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Newbie- Wants to be Informed 2004 R1150RTP

colorado_okie

New member
Hello everyone,
I'm a newbie to the world of BMW motorcycles. My last bike was a 2000 KLR650. I recently picked up a 100% dealer maintained 2004 R1150RTP, with 8700 miles (yep, you read that right). I acquired this bike from my local sheriffs office, they have decided to terminate their motor program....as you can tell, they hardly ever rode them. In any event, the police equipment was removed by their emergency warning equipment contractor- and they did an excellent job! But I've a few questions pertaining to the wiring, specifically finding the diagrams.

I intend to commute on this bike (60 miles round trip), and will frequently need to ride at night. I live in western Colorado so wildlife on the roadway is a very real concern. I'm looking at adding the Clearwater Krista lights, or another option from Baja Designs. I'd like to be able to wire the auxiliary lights into one of the two emergency warning light switches on the right switch group, but I have no idea about the wiring diagram.

Would one of you recommend the Haynes over the Clymer manuel? Do either one of these options even cover RTP specific wiring diagrams? Perhaps there is another source specifically for wiring diagrams, I've not thought of? I'm comfortable turning my own wrenches (and live 2+ hours from the nearest dealer), so would someone recommend one manual over the other for repair work?

Thanks for the help. I look forward to the wealth of knowledge I'm sure exists here!
- Randy
 
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Welcome to the forum!
Finding an RTP that was dealer maintained is not out of the ordinary. They are pretty much all dealer maintained until they fall into civilian hands. Low mileage can be a double edged sword. It can be good since things are barely broken in and you get the benefit of a nice new tight bike. It can be bad because oilheads are built to be ridden a lot and not to sit around collecting dust. The fuel system in particular may develop problems from sitting with stagnant ethanol fuel. Depending on how it was ridden and service intervals this may or may not be an issue. Maintenance records would be good to have.

RTP wiring diagrams (and there are a LOT of them) can be found here http://www.bmwmc.net for all the RTP specific stuff. This site does not work for me in using Firefox (frames) but it does using Explorer.

The bike itself is the same as any 1150RT civilian bike and Doug Raymond has kindly provided us with some simplified versions of the Haynes manual schematics. They can be found here: http://www.mac-pac.org/tech/electrical-diagrams/
 
Great info, and precisely what I was looking for. Thanks Happy Wanderer!

As a side note, yes I do have the service records for this bike. Your point about the fuel system is a concern of mine. As a starting point, does BMW recommnend one fuel injection system cleaner over another?

- Randy
 
Congrats. Techron Concentrate is what's in the BMW labeled bottle. I use it once per year and notice a small increase in idle speed after each application.

You mention the fuel system. On a bike of that age I recommend that you replace all 5 internal-to-fuel-tank hoses as they can become hard and crack over time. The pump has a lot of excess capacity so even if the hoses leak the bike works fine up until you get a catastrophic split and then the bike stops cold.
 
+1 on what Roger said. I would also remove the injectors and take them or send them to an injector cleaner to be purged, cleaned and tested to make sure the flow rate is the same for both or as close as possible. They tend to varnish up slightly on bikes that sat too much.

Another thing you might want to take a look at is the oil level sight glass. Leaky seals are one thing but if that thing pops out you will hear a loud whoopa whoopa sound first. Then your left foot will feel all nice a warm from hot oil soaking it and you need to shut the motor down in seconds or risk serious engine damage. Just check to make sure there is absolutely no signs of weeping oil around the sight glass rubber (dirt collecting there is a strong clue). Dig your fingernail into the rubber and see if it is still somewhat pliable and it goes back to normal shape quickly. You can also use a small electronics type screwdriver or some such poker for that.

If in doubt just get a new one and replace it. Not expensive to buy and if it pops out it is potentially the end of the motor.

And thinking about rubber things... check the date codes on the tires. At that mileage they may be original! If they are get you some new ones and toss those out no matter how much tread is on them. I bought a 2000 R1100RT in 2010 with 6,425 miles on it and this deal is all too familiar.

Oh yeah, dump ALL the fluids and replace them no matter when they were last done and start your own service log now. Brake fluid, motor oil, transmission oil and final drive oil. If I remember anything else that needed doing asap I'll post it.
 
I'd like to be able to wire the auxiliary lights into one of the two emergency warning light switches on the right switch group, but I have no idea about the wiring diagram.

You don't need a wiring diagram to do this ... and Haynes or Clymer (cough, choke) won't cover RTP models.

On any German vehicle you'll ever find a brown wire is a ground wire. Your lights need a ground.

Your switch needs only to interrupt a positive source on it's way to the light's other terminal. Whatever lights you buy will likely come with relays if required and instructions.

The rest of it depends on your preferences, i.e do you want the lights to go off when ignition is off, do you want the aux lights to only work when the main headlight works, etc., etc.

Back to "all German vehicles" ... the low beam light wire is always yellow, the high beam light wire is always white and the wire used to go to the switch to decide between the two is yellow/white.

An always hot (not controlled by igntion switch) wire is always solid red. An ignition switch controlled power source wire usually is green, possibly striped with another color. Park light wires are grey.

Fact of the matter is, if your aux switchs still have wires connected to them, they are probably quite useful as is. Probably better to drive a relay from them rather than direct to the bulbs.
 
+1 on what Roger said. I would also remove the injectors and take them or send them to an injector cleaner to be purged, cleaned and tested to make sure the flow rate is the same for both or as close as possible. They tend to varnish up slightly on bikes that sat too much.

Another thing you might want to take a look at is the oil level sight glass. Leaky seals are one thing but if that thing pops out you will hear a loud whoopa whoopa sound first. Then your left foot will feel all nice a warm from hot oil soaking it and you need to shut the motor down in seconds or risk serious engine damage. Just check to make sure there is absolutely no signs of weeping oil around the sight glass rubber (dirt collecting there is a strong clue). Dig your fingernail into the rubber and see if it is still somewhat pliable and it goes back to normal shape quickly. You can also use a small electronics type screwdriver or some such poker for that.

If in doubt just get a new one and replace it. Not expensive to buy and if it pops out it is potentially the end of the motor.

And thinking about rubber things... check the date codes on the tires. At that mileage they may be original! If they are get you some new ones and toss those out no matter how much tread is on them. I bought a 2000 R1100RT in 2010 with 6,425 miles on it and this deal is all too familiar.

Oh yeah, dump ALL the fluids and replace them no matter when they were last done and start your own service log now. Brake fluid, motor oil, transmission oil and final drive oil. If I remember anything else that needed doing asap I'll post it.

All good points. The maintenance records show they had the 12,000 mile service completed in September. Tires are new-ish and are in good shape. I agree though, better safe then sorry. Thanks for the help!

- Randy
 
All good points. The maintenance records show they had the 12,000 mile service completed in September. Tires are new-ish and are in good shape. I agree though, better safe then sorry. Thanks for the help!

- Randy

if you have detailed service history, there is little-to-nothing to be gained by re-performing a service (oils, fluids, etc) that just happened toward end of last riding season. If tires look "newish", and the bike only has 8K miles on it, those are very possibly original tires (absenting documentation that says otherwise). If original, yank 'em, as 9 yo rubber is not to be trusted.
 
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