Heat Exchanger leaking

[vaclove]

Hello Guys,

Over past yeast, I have started doing some basic servicing on my bike myself. Learning from literature, this site, youtube and mistakes and slowly getting more confidence to do more difficult jobs.

I did an oil and filter change recently and after running the bike for a while, I have noticed an oil leak. As the bike has the bash plate, it was not apparent immediately.

As you could imagine, I have checked the usual suspects, meaning the parts I have changed (filter and drain plug), however the leak was not there, but between heat exchanger and engine.

While nothing is impossible, I feel it is bit strange, this has happened about the same time I changed the oil.

Does anybody at this forum have same experience? If so, is the solution just simply changing the gasket?

I have checked in Haynes manual how to do the job and does not seem to difficult, however any advice from someone who did it already would be helpful.

Many thanks

Vaclav

 

[vaclove]

Nothing to say

Sorry to see that no one has anything to say. Well, probably my post was not of general interest.

Spoke to the dealer today and they were helpful. Surprisingly, they have mentioned that the heat exchanger gasket can be just replaced without having to do oil change. This rather surprising as in Haynes manual, they recommend to drain the oil before changing the gasket. I have therefore checked the BMW service manual and interestingly, BMW procedure just involves draining little bit of coolant and no oil.

I am tempted to do the operation myself the BMW way, however I am bit concerned, that is I remove the heat exchanger, all/most of the oil comes out.

Anybody done that?

Vaclav

 

[Sloth]

Hi .. Do it which ever way you feel comfortable doing it ... if you want to drain oil then do it into clean container and reuse ... the only thing I would say is .. make sure the cooling system is properly Bled .. after you've finished ...

 

[Ash]

If in doubt let the BMW techs do it, even if just for piece of mind....

 

[vaclove]

Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have been watching the leak over couple of days and it's only minor - maybe 0.2-0.4 mL/day.

While the dealer priced the gasket replacement reasonably, I'll probably do it myself, since taking it to the dealer would take me whole day.

It will be a challenge, but I believe I will learn something doing that.

 

[vaclove]

Any good soul can help?

Hello everyone,

so finally, did the job. Took the bike apart, drained only the cooling liquid and took the heat exchanged down. The seal was worn out, because the heat exchanger corroded and the uneven surface was pushing onto the gasket and the resulting in a leak.
I found Mototworks are offering a spare second hand exchanger and got one. When received, I have compered it to the original and while the holes, fitting etc are the same, the original exchanger is Thicker (about 7 mm). There is also KTM sign edged on the new one.
While the KTM sign does not bother me in the slightest, I am not sure whether the spare part is suitable replacement. By the date on the replacement exchanger, it is newer and I am wondering whether whether the design could have changed? As you can imagine now is Friday afternoon and Motorworks will be open only on Monday to answer my question.
Could anyone have a look at their heat exchanger and tell me what thickness is it?

Many thanks

Vaclav

 

[vaclove]

Did little bit of searching in BMW parts catalogue and found that there are 3 versions of the heat exchangers. While the catalogue does not give much details, it gives a weight of the part. The one corresponding to my bike is 0.248 kg, the next version (date corresponding the one from Motorworks) 0.218 kg and the current one 0.285 kg. That makes 30 g difference. Assuming density of aluminium of 2.7 g/cm3 and thickness difference of 0.7 cm this could well be it.

 

[steve hughes]

Did little bit of searching in BMW parts catalogue and found that there are 3 versions of the heat exchangers. While the catalogue does not give much details, it gives a weight of the part. The one corresponding to my bike is 0.248 kg, the next version (date corresponding the one from Motorworks) 0.218 kg and the current one 0.285 kg. That makes 30 g difference. Assuming density of aluminium of 2.7 g/cm3 and thickness difference of 0.7 cm this could well be it.

As Ash says above , with issues like this I would probably ask the BMW techs to look at it.