2011 BMW R1200GS - Hose clamps securing rubber elbow to air inlet and throttle body

Is there a special tool or technique to remove and re-install these hose clamps? I want to remove the rubber elbow and the throttle body on the left hand side so I can get at the cam chain tensioner bolt.

Thanks,

Dave McDougall

141987 said:

Is there a special tool or technique to remove and re-install these hose clamps? I want to remove the rubber elbow and the throttle body on the left hand side so I can get at the cam chain tensioner bolt.

Thanks,

Dave McDougall

Click to expand...

yes, those clamps are the otiker type and do require a special set of pliers....

http://www.amazon.com/Oetiker-14100...id=1457913938&sr=8-5&keywords=oetiker+clamper

edit....sorry, wrong pliers....i do have the 14100083....

w

Actually - that plier is for the Oetiker band with "wings" - a part that sticks out and is crimped by the plier. Those are generally considered one-time-use bands.

The bands on the R1200xx throttle-bodies are different, and use a different tool. Let me look at my Amazon orders and get the part number..

Here 'ya are: Link: http://amzn.com/B0037QFNJM

If you zoom in on the photo - you'll see two little teeth at the outer edge of the jaw of the pliers. These teeth hook into the V shaped nubbies sticking out of the band and allow you to compress it slightly to get the band to unhook. They are also used to compress the band when replacing it.

I have one of each in my "special tools" drawer.. I'd suggest not trying to McGuiver something for this job - the right tool makes it very easy to reuse the bands. The wrong tool will mangle them. I checked with my friendly mechanic at the local dealership - the one above is the one BMW supplies as a special tool.

deilenberger said:

Actually - that plier is for the Oetiker band with "wings" - a part that sticks out and is crimped by the plier. Those are generally considered one-time-use bands.

The bands on the R1200xx throttle-bodies are different, and use a different tool. Let me look at my Amazon orders and get the part number..

Here 'ya are: Link: http://amzn.com/B0037QFNJM

If you zoom in on the photo - you'll see two little teeth at the outer edge of the jaw of the pliers. These teeth hook into the V shaped nubbies sticking out of the band and allow you to compress it slightly to get the band to unhook. They are also used to compress the band when replacing it.

I have one of each in my "special tools" drawer.. I'd suggest not trying to McGuiver something for this job - the right tool makes it very easy to reuse the bands. The wrong tool will mangle them. I checked with my friendly mechanic at the local dealership - the one above is the one BMW supplies as a special tool.

Click to expand...

Don is, of course, correct....and i DO have the correct tool in my box as well.....sorry for the mis-information...

wyman

141987 said:

Is there a special tool or technique to remove and re-install these hose clamps? I want to remove the rubber elbow and the throttle body on the left hand side so I can get at the cam chain tensioner bolt.

Thanks,

Dave McDougall

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity Dave, is your tensioner housing leaking? It seems something was off on the automated torque driver used to tighten that side down on some of the 2011-12 bikes. Mine was leaking oil around the gasket - and under torque. Torqueing it correctly immediately fixed the leak.

And yes - removing the throttle-body makes the job a whole bunch easier.. (and with the right pliers - takes about 2 minutes, most of that cursing at BMW for where they put the nubbies when they installed the band. When you reinstall it - you can put them in a position where it's easy to get at them with the pliers..)

deilenberger said:

Just out of curiosity Dave, is your tensioner housing leaking? It seems something was off on the automated torque driver used to tighten that side down on some of the 2011-12 bikes. Mine was leaking oil around the gasket - and under torque. Torqueing it correctly immediately fixed the leak.

And yes - removing the throttle-body makes the job a whole bunch easier.. (and with the right pliers - takes about 2 minutes, most of that cursing at BMW for where they put the nubbies when they installed the band. When you reinstall it - you can put them in a position where it's easy to get at them with the pliers..)

Click to expand...

Wyman and Don - Thanks for the info guys.

Yes, I think the tensioner is leaking (and probably has been for some time, based on the more grimy appearance of the left hand side of the engine as compared to the non-grimy right hand side of the engine) but the oil leak only got to the point last week where an oil droplet hit the ground (the bike now has about 124,000 km on it).

I have since gotten the clamps off using needle nose pliers without mangling the clamps too badly I don't think, but getting them back on again is proving more difficult.

Even with the throttle body and rubber elbow off, I couldn't get a torque wrench in there to precisely torque it to the specified torque, so I had to settle for using a 15 mm box end wrench and my "calibrated" wrist. The tensioner nut tightened up some, so I hope that solves the oil leak problem.

I will look into ordering that wrench from Amazon. I have never ordered anything from Amazon but I suppose they ship to Canada.

Thanks again,

Dave

Well, I managed to get the three Oetiker hose clamps on and off using needle nose pliers to get them off and regular pliers to get them back on.

I bought a new crush washer to have on hand, but haven’t installed it, as I am hoping the tightening up of the original washer will suffice, and I didn’t want to take out the cam chain tensioner if I don’t have to.

I notice the new crush washer is copper coloured whereas the original washer is silvery coloured. I wonder if BMW changed the spec on the crush washer? Next time I am near the dealer I am going to double check on that point.

Is there a reason a regular worm drive clamp cannot be used?

Jeff488 said:

Is there a reason a regular worm drive clamp cannot be used?

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The reason I didn't use them is because I wasn't able to find regular worm drive clamps that were narrow enough to fit into the grooves in the rubber. The only worm drive clamps I could find were 0.5 inches wide and the grooves in the rubber, and the Oetiker clamps, are narrower than that.

Jeff,

Besides the size - the worm drive clamps aren't desirable since it's entirely possible to over-torque them. Over-torqueing them can result in a bent throttle-body, or torn rubber boot. The Oetiker avoids this since it only closes to a specified distance. Even the early K bikes used ones with the "ears" for the same reason.

Ah, so.
Thanks.

Just to report back, I have driven my bike about 150 km since tightening up the cam chain tensioner bolt and there doesn’t appear to be any more oil leaking, so it appears to have fixed the problem!

Feels great when you can fix it yourself. Thanks for the update.

Air Hose clamp tool at NAPA

141987 said:

Is there a special tool or technique to remove and re-install these hose clamps? I want to remove the rubber elbow and the throttle body on the left hand side so I can get at the cam chain tensioner bolt.

Thanks,

Dave McDougall

Click to expand...

Hi Dave, I'm brand new to the group. I realize this is an old post, but I found myself asking this very same question today as I was attempting to remove the airbox from my 2016 GS. After visiting this site I found some really good information on the Pelican Parts blog so I thought I would come back to share it. It seems that BMW Special Tool 13 1 512 is the same as NAPA's 7769238 CV Boot Clamp Pliers, Evercraft BK 7769238 and they sell for a mere $13.99. I am picking mine up at the local NAPA at 8AM tomorrow. I expected to have to hunt down some replacement clamps as well, but it turns out that the clamps are quite re-usable.

Now if I can only find success in my search for the intermittent open condition in my start circuit.