Coding plug "stuff"

[Spud]

I have a 2002 1150GS standard including pipe, cat and silencer. On a run yesterday it seemed to be "knockin" a little under heavy load and 2 up. So I started looking into the coding plug posts and jumper mods by steptoe. I was a little surprised (maybe shouldn't have been) that it already had a yellow plug fitted when I came to look. Pins 30 and 87....
As an exercise, I took this out, reset the Motrinic and to me the bike seems to run better than before. The very slight surging between 2500 and 3000 seems to have gone just about altogether. Can someone explain, what exactly I've changed by taking the plug out, does it makes sense it should seem to run better (definitely pulling better in higher gears, eh 6th)
Also is this a safe Mod. To do if I left it as is ?

Cheers

 

[Roger 04 RT]

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthrea...-R1150-Decoded&p=994823&viewfull=1#post994823

UPDATED June 4, 2015

Earlier in this thread I posted up the best info I could find at the time on how BMW designed its Coding Plugs, or CCPs as they get called. Recently, I've come across much more accurate information from "the source". That is to say, the Motronic units themselves.

It turns out, as most of you know, that each Motronic unit has an EPROM. The EPROM contains instructions for the Motronic, along with over 600 tables of data that include 8 sets of fuel and 8 sets of spark tables. It also includes a table with 8 text string entries that say exactly what each of the 8 Coding Plugs has been designed for.

It is pretty easy to get the Motronic 2.4 to tell you what each CCP selects. You simply plug in a CCP and run an Autoscan with a GS-911. I've also confirmed the GS-911 report by having the chips removed from the Motronic and read with an EPROM reader and Hex Editor.

The bottom line is that the ONLY good advice one can give is to use the stock Coding Plug. The reason is that there is no formula that says a certain pin on the CCP has any particular function (e.g. Pin 86 does not effect Octane). It also turns out that even if you compare two R1150GSs, for instance, the CCP can have a different meaning based on the date and delivery-location of the motorcycle.

So ignore earlier posts in this thread, and since there are several different EPROMs, if you want to know which CCP is designed for which motorcycle-configuration for your bike, READ THE EPROM with a GS-911 (R1150).

Five bikes I have data on at the moment are:
2004 R1150RT US (USA) Twin Spark
2003 R1150GS SA (South Africa) Twin Spark
2002 R1150GS CA (Canada) Single Spark
2002 R1150R CA Single Spark
2002 R1150GS US Single Spark

Here is the readout from each bike's various coding plug configurations. You can see the differences for yourself. If for example you put a Yellow Coding plug into the SA bike it selects No Series, and runs accordingly—barely at all!

2004 R1150RT US (USA) Twin Spark
No Coding Plug: R1150R/GS US+ECE
Beige Coding Plug: R1150R/GS Japan
Yellow Coding Plug: R1150R-GS Ocatan 91
Pink Coding Plug: R1150RT-RS US+ECE
30-86 Coding Plug: R1150RT/RS Japan
30-86-87: R1100S US+ECE
30-86-87a: No Valid String found
30-86-87-87a: keine Serie (no series)

2003 R1150GS SA (South Africa) Twin Spark
No Coding Plug: R1150R/GS US+ECE
Yellow Coding Plug: R1150R/GS Japan
Beige Coding Plug: keine Serie (no series)

2002 R1150GS CA (Canada) Single Spark
No Coding Plug: R1150 GS ECE Kat
Yellow Coding Plug: R1150 GS US u.TEV
Beige Coding Plug: R1150 GS CH o.TEV

2002 R1150R CA Single Spark
No Coding Plug: R1150R/GS ECE Kat
Yellow Coding Plug: R1150R/GS US u.TEV
Beige Coding Plug: R1150RS/GS CH o.TEV
Pink Coding Plug: R1150RT ECE/US Kat/T
30-86 Coding Plug: R1150RT US II Kat/TE
30-86-87:
30-86-87a: KEINE SERIE
30-86-87-87a:

2002 R1150GS US Single Spark
No Coding Plug: R1150R/GS ECE Kat
Yellow Coding Plug: R1150R/GS US u.TEV
Beige Coding Plug: R1150RS/GS CH o.TEV
Pink Coding Plug: R1150RT ECE/US Kat/T
30-86 Coding Plug: R1150RT US II Kat/TE
30-86-87: R1150 R/GS ECE ROZ91
30-86-87a: KEINE SERIE
30-86-87-87a:

 

[Spud]

Thanks Roger. I saw that and to be honest it just confused me even more !!!
So the advice would be leave the coding plug as found ?
ie : Yellow one in

 

[Roger 04 RT]

Best thing you can do is use what it came with. For an 1150GS, no plug is higher octane fuel than yellow on most bikes. And on many bikes, the "Steptoe Mod" is a Swiss bike (?) with no evap.

If you want to try a plug, no harm done but reading what it means with a GS-911 is a good idea.

N.B. Any time you change or remove a plug and turn the key in the Motronic is reset. So relearn the throttle.

 

[The Grey One]

I'm a little puzzled, if the bike started knocking as the OP described I would have thought the most likely culprit was fuel. I take from the use of the word "started" that it had been OK up to that point. If that is the case then the coding is unlikely to be the cause. I could see how changing this coding might alter settings to cope with a lower octane fuel and hence stop the knocking but not how the setting already there, and presumably there for a while, should suddenly need changing.

Most of us have come across random cases of dodgy fuel causing problems with running returning to normal after refilling the tank. Is it just that the OP didn't give us all the info or did he really just assume the coding plug was the cause without eliminating the possibility of poor fuel.

John

 

[Spud]

Hi John
To be fair, I was probably riding harder yesterday than I usually do, and that probably showed up the "pinking" type knock under heavy load.
I'd heard of the Steptoe mod, and to be honest wasn't expecting there to be any sort of plug in socket at all.
I removed it just as an experiment, and I've got to be honest, it did seem a little smoother and I couldn't induce any knock at all (but no pillion this time to be fair)
Certainly the "hunting" seems all but gone.
But if it's safer to run it with the plug back in, that's no problem for me. (It's a UK bike if that makes the slightest difference!)

 

[The Grey One]

My 1150 has the "Steptoe mod" connector fitted, just a link wire. I run without the cat and with a Remus can and I think it runs slightly better with than without. I seem to remember that Steptoe said some do and some don't. Mind you it runs even better now with a John's chip (stage 10) fitted. It's either that chip or I have had too many chips but the front wheel lifts more when accelerating that it did.

I still think the sudden onset of pinking is more likely to be a fuel issue though.

John

 

[Hay Ewe]

here in Australia Shell fuel causes my 1150GS to pink more than BP fuel.
I use the lowest octane fuel becuase its cheaper but does the same.

It is noticable on the hotter days (to be expected, air density / humidity)

I too read up the coding plugs, here and on Boxertrix and concluded to leave it all alone.
I have since installed Ronnies Sprockets - WOW - MUCH improved performance all round - very recomended