Noise

Ok so I leave my GT on the side stand when parked. When I start it to warm it up it makes a noise like a bag of ball bearings........I love the bike but......I'm thinking of an RT maybe ?

If it were an 05/06 I would say cam chain tensioner on right side of engine...Helen's 05 K12S sounded like there was a sack of ball bearings bouncing around upon cold startup. She had no choice but to park on sidestand as it has no centerstand, not sure if it would change anything.
Upgraded to the "new style" tensioner and it quit.
Not sure about the 09's

I had had my 09 start like that but i think it has done that maybe 2 times, I predominately part on the centerstand.

Sidestand, centerstand mine does it , in 3 of 5 starts I'll keep it till the warranty is up it may grenade by then

AttackPug said:

Sidestand, centerstand mine does it , in 3 of 5 starts I'll keep it till the warranty is up it may grenade by then

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curious as to what viscosity oil are you using?

5/40 or 10/40

What if you put loud pipes on? You wouldn't hear that noise anymore.



Sorry I couldn't resist

AttackPug said:

5/40 or 10/40

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That's the right weight, was thinking oil too thick to pump the tensioner up...The upgrade tensioner on the '05 is a tall cylinder instead of a flat plate located on the right side of engine near the cylinders. Have not looked at the newer models to see if that is the standard tensioner now.The sound you descibed still sounds like cam chain slapping the valve cover until the tensioner is pumped up.

I have an '05 that does this as well, should I be concerned? Was there a recall that you are mentioning a new style tensioner?

Cold? Hot? No difference?

For how long?

Probably it needs the cam chain tensioner upgrade - maybe. But it is never a good idea to guess about and then ignore harsh metallic sounds.

Just on cold start up for maybe 5-10 seconds.

I believe there is a service bulletin floating around...one of those issues like the clutch judder the early models had that they fix if you complain a lot about it issues...sadly. But when you drive your bike to the dealer it's warmed up and will not repeat, you know that drill. Her's was out of warranty as mine is by years and miles. Both ours were bought used.

I had read about it on the K Bike forum some time back and Helen got tired of the rattle so I fixed hers. Mine hasn't started rattling yet, I have less miles than she did ( which was 36K when I fixed hers).

the part number is 11317717287 and runs around $125. Took less than an hour as I had all the plastic off for a 36K service anyways


The old on left, the new stack on right. The plunger on the right is upside down in orientation


The old plate shown on engine


the old spring and plunger visible after plate removed, just pulled it out with needlenose pliers

the new tensioner in place awaiting bolts to hold the spring tension


End result is no noise like the sack of rocks in the valve cover when started now.

There ARE a few horror stories about the true culprit is a faulty camshaft by the way it was cast instead or forged or the type of alloy used in the unit...hope that one stays away from our two bikes. The two I read about were non US bikes...not sure if that makes any difference.

PGlaves said:

Cold? Hot? No difference?

For how long?

Probably it needs the cam chain tensioner upgrade - maybe. But it is never a good idea to guess about and then ignore harsh metallic sounds.

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Helen's was first start of the day, unless it sat for some time and the oil leaked down from tensioner I assume. Really loud rattling chain slap against the valve cover for maybe 3-4 seconds...seems like eternity

henzilla said:

........

End result is no noise like the sack of rocks in the valve cover when started now.

There ARE a few horror stories about the true culprit is a faulty camshaft by the way it was cast instead or forged or the type of alloy used in the unit...hope that one stays away from our two bikes. The two I read about were non US bikes...not sure if that makes any difference.

Click to expand...

Thanks VERY much for the informative post w/pics! I spoke to BMW of Denver about this last fall and was told that they recommend going in and replacing the chain and cam sprockets. Total cost of approximately $900. Their stance is that the chain may be stretched from the wild rattling and that alone may cause it to jump some teeth on the sprocket. The end result is a near demolition of the engine's top end and maybe the pistons.

I'm sitting at about 13K on the odo and have been wondering whether or not I should have it done. Some say to just keep riding, some (I think) exaggerate the rare occasion where someone suffers a catastrohic failure. Add to that the tone dealers take when you approach them with the intro "I read about this on the internet...."

Regardless, I'd like to see some more input.

spanky said:

I'm sitting at about 13K on the odo and have been wondering whether or not I should have it done. Some say to just keep riding, some (I think) exaggerate the rare occasion where someone suffers a catastrohic failure. Add to that the tone dealers take when you approach them with the intro "I read about this on the internet...."

Regardless, I'd like to see some more input.

Click to expand...

I was concerned about a skip condition and jumping a tooth or two on the cam gear as well...which could lead to top end disaster you mentioned. It is a simple install and was worth the $125 part cost for some peace of mind. If you read the K-Bike forum, it's gloom & doom from a few bad cases and I think it gets blown out of proportion as a lot of Internet info does like you also mention. If you own one of the broken ones, sorry!

henzilla said:

I was concerned about a skip condition and jumping a tooth or two on the cam gear as well...which could lead to top end disaster you mentioned. It is a simple install and was worth the $125 part cost for some peace of mind. If you read the K-Bike forum, it's gloom & doom from a few bad cases and I think it gets blown out of proportion as a lot of Internet info does like you also mention. If you own one of the broken ones, sorry!

Click to expand...

There's a guy on the K-bikes.com and i-bmw.com sites whose K12GT grenaded due to the cam chain/sprocket thingy.

There's an interesting thread at i-bmw that goes into some detail about a new fix (and one my dealer didn't mention) that may justify the expense. Read about it here.

Thanks Randy,
Haven't been on either boards in awhile, looks pretty interesting there is another part now as well as the tensioner upgrade...not gonna say Chicken Little ..but dang-it!
My '05 sits at 20K, Helens 36.5K...

There's a cam chain retainer guard to be introduced in the near future to prevent the cam chain from jumping teeth... A very bad thing if it does... A big $Ouch$..

I had a rattle even with the new tensioner (factory on the '08). So did another new one anyway and even though it looked identical...couldn't see any defect, the new one made the start quiet. And, I never park on the center stand...ever..except when changing the oil. Center stand is for maintenance .
Also heard that there is a new cam chain guard for the lower sprocket on the crank. Apparently, BMW figured the chain skip to be on the bottom smaller crank sprocket. Unless...the end of the cam breaks off...heh...then it's the big one .