Need advice on reattaching the gear indicator switch

I just reassembled my '04 1150 GS after replacing the clutch disc. During disassembly I popped the circular top off the gear indicator switch on the back of the transmission. I did not make note of its orientation. I assumed it would only go on the correct way. It appears to be a bad assumption as despite placing it on in several different orientations I can't get the gear indicator to correctly identify the gears. It either displays 2nd and 3rd at inappropriate times or nothing. Any advise on how to correctly orient this will be greatly appreciated.
I did not remove the base plate for the switch, which I assume will come off if I compress the two short metal rods projecting from the rear of the plate. Should I do this?

Thanks
Dave

PETDOC, you may already know this but since no one else has said anything. I looked at the wiring diagram for your bike. The rotary switch on the back of the transmission that indicates which gear has four wiper blades which make contact to indicate which gear you are in. I've never removed my switch. I suspect the switch is probably just 180 degrees out. It also appears, and I did not follow all the wiring out, that it also allows the bike to start in neutral. Again I've never physically removed any switch on any transmission.

Dave,
Thanks for the input. I may have found the answer to my problem. Protruding from the base plate of the gear indicator switch are 3 tiny brass pins which sit on top of tiny springs. Nothing holds these pins in their slot so if you tip the transmission back they will fall out. One of my pins had fallen out. Miraculously I found it. I have yet to determine if the spring fell out, but if not I may be able to reassemble the switch.
Morale to this story is that it is probably best not to remove the gear indicator switch cap unless you have the switch flat on a bench. Now I see why most go to the trouble of leaving it attached to the transmission back and detaching the connection on the other side of the bike.
Your comment on this being a rotary switch gives me some hope that positioning of the cap is not critical. The fact that there is nothing to indicate a proper orientation of the cap to the base makes me think the cap can be snapped on without regard to position. If the spring is there I'll put the pin back in place, pop the cap on and see.

Dave

This happened to me as well and all three little pins and springs fell out. I never realized what they were for until I went to reassemble the switch. Sorry I do not recall the orientation. I can tell you I removed the rest of the switch and reassembled it off the bike. As I recall it was evident with the switch off which way it went together. By the way my wife and I spent about an hour on our hands and knees searching for the pins and springs. We found all three pins and two springs. I made the fourth spring out of a very fine wire I had wrapped around a needle. The reassembled switch works fine!

John

Replaced the missing pin. The spring was still there. Thus far I can't get the cap attached where the indicator functions normally; therefore, I'm assuming there is a correct alignment for the cap and base plate. I've left it with neutral working, but if I shift up or down the gauge goes blank, including the fuel level indicator.
I'll drop by my local dealer tomorrow and see if they have one in stock where I can see the exact orientation of the cap to the base.

PETDOC if you fuel level reading is going away when you shift out of neutral I wouldn't ride the bike till you replace the gear position switch. It sounds like you are taking something to ground that you shouldn't. Just my opinion because that RID display is expensive.

Dave,
Thanks for the warning I'm not moving the bike until I can see a gear indicator switch which hasn't been disassembled and determine if I have the attachment correctly oriented.
The fact that it recognizes neutral correctly may (or may not) suggest I have it positioned correctly. I'm wondering if I should detach then reattach the negative battery lead to blank out the CPU. All of my changes in the orientation of the cap to the gear selector have been done with the battery attached, but the power off.

Dave

PETDOC I don't think that kind of logic is in the RID where you can reset it by disconnecting the negative lead. It is probably not processor based like the Motronic. I've never had an RID open but I'll bet it is the same design from 1996. In the morning I can print out the portion of the circuit you are working with and attach it to a PM to you. The BMW circuit disk I have will not allow me to copy the circuit directly. I would be very careful since the display is going blank when you shift out of neutral. With the circuit I send you will be able to check the logic of the switch to see if it is working properly. Just be careful because the switch is probably less than $50 but, I'll bet that RID is over $300.

Actually the switch is about $100. No big deal as I suspect I saved 10x that by replacing the rear input seal and clutch disc myself and everything is now clean enough to eat off and is torqued to spec. However, if the cap just needs to be correctly positioned I would just as soon not buy a new gear indicator switch.

I bet the RT and GS wiring are the same when it comes to the RID and gear indicator switch. This 1150RT wiring diagram might help. Courtesy of Doug Raymond.

PETDOC -
I did this on a 97GS. I don't remember the orientation that you're looking for, it's been too long, but I did find it by trial and error. If you take the remainder of the switch out of the trans you'll see a lever that moves when the gears are changed. Watching that move and comparing it to the switch position while seeing what the RID reads should get you there. Easier done than written about.
Good luck

Mike,
I've debated removing the base plate. My current plan is to try and get a look at a new switch at the BMW dealer and match the orientation of my cap with what I see on the new one. What is frustrating is due to the limited length of the wiring there is only a small range of possible attachments, probably no more than 45 degrees, yet I have yet to hit the correct one.
Obviously if I ever have occasion to remove the cap again I'll be sure to mark it and the base plate.

Dave

PETDOC PM me your email address. The drawing of the switch showing the internal connections and wire color code is to large to upload to the forum and the email thru the MOA does not allow me to attach a drawing from my system.

Dave Faria

I've seen a close up picture of the gear selector switch and attached my cap at the same orientation. With the ignition on neutral is correctly identified, but shifting up or down results in the RID blanking.
The thought occurred to me that this may be normal when the engine is not running as the bike is programed to only start in neutral. I guess before tearing it apart I never really consciously tried shifting up and down with the ignition on while looking at the RID. I would put it in neutral to wheel it out of my garage, turn on the ignition and following the appropriate wait for the brake indicator lights to go through their sequence, hit the start button.
I called a friend in Wisconsin who has an'04 1150 GS. When he gets home tonite he will turn on his ignition and shift it out of neutral. If his RID goes out, then I'm putting my cat and muffler back on and seeing if all is well.

It's fixed!
I kept thinking of how the bike normally operated during start up and it dawned on me that whenever I tried to take off with the kickstand down the engine would shut off upon release of the clutch lever. At this point the mental light bulb went on.
To have clear access to the cap of the gear indicator switch I had the kick stand extended in the down position. As soon as I put it up most of the gears were indicated in the RID. They were off a tad. First was shown as neutral, neutral was shown as second, etc... I removed the cap, rotated it slightly counterclockwise (when viewed from the rear), popped it back on and all gears were correctly indicated on the RID.
Thank you one and all for your help on this!
Two final thoughts:
1) When I have to remove the transmission again I will remove the cap to the gear indicator switch versus detaching the switch under the tank, threading it under the battery box, down the left side and out. It represents 30 seconds vs probably an hour of time. I, however, will note the orientation of the cap to the base of the switch and I will cover the base once the cap is removed to prevent any of the 3 pins and springs from falling out.
2) I believe that when most of these gear indicator switches go south it is because the brass pins no longer make contact with the cap. If one could acquire replacement pins and springs the switches would be easily repairable. The mechanism is identical to the steering wheel horn relay in my '88 Toyota 4Runner--much bigger brass pin and spring, but over time (>300,000 miles) it wore down and no longer contacted the metal ring in the steering wheel. For $6 Toyota sold me a new pin/spring set. Horn is as good as new now.