a couple of seconds it starts to rough idle, bucks a bit and will sometimes stall.

 

So I started checking for faults... Pulled the top  coils, seems to make a difference when out, changed all the plugs, tested the bottom coils. They all fire. Someone told me that if a coil is bad, it can still fire when outside the engine but how the hell do I check that? The color of the spark seems the same on all of them. I live in a smallish town far from anyone that can help. Can anyone give me some advice please on what else I can check and how? I installed a tank ring, the bike was serviced and they disconnected the power commander to fix another issue. All plugs were replaced, I checked. The bike has 37000km on the clock.

[dirtrider]

3 hours ago, DirkB1980 said:

Good morning! My name is Dirk, I ride a 2006 R1200ST here in South Africa. I have some crappy issues with the bike.

 

A couple of days having it serviced at BMW I started it and it sounded different, a bit noisier, rougher than usual. I thought it sounded cool but it was quite noticible. Then I went on a trip with it. First off, it died a couple of times when idling at traffic lights and stops. Then I noticed how heavy it was on gas, crazy heavy, I got about 2/3's of my usual consumption. When I start it cold, it sounds fine. After a couple of seconds it starts to rough idle, bucks a bit and will sometimes stall.

 

So I started checking for faults... Pulled the top  coils, seems to make a difference when out, changed all the plugs, tested the bottom coils. They all fire. Someone told me that if a coil is bad, it can still fire when outside the engine but how the hell do I check that? The color of the spark seems the same on all of them. I live in a smallish town far from anyone that can help. Can anyone give me some advice please on what else I can check and how? I installed a tank ring, the bike was serviced and they disconnected the power commander to fix another issue. All plugs were replaced, I checked. The bike has 37000km on the clock.

Morning  DirkB1980

 

It is very difficult to test those stick coils as the secondary is isolated, about all you can do at home is try to duplicate the KV requirement that the plug sees under combustion load. That is to take an old (but known good) spark plug, then open up the electrode gap to 4.75 mm (if a dual electrode plug then remove one electrode, then open the gap on the other one to about 4.75mm. Then see if can spark across the 4.75mm gap with a decent spark.

 

Is your Power Commander still disconnected or is it now reconnected (your problem sort of fits with a Power  Commander type issue)  so you might want to verify that is set correctly & functioning correctly. 

[DirkB1980]

Thank you for responding to my post!

 

I noticed a slight dip in the engine at cruising speed of about 140km/h. When it went in for a service, I asked them to check it out. They told me that everything looked good, valve clearance was good, so the plugs, coils, injectors etc. The mechanic told me that the power commander might not be calibrated properly because I had removed the CAT. He suggested they disable it which they did so the power commander is no longer in play. I also installed a new battery.

 

I got the bike back and after a short while, the issues as mentioned started. I will try the test with modified spark plug as well, thank you for that suggestion!

[dirtrider]

15 minutes ago, DirkB1980 said:

Thank you for responding to my post!

 

I noticed a slight dip in the engine at cruising speed of about 140km/h. When it went in for a service, I asked them to check it out. They told me that everything looked good, valve clearance was good, so the plugs, coils, injectors etc. The mechanic told me that the power commander might not be calibrated properly because I had removed the CAT. He suggested they disable it which they did so the power commander is no longer in play. I also installed a new battery.

 

I got the bike back and after a short while, the issues as mentioned started. I will try the test with modified spark plug as well, thank you for that suggestion!

Morning  DirkB1980

 

If your battery was disconnected/ replaced did you do a new TPS re-learn?  If not then you should do that. 

 

TPS re-learn procedure-----

 

*Disconnect the lead to the battery's positive  post for about 3 minutes.
Then 
*Reconnect the positive lead to the battery's positive terminal.
Then
*Switch on the ignition.
Then
*Without starting the engine, fully open/close the throttle once or twice so that the control unit of the BMW engine management system can register the throttle-valve positions.
Then
*Switch off the ignition.

That's it__
 

[DirkB1980]

Hello

 

Thank you for the tip. I did the TPS relearn, no improvement. Bike is in my garage now, no idea what to do next. I'll try to get it to someone that can troubleshoot it.

[sardineone]

At this distance very hard to diagnose.  Seems suspicious that started after a service?  Dare I say your throttle bodies may be way out of sync??  How did the spark plug color compare from the RH to LH cylinders?  BTW my ST is an '06 as well!

 

[DirkB1980]

On 9/16/2020 at 11:43 PM, sardineone said:

At this distance very hard to diagnose.  Seems suspicious that started after a service?  Dare I say your throttle bodies may be way out of sync??  How did the spark plug color compare from the RH to LH cylinders?  BTW my ST is an '06 as well!

 

 

Thank you for your post! After everything that I have done so far to try to rectify the issue, the throttle body sync or coils seem to be the most plausible cause.

 

I went to a guy here that looked at the bike and suggested that I have the injectors cleaned and that I replace the fuel filter. I sent the injectors to a Bosch service center where I had them cleaned. The technician informed me that they were clogged so it was probably a good thing to do. I took the fuel tank off, flushed it, replaced the perished fuel strainer, flushed the lines, installed the new fuel filter and then put everything back together again.

 

I went for a ride yesterday morning, all expectant that the issue would be resolved. Needless to say, it wasn't. Bike stalled 4 or 5 times. I nursed it back home and started researching again. I then stumbled on a throttle body sync video so that will be my next step. If that doesn't work, I'll revisit the coils. The mechanic that suggested I cleaned the injectors says they are fine but he didn't really spend much time testing them. I'll try to find some to test my bike with if the throttle body sync doesn't do the trick.

 

Regarding the spark plug color, I honestly cannot recall. Also seems suspicious to me that it happened right after a service... But anyhoo, back to the drawing board I guess. It's nice to "meet" a fellow ST owner, not many of us around it seems. Are you a member on the Facebook ST Group?

[sardineone]

Just to give you a hand, here's the way I've found that works well to sync the throttle bodies on my bike.  

 

[DirkB1980]

Thank you very much, I appreciate the info! It will definitely help.

[DirkB1980]

Good morning! So I finally found out what was wrong with my bike. Turns out the Lambda sensors were defective. It took quite a bit of to and fro to get to the issue but it was eventually sorted out by a mechanic I took the bike to. Thank you for all the help and advice you guys gave me here, I appreciate it.