Cam Lobe Failure

[PembsGSA]

This came into my inbox on Youtube.....

Some of the KTM models had this issue, but did'nt think this was an issue with BMW 1200/1250 LC models. Reading the associated comments with this video, where a guy from Glasgow made a complaint to BMW in this regard...

As far as I know this is rare... clickbait You-Tuber?

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I don't think is as uncommon as one would think, my sources have seen it a few times

Not sure if it's early or later models................or all of them

 

[snelly]

This came into my inbox on Youtube.....

Some of the KTM models had this issue, but did'nt think this was an issue with BMW 1200/1250 LC models. Reading the associated comments with this video, where a guy from Glasgow made a complaint to BMW in this regard...

As far as I know this is rare... clickbait You-Tuber?

Good post pembs; that looks pretty straight forward and easy ish in BMW fashion; once the hard facing goes on cam and follower it does'nt take long to end up with a cam like that;; you could have the cam metal blasted and reground to get the profile back but these days i don't think it's worth the hassle of doing that;; my ZZR has slightly pitted cams and they've been like that since about 10,000 mls; it's now on 96;000mls and is still showing 170/170/ 170/170 compression across all 4 cylinders and no other sign of ware on the cams . I've heared the pitting may hold oil in the small depressions that could help with the ware;; Steptoe or Mikey will know more about this i would guess.

 

[Victor c]

My 2021 r1250 gsa had a full set of cams and followers at 6500 miles due to premature wear. Spookily, the dealer had them in stock at the time of my service booking.

 

[Larry Langford]

I seen something similar. So I looked it up and the duck duck go search assistant said that the shift cam has been very reliable. When you have thousands of these bikes out there anything can go wrong with a few bikes, and there will be a few examples.
I think its part of some of the really aggressive fear mongering/manipulation and such going in the web these days. The authors seem to want to exploit rational concerns about new designs, to get more like and hits on there tube vids and what not. I.E. click bait ...
I ashamed to say it worked on me, I have two shiftcam bikes ... but I looked it up and it's not a thing apparently ....

 

[Santa-2512]

So case hardening has failed

I have a DIY fix. Change the cam


Not exactly rocket science

 

[snelly]

My 2021 r1250 gsa had a full set of cams and followers at 6500 miles due to premature wear. Spookily, the dealer had them in stock at the time of my service booking.

My mate bought one of the first 1000 sports bikes and within a few months his was back in for cams and such; he's still got in now all piped and mapped and making over 200 bhp; it's also done plenty of long rides into Germany and Italy over the years; it looks like once they are sorted they are fine.

 

[Victor c]

My mate bought one of the first 1000 sports bikes and within a few months his was back in for cams and such; he's still got in now all piped and mapped and making over 200 bhp; it's also done plenty of long rides into Germany and Italy over the years; it looks like once they are sorted they are fine.

Mine was fine for the subsequent two years and 18,000 miles that I owned it. This is what it sounded like before the repairs -

I noticed the rattle on mine after I had been blasting down a German autobahn at around 100mph for around 50 mins.
The right cyl was worse than the left at idle, but when revved under load, they both had the distinctive, rhythmic camshaft rattle.

 

[MartinK]

I had new cams at 12000 miles on my GS (right side), the case hardening had failed. Now 43500 miles and still good since

 

[leadfarmer]

My 2016 GS had new cams at 12,500 kms due to poor finish on the lobes, the technician noticed the noise and checked them at the last service, the bike was out of warranty but they swapped them for free by their own initiative

They also changed the left hand camshaft sprocket, axle, intermediate shaft and the cam chain tensioner a few weeks later as the noise was not completely fixed, all for free and out of warranty

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Quality ….what happened ?

 

[steadysteve]

It could be lack of mechanical sympathy , or knowledge, on the part of a handful of owners giving a handful of failures. High revs on a cold engine etc etc.
Possibly PCP rental bikes that the owner isn’t too bothered about on a long term basis cos it’s going back to dealer soon.

 

[leadfarmer]

It could be lack of mechanical sympathy , or knowledge, on the part of a handful of owners giving a handful of failures. High revs on a cold engine etc etc.
Possibly PCP rental bikes that the owner isn’t too bothered about on a long term basis cos it’s going back to dealer soon.

In my case none of those suggestions are true, bike was bought new, cash, dealer serviced and looked after correctly

 

[Victor c]

It could be lack of mechanical sympathy , or knowledge, on the part of a handful of owners giving a handful of failures. High revs on a cold engine etc etc.
Possibly PCP rental bikes that the owner isn’t too bothered about on a long term basis cos it’s going back to dealer soon.

Not in my case.

 

[dean0n0]

Quality ….what happened ?

Parts made by the lowest bidder.
What happens to the detritus/case-hardening that has been worn off the cam?

 

[G&T]

My 1250 ‘D’WFR’ is in for her 12k service and valves check shortly. Can the Tech see if there is a problem then when the cylinder head is off or is it just a sound thing?

 

[snelly]

In my case none of those suggestions are true, bike was bought new, cash, dealer serviced and looked after correctly

The problems always happen in batches; once pin pointed it is usually cleared up. Although to be honest i've never liked long oil servise intervals.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Parts made by the lowest bidder.
What happens to the detritus/case-hardening that has been worn off the cam?

If the oil filter doesn’t trap it

 

[Hann]

My 1250 ‘D’WFR’ is in for her 12k service and valves check shortly. Can the Tech see if there is a problem then when the cylinder head is off or is it just a sound thing?

The camshaft and lobes will be easily viewable as to their condition as soon as the cylinder head cover is removed as part of the normal valve check.

 

[Robbieben]

I've replaced a good number of camshafts on 1200 LC & 1250 LC engines which are known for camshaft wear faults due to incorrect case hardening procedure. There is no way of knowing if a set of cams will fail until they do. The manufacturer did not know they had a software glitch which caused the faulty hardening process but not on every batch as only one line of four had the software fault. BMW were honouring warranty replacements up until late 2024 on affected models if they had full BMW service history or from a vat registered independant. I have made 16 warranty claims on behalf of customers 14 of which were succesful.