R1200RT Cylinder Head Stud Stripped

My riding buddy and I took a long trip through the Pacific NW and the Canadian Rockies recently and upon returning it was time for a Inspection I on my '06 R1200RT.

I dropped the bike off. So routine is this service that I left my helmet in the sidebag expecting to come back the next day and pick the bike up.

When the tech went to re-torque the cylinder head studs on the right cylinder he found that one of the four studs was stripped. So everything came to a halt as the shop had to consult BMWNA for authorization to repair the bike. They also wanted to make sure that they had all the service items for the head removal and reinstallation in stock so that there would be no unnecessary delays.

BMWNA authorized a Timesert repair as Plan A. If this failed they would authorize replacement of the short block (a much bigger deal).

The shop made time for the repair a few days later and the bike was repaired and back in my hands very quickly. The only proviso was that I had to come back in 600 miles for a re-torque.

Turned out that my wife and I had a three day trip planned for the following Saturday and I had a busy work week. Getting the 600 miles in so they could do the re-torque on Friday turned out to be very hard to do. Finally I had 250 miles on by Thursday so my wife and I took a trip to Tillamook, OR for coffee on Friday morning and bumped the mileage up over 400 (which the shop said was the bottom end of what would be acceptable).

We dropped the bike at the shop on Friday at lunchtime and picked it up that afternoon at 5:30.

So far so good. We put another 1100 miles on the bike that weekend with no problems.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the final drive problem last year and the stripped stud this year are the end of the problems with the bike.

I'm especially happy with my dealer, BMWOR, for the great way they handled the repair and expedited the process to get me back on the road quickly. Thanks, guys!

-Gary

thanks for the update. it sounds like your dealer is standing by the bike which is good.

it's also nice to hear good dealer stories.

username said:

thanks for the update. it sounds like your dealer is standing by the bike which is good.

it's also nice to hear good dealer stories.

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You bet! BMWOR was worth driving to when they were 100 miles away in Eugene. This spring they opened up a shop in Tigard, OR which is about four miles from my house. I still can't believe how darn convenient it is. The new shop and staff have been very good to deal with. And as they settle in and learn the new store and systems they are getting better.

Scott and Madeline really run a good business and are nice people to boot.

-Gary

grw said:

My riding buddy and I took a long trip through the Pacific NW and the Canadian Rockies recently and upon returning it was time for a Inspection I on my '06 R1200RT......

When the tech went to re-torque the cylinder head studs on the right cylinder he found that one of the four studs was stripped.....
-Gary

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Gary

I'm a little confused as to why the tech would re-torque the cylinder head studs on an inspection, which is at 12000 mile intervals. A re-torque is only called for at the running in check at 600 miles. I'm assuming you didn't take it in for a 600 check since you just returned from a long trip on a 2006 R1200RT.

karasek said:

Gary

I'm a little confused as to why the tech would re-torque the cylinder head studs on an inspection, which is at 12000 mile intervals. A re-torque is only called for at the running in check at 600 miles. I'm assuming you didn't take it in for a 600 check since you just returned from a long trip on a 2006 R1200RT.

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As a possibility (can't say since I wasn't there..) if you are adjusting the rocker arm endplay it's necessary to loosen the two bottom cylinder bolts - which would then require retorquing.

I do believe that excessive re-torquing is asking for trouble given how the bolts thread into a bare aluminum casting.

deilenberger said:

As a possibility (can't say since I wasn't there..) if you are adjusting the rocker arm endplay it's necessary to loosen the two bottom cylinder bolts - which would then require retorquing.

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That's a good point. Only one cylinder head bolt needs to be loosened/retorqued along with the bearing cap bolts to adjust the axial/endplay though. However, this is typically done during the 600 mile service when they are all being retorqued and axial/endplay is adjusted towards the small end of the allowed clearance (.05 - .40mm) , after which it would very rare for it to need adjustment due to being out of spec. Maybe the clearance wasn't adjusted correctly at the 600 and the tech was trying to make it good, if so kudos to them for taking the extra time to do so.

I just thought it seemed a little fishy that they would be touching the head bolts, assuming it was done correctly at the 600 running-in check. Big thing though is that its all well now, dealer and BMW fixed the problem and Gary is now again enjoying his R1200RT.

karasek said:

However, this is typically done during the 600 mile service when they are all being retorqued and axial/endplay is adjusted towards the small end of the allowed clearance (.05 - .40mm) , after which it would very rare for it to need adjustment due to being out of spec. Maybe the clearance wasn't adjusted correctly at the 600 and the tech was trying to make it good, if so kudos to them for taking the extra time to do so.

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On the about 5-6 oilhead/hexheads I've adjusted valves on - I have never found the end-float correctly adjusted. Not once. It is always WAY too wide and near the loose end for the factory specification (which IMHO - is way TOO loose..)

I'll be doing mine this week (6,000 mile service) - and fully expect to find the endfloat needing adjustment.

deilenberger said:

On the about 5-6 oilhead/hexheads I've adjusted valves on - I have never found the end-float correctly adjusted. Not once. It is always WAY too wide and near the loose end for the factory specification (which IMHO - is way TOO loose..)

I'll be doing mine this week (6,000 mile service) - and fully expect to find the endfloat needing adjustment.

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Double your opinion on that one buddy. Makes you wonder how they came up with such a wide range on end-float (.05-.40mm). Are they expecting the bearing cap to move during use and open up the end-float? I think a more logical range would be .20mm on the large side, but then I'm not the engineer that designed the thing

However, my experience with the end-float changing between valve adjustments is different. I'll adjust so that a .05mm feeler guage will fit but not a .10mm. Haven't seen them go out past .15mm after that, yet.

Color my gaster-flabbered..

Mine was actually acceptable. I could feel a bit of end-float, but not the CLACK/CLACK sort that I usually find. Didn't bother adjusting it.

What did make a BIG difference was the valve adjustment. They were all loose.. they're all dead-nutz(tm) on now - and the smoothness and power difference was amazing to me.

Also checked the throttle-body-sync (twinmax) - and it was as perfect as I've ever seen after the valve adjustment. Full sensitivity - it was right on the money.