Starting issues

[Mattwprice]

Ive done a bit of shopping around and got the price of the new bike difference down to £3500 and all my farkles swapped over. Still hoping I might drive this down further but beginning to feel happier about that as a possibility. That is with a different dealer...I don't think my dealer is doing me too many favours either!

 

[spoonz]

If your dealer is right and it’s nothing more than a bad battery in part due to no optimate, what does the new bike bring to the table beyond the very slight spec change ? The new bike won’t have a magic battery that doesn’t require an optimate.

It’s your money but I don’t just think your jumping the gun, I think you turned up a day early for the race. If you just want a new bike because let’s face it we all do if we can, fair enough.

 

[GB.]

Don't know if I've come into this topic to late but I know BMW fitted a lower powered battery to the early 1250s then resorted back to the battery fitted to the 1200.

I just changed the battery on my 1200, it was the original from 2015 so no complaints considering I run a lot of accessories and heated gear.

On the 1200LC they have a piece of foam under the battery, if you remove that you can then fit a bigger battery.

Ive done this and the difference is noticeable.

Standard battery is YTX14-BS and the larger one is YTX14H-BS this gives you 240CCA which spins it over real quick and fires instantly.

 

[Mattwprice]

If your dealer is right and it’s nothing more than a bad battery in part due to no optimate, what does the new bike bring to the table beyond the very slight spec change ? The new bike won’t have a magic battery that doesn’t require an optimate.

It’s your money but I don’t just think your jumping the gun, I think you turned up a day early for the race. If you just want a new bike because let’s face it we all do if we can, fair enough.

It isn't just a bad battery though. As mentioned in the initial message, BMW have already replaced the battery once at my cost. Cold starting takes much more charge than hot, yet it starts from cold, but wont when hot. Once it cools down it starts again...

 

[GB.]

Maybe it something to do with the auto decompressor when it hot?

 

[spoonz]

it’s well documented on here and other sites and it’s nearly always the battery ( lithium or knackered) and hot starts in common. It’s a combination of heat soak on the fuel system and the position the engine stops on.

For the sake of a free battery ( agm type) and a free optimate from the dealer the point would soon be proven one way or the other. Then you either saved £3500 or justified spending it

 

[hawkeye]

Don't know if I've come into this topic to late but I know BMW fitted a lower powered battery to the early 1250s then resorted back to the battery fitted to the 1200.

I just changed the battery on my 1200, it was the original from 2015 so no complaints considering I run a lot of accessories and heated gear.

On the 1200LC they have a piece of foam under the battery, if you remove that you can then fit a bigger battery.

Ive done this and the difference is noticeable.

Standard battery is YTX14-BS and the larger one is YTX14H-BS this gives you 240CCA which spins it over real quick and fires instantly.

I've just fitted a YTX14H-BS to my 2019 R1250GS Exclusive TE - and agree, starts so much easier than previously (plus I have more confidence that the battery won't let me down).

 

[Oldted]

My1250GS TE is suffering the same problem. It was new on 1st Aug. I bought it as an ex demo on 1st Nov. Its done 1275 miles. It feels like its not drawing enough juice to fully engage the starter. It sometimes just shuts the whole electrics down and sometimes just doesn't respond on the button. The worst is when it turns but doesn't catch and lets out an almighty clatter.
Called the dealer, collected the bike and phoned me later the same day.
They agree its not right and they've seen the issue before. They say its due to a batch of sub standard oem batteries at the factory. A new more powerful battery will arrive tomorrow and they will deliver my bike when they are happy its addressed the problem.
Fingers are crossed!

 

[Oldted]

Update today. New, more powerful, battery fitted. It was better but didnt entirely solve the problem. BMW advised Marshalls to insect valve clearances. I visited the dealers today and spoke to the tech while the bike was on the ramp. The explanation was that the exhaust valve clearance was too big, just beyond the recommended tolerance. This in turn was causing the compression sensor to interrupt the starting process.
Anyway her started up 5 or six times while I was there and it appears to have sorted the issue.
Fingers still crossed.

 

[richtel]

Thanks for the update- fingers crossed! Can anyone explain the relationship between compression and the starting process in these engines? In olden engines the valve lift might have been altered so that compression was reduced during cranking, but I don’t know what’s at play with the new GS.

 

[GB.]

A combination of battery and compression release then, abet caused by valve clearance. Bloody Shit cam sorry shift cam.

 

[richtel]

A combination of battery and compression release then, abet caused by valve clearance. Bloody Shit cam sorry shift cam.

Thanks, but I’m not sure I understand that. Aside from the lift/timing differences between the two inlet cam profiles, it’s not like the compression and pumping effort can be reduced, is it?

 

[spoonz]

Thanks, but I’m not sure I understand that. Aside from the lift/timing differences between the two inlet cam profiles, it’s not like the compression and pumping effort can be reduced, is it?

The decompressor partially opens an exhaust valve independent of the exhaust stroke. It’s deactivated by centrifugal force once the engine kicks Ito life. As I understand it, if the exhaust valve clearances are too far out of spec then it can prevent the swing of the mechanism on that cylinder.

The slight problem I have with that is that I can’t see that happening from a slightly out of spec setting or half the bikes would never get to the valve service interval without issue and if it’s a long way out, how is that on a low mileage bike. So I suspect maybe a few left the factory less than ideally shimmed ( not uncommon amongst other brands I might add ). No harm done if it’s fixed

 

[richtel]

Thanks spoonz! So there's a centrifugal timing device on the end of each exhaust cam? Cracking, thank you! I need to go find a picture of what that looks like.

Edit- picture here- https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/325504-Exhaust-Cam-Decompression

And another photo- https://www.snafu.org/pics/r1200gsw/2014/0702-cam-timing/p-141831442-1489.jpg