Urgent! Need your help-r1150rt battery replacement

[tangoalpha]

Oilheads,

When I logged on to the forum I noticed there are 84 of you online. Hopefully, one of you experienced RT owners can quickly jump in and give me some input.

#1 I have removed a couple panels from my bike and was about to remove the battery when I noticed something not quite right. See pics. After removing the left panel and lower valence from the bike, I was preparing to remove the air intake runner which connects to the airbox which obstructs access to the battery. It appears that the runner which connects to a larger section (air intake) mounted in the front of the bike is missing a coupling. What the hell? As you can clearly see from the photo, the two sections are not joined together. The two dimensions are completely different sizes with nothing in between to connect them. Please tell me this is NOT correct. I'm assuming this is the handiwork of a careless, sloppy "technician" who did not put the bike back together properly last time the previous owner had the bike serviced. Bear in mind, this bike is still new to me since buying it less than a year ago, so I'm learning about little surprises as I go along. This is not the first discovery unfortunately. This sort of thing just infuriates me because I'm a very detailed and careful person who takes time to do things properly and I would never conceive of neglecting a customer's machine, let alone my own.

#2. The battery was shipped to me and arrived this morning in a box which was too large for the battery and with very little packing material (only paper was used). Consequently the box was somewhat torn because I assume it split partially due to the weight of the battery and the poor packing. The battery was placed inside the box on its side with the shipping label facing up. Granted this is a maintenance free gel battery which is completely sealed, but do you suppose any harm could have been done by shipping the battery on its side, or is that insignificant? Sorry for the question, but I've not had experience with these type of batteries.

Okay...enough from me. I'm more than a bit irritated at the moment, so I'm gonna take a pause here to calm down and wait for your responses. Thanks in advance for your input, it's much appreciated.

Sorry about the pics, I have no idea why they rotate on upload. Tried several times to fix it and can't seem to figure that out either. Seems like everything is getting under my skin today. Is it too early for a beer yet?

 

[179212]

If using iPhone I have a 7 take pictures with phone in landscape position with camera in upper left corner
Pictures will post right and every other picture you will get a nice shot of your fingers

 

[m_stock10506]

Oilheads,

When I logged on to the forum I noticed there are 84 of you online. Hopefully, one of you experienced RT owners can quickly jump in and give me some input.

#1 I have removed a couple panels from my bike and was about to remove the battery when I noticed something not quite right. See pics. After removing the left panel and lower valence from the bike, I was preparing to remove the air intake runner which connects to the airbox which obstructs access to the battery. It appears that the runner which connects to a larger section (air intake) mounted in the front of the bike is missing a coupling. What the hell? As you can clearly see from the photo, the two sections are not joined together. .................

#2. The battery was shipped to me and arrived this morning in a box which was too large for the battery and with very little packing material (only paper was used). Consequently the box was somewhat torn because I assume it split partially due to the weight of the battery and the poor packing. The battery was placed inside the box on its side with the shipping label facing up. Granted this is a maintenance free gel battery which is completely sealed, but do you suppose any harm could have been done by shipping the battery on its side, or is that insignificant? Sorry for the question, but I've not had experience with these type of batteries.

1. I'm an R1100RT guy, not 1150 but I don't think the air intakes are a lot different. It's possible that the intake tube may not be mounted correctly. I think that the forward tube mounts at two places. The gap between the two tubes is normal. ON my RT the tubes are little more aligned, but there is just open space in the area where the tubes meet with one a smaller diameter than the other.

2. If the battery wasn't physically damaged in transit, getting shipped on it's side doesn't matter. Those batteries are designed so they could be installed and operate on their side. If the case doesn't show any damage I would proceed. Maybe take some photos of the packaging damage just in case a hidden problem shows up later.

 

[tangoalpha]

If using iPhone I have a 7 take pictures with phone in landscape position with camera in upper left corner
Pictures will post right and every other picture you will get a nice shot of your fingers

Thank you so much for that. Yes, I also use an iPhone 7 and didn't know about the landscape trick. I'll try that next time. I really appreciate the tip, I was pulling my hair out because I tried rotating the images in Photos and re uploading and that didn't seem to work either. Needless to say in my heightened sense of frustration that wasn't helping at all. Many thanks for the tip!

 

[tangoalpha]

1. I'm an R1100RT guy, not 1150 but I don't think the air intakes are a lot different. It's possible that the intake tube may not be mounted correctly. I think that the forward tube mounts at two places. The gap between the two tubes is normal. ON my RT the tubes are little more aligned, but there is just open space in the area where the tubes meet with one a smaller diameter than the other.

2. If the battery wasn't physically damaged in transit, getting shipped on it's side doesn't matter. Those batteries are designed so they could be installed and operate on their side. If the case doesn't show any damage I would proceed. Maybe take some photos of the packaging damage just in case a hidden problem shows up later.

Hi there fellow Oilhead! Thanks for chiming in on this. I knew that I could count on you guys for a lifeline. One of the many reasons why I joined this forum and became a paid subscriber/member is because this forum is such a tremendous resource for "Do it Yourselfers" like myself. You and the other members are appreciated much more than you know.

So it sounds like it was an overreaction on my part. There is no part missing and is how the bike was designed? That seems so completely odd, especially from a company like BMW. I never would have expected to see that, but as an RT owner, I'm completely trusting your input. I must admit, I feel somewhat better hearing that news, because I was pretty wound up there for a bit. I had taken the day off from work today because my son had a Dr's appointment and I had some other projects to attend to. Needless to say, I planned on this going smoothly and when I saw that, I kinda hit the roof. The backstory was that I've had some bad dealer experiences in the past, including the dealer I bought this particular bike from, so I automatically jumped to the conclusion that THEY were the guilty culprits. Otherwise I wouldn't have become irritated so quickly. That said, you've reassured me that everything is normal, so I will proceed accordingly.

Good suggestion on the battery also. The case doesn't appear to be damaged like it had fallen or taken a hit from anything, so I'll continue with the installation, but I did take some photos of the damaged box that it came in....just in case. Fingers crossed.

Thanks again for jumping in to my rescue so quickly. You guys are what makes this forum so fantastic!

 

[Omega Man]

Pardon the mini hijack.....this might be helpful.

If using iPhone I have a 7 take pictures with phone in landscape position with camera in upper left corner
Pictures will post right and every other picture you will get a nice shot of your fingers

Trying to decipher this.
Are you suggesting holding the phone horizontal >
Make sure the camer lens (back of the phone), is in the upper left- if you could see "through" the phone? >
Picture will continually post correctly?
OM

 

[pauls1150]

Yes your intake snorkels are normal. I "think" - but don't "know" - that part of this is to create a vortex to reduce the amount of water taken in by those forward-facing tubes from reaching the filter.
On my 1100 and 1150s, I added some mesh to help reduce the bugs and pebbles that made it to the filter:

 

[179212]

Pardon the mini hijack.....this might be helpful.



Trying to decipher this.
Are you suggesting holding the phone horizontal >
Make sure the camer lens (back of the phone), is in the upper left- if you could see "through" the phone? >
Picture will continually post correctly?
OM

Yes did lots of test I tried other ways but this is simple

 

[179212]

Major Hijack



At least the cat is cute

 

[Omega Man]

Thanks!
Gary

 

[selyab]

I believe the forward pipe has a plastic spike on it that is pressed through a rubber grommet towards the center of the bike. It looks like yours is not fully seated. That will allow the two tubes to line up. The split fore and aft, I always thought was a venturi design but just a guess.

 

[tangoalpha]

View attachment 63355View attachment 63356

At least the cat is cute

Kinda funny how you guessed correctly that I must have been using an iPhone 7. That was driving me nuts!

 

[tangoalpha]

I believe the forward pipe has a plastic spike on it that is pressed through a rubber grommet towards the center of the bike. It looks like yours is not fully seated. That will allow the two tubes to line up. The split fore and aft, I always thought was a venturi design but just a guess.

You're correct. It does have the plastic fork which mates to the rubber grommet. Didn't realize that at first, so I removed the bolt that fastens the grommet to the frame. It wasn't until the piece came out in myth hand did I then realize....."Oh geez! I didn't have to remove that. Duh!"

 

[tangoalpha]

Yes your intake snorkels are normal. I "think" - but don't "know" - that part of this is to create a vortex to reduce the amount of water taken in by those forward-facing tubes from reaching the filter.
On my 1100 and 1150s, I added some mesh to help reduce the bugs and pebbles that made it to the filter:
View attachment 63351
View attachment 63352

Now that you've explained the concept behind it, I understand now why it is designed the way it is. Makes sense to me now. Your idea of using a mesh screen material to prevent debris from reaching the filter also makes a lot of sense. I think I may do the same thing before buttoning everything back up. Thanks for the idea!

 

[tangoalpha]

Thanks for the help!

My fellow Oilheads,

Just wanted to again thank all you wonderful folks who quickly jumped in yesterday to offer me some help with my battery replacement. Here's a quick update. Yesterday after inspecting the new battery for any apparent damage and not seeing any, I placed the battery on a charge (Deltran Battery Tender Plus) overnight. This morning seeing that the battery was fully charged and in "Storage Mode" I installed the battery back in to the bike. While the panels were off, I took the opportunity to clean and detail the panels extra thoroughly, although they were already pretty clean to begin with. I like my things to be meticulous, especially my motorcycles, cars, etc.. Once I got everything buttoned up, I turned the key to the on position as if preparing to start the engine, then I fully twisted the throttle to wide open position twice. I read somewhere that this is a necessary step after installing a new battery in order to recalibrate the Motronic fuel injection. Upon starting I noticed that the bike idled roughly, definitely not characteristic at all of how the bike typically idles. It only smoothed out after applying throttle. I decided to take the bike for a quick run to see if I noticed any changes, besides what I noticed at idle. Bike seemed to perform well otherwise with no changes in behavior, but the rough idle is somewhat of a mystery. I'm hoping the Motronic will smooth out as it was before. My understanding the system is adaptive and has the capability of adjusting itself, at least that is what I'm hoping for If you have any suggestions in that regard on what to do, I'm certainly open to hearing ideas.

Otherwise, she's all put back together and awaiting our next ride together. Two upcoming projects that will be happening in the next couple weeks or so is replacing the tires front/back and also flushing the clutch and brake fluid. Since my bike has servo assisted ABS, I'm sure I'll be asking for some guidance, but I'll read up on what I can in the meantime.

Ride safe!

 

[kioolt]

You may have knocked one of the throttle cable out of its adjuster on top of the throttle body. This will cause a very rough idle. Sorry, but you'll have to remove the body panels to check. I've never had any problem with rough idle because of a battery. I've owned my 04 RT for 13 years and 182K now.

 

[tangoalpha]

You may have knocked one of the throttle cable out of its adjuster on top of the throttle body. This will cause a very rough idle. Sorry, but you'll have to remove the body panels to check. I've never had any problem with rough idle because of a battery. I've owned my 04 RT for 13 years and 182K now.

.


Oh no! Just my luck. Out of curiosity, when you've replaced your battery in the past, did you twist the throttle (WOT) twice to recalibrate the Motronic? I've read elsewhere where some people don't bother with it at all. So admittedly, I'm wondering if that step is necessary or if in my case, doing so may have created to problem. So once I pull the panels (I assume only the left and lower valence) I should be looking for the throttle cable where it attaches to adjuster which sits on the throttle body? It sounds like the adjuster is a cradle for the throttle cable. Is that the basic idea?

 

[kioolt]

I believe that I have sometimes twisted the throttle and sometimes not. I can't remember any difference. The throttle cable seats in the adjuster ferrell and may have been slightly pulled out. Just reseat it and all should be fine.

 

[tangoalpha]

Okay...I just checked online for some photos or perhaps a video. Low and behold, first thing I found was a video of Chris Harris working on an R1150GS. I copied a screenshot from Chris' video...I assume the cradle you were referring to earlier is what's pictured below?

 

[kioolt]

The ferrell that I'm referring to is to the left if his index finger.