Diagnostic tools

[er-minio]

Kin`ell, it all sounds a bit much just to reset the service light.

Agree with Steptoe. The 911 is easier to operate and better made.
But the Motoscan setup seems more complex than what it actually is. For most people is probably the first step towards 911 (at least I think it is for me ).

If you just have to reset the service light you might find some bod to do it for you.
Not sure it's the same on all bikes/models, but recently did it for a friend and you can set up the service interval, so you can set it to something stupidly long, might work.
Just remember to service anyway though

 

[Steptoe]

Cos it`s about three hundred quid isn`t it?
Might as well get it dealer serviced....!

You only buy it once. You can sell it when you no longer own a BMW ., plus moaning about spending £300 on something that benefits your ownership when your bike costs many thousands seems pretty stupid

 

[botus]

I own both and find motoscan is a lot easier to use - its like a tool for adults not just children, operates on all modern BMW bikes, and is 8 times cheaper and without any silly limited number of vehicle limitations - loads of features I have been using were there 5 - 8 years before the other tool struggle to get them to behave

the reason his dongle works on iOS or android is he knows what he's doing - they are a better design than most on the market and a third of the price of the next best ones - he just can't be bothered to argue with apple's random standards jokeware

 

[MotoRevive]

Motoscan Ultimate with OBD Link LX has served all my needs working independently for many years. Although I have years of experience working in main dealers which does help a lot. And what MS can't do, it's unlikely the GS911 can do either. None of them can program control units or perform software updates. Which is how most people are trapped into the BMW network.

What else does the amateur really need apart from turning off a service light ? Only a moron pays a main dealer £300 for an oil change and a service light delete. Especially when their bikes only do 500 miles a year. It makes perfect sense to buy the software and dongle if you're not interested in a dealer trap PCP scheme.

In my experience , too much information to the amateur just leads to panic and worry. A modern BMW will always have faults when you plug it in. If you don't know what they mean or when to ignore them, then whats the point. I always get calls from people worried because they have faults after plugging in their bikes to DIY readers. 99% of the time they're nothing to worry about.

I don't ask my Doctor for the raw data of a blood test. Because I don't know what that data means. And If I googled it, I would get so many conflicting opinions , fake news or commercially led information that the data is almost useless anyway.

 

[Keith Chapman]

if the GS911 had Touratech written all over it, half the good folks here would not bat an eyelid at coughing up £300.

 

[Hann]

Motoscan Ultimate with OBD Link LX has served all my needs working independently for many years.

When resetting the service indicator can you increase the service interval to say, 2 years (instead of the default one year) so that your bike will flag up the service due message only when the bike has completed 6,000 miles from the service reset (if you haven`t done 6k in one year)?

I know you can get rid of the message by adjusting the date on the bike but just wondering....

 

[er-minio]

On the hexhead you can increase the mileage range if I remember correctly. So set it to 100k and forget.

 

[botus]

When resetting the service indicator can you increase the service interval to say, 2 years (instead of the default one year) so that your bike will flag up the service due message only when the bike has completed 6,000 miles from the service reset (if you haven`t done 6k in one year)?

I know you can get rid of the message by adjusting the date on the bike but just wondering....

or turn it off and just do an annual oil change like the good old days

 

[Hann]

When resetting the service indicator can you increase the service interval to say, 2 years (instead of the default one year)

Yes you can, i`ve just done it.

 

[botus]

on an air cooled bike the engine oil gets a hard life

for the cost of £40, an annual oil change is very sensible - overheated oil and or lots of fuel and moisture contamination left two years not so clever

if really tight and doing low miles >2-4 k a year you could leave the filter to once every two years - as its doing nothing if the engine is in good condition and you warm the bike riding gently for 5 to 8 miles and don't do short runs - and just ensure you change the filter within std mileage interval

the lengthening of service intervals is a marketing trick - its to bring the appearance they are cheaper to maintain - and provide more wriggle room on warranty rejection. Yes we could have better oils and materials and with tighter emission control and better engineering a longer interval ought to be achievable - but its all a game of what you know, how you use, and if you lease it and bin it everyone's happy - except the next fool that gets a worn out wreck

BM don't like to trade your bike at big money (to sell on approved used) - unless you have done an annual servicing routine - which suggests they know more than they write in the owners manual !

The gist of which sits somewhere in this mess - Where we had improved component design, newer materials used and the lubricating fluids and oils had leapt light years ahead x years back - it lead to the inevitable and the accountants got involved to save the business model - and so the machining has now reached a sufficient quality (gone backwards a bit), speed of manufacture has seen the loss of the long lasting cyl bores and instead we get cyls cast and plating in one cycle with the joke of fragility fixed in. Manu responsibility for the recycling of fluids at end of life has seen coolant systems downsized. Then we add in "better engine oils" and we downsized that capacity. Both meaning the engine runs at melting point stuggling with life most of the time. Then the emission control game has been another sleight of hand. The petrol tank is now full of ethanol rot destroying everything. To cope they altered oils "to protect the emission systems" - which really means modern oils are more fragile and have a short life cycle...

 

[MotoRevive]

The oil is a dry clutch bike has a far less hard time than a bike that shares its oil with clutch friction plates. I read some interesting reports that found 70-80% of the contamination found in engine oil is friction material from clutch plates.

 

[botus]

yes but air cooled bikes can have big localised overheating (which can cook the oil) - 35C days stuck in traffic at melting point the oil can self destruct and there's not even a fan to help the oil cooler

 

[MotoRevive]

That is true.

But they do have an oil cooler. And the motor still does disperse heat very quickly being a boxer. Superbly in fact.

And one must take into account that a none LC GS is a very low tuned, low revving motor.

An Air cooled V-Twin is a different story.

Even liquid cooled V- twins will often run a richer mixture in the rear cylinder to aid cylinder cooling.

 

[botus]

hidden in motoscan you can find an oil temp setting - but nothing happened when I tried on 2007 - not tried on a 2011 - they get more bits on the later cluster (heated grip position can be enabled)