2000 R1150gs... death rattle?

[117336]

Dare I ask what the death rattle is? I bought a used gs with 74k "mechanic owned" miles on it and took it to the local bmw dealer for an oil change and inspection to find out there may be some serious problems inside. I heard a tic tic tic on the right side head and thought it was just a valve adjustment. Needless to say they didn't pass its inspection or bother to do the oil and filter pending a revisit. I heard the words "timing chain" and other choice phrases and was loosely quoted a fix it in the 2k's.
We'll keep you posted after I hear the news.

 

[PGlaves]

Dare I ask what the death rattle is? I bought a used gs with 74k "mechanic owned" miles on it and took it to the local bmw dealer for an oil change and inspection to find out there may be some serious problems inside. I heard a tic tic tic on the right side head and thought it was just a valve adjustment. Needless to say they didn't pass its inspection or bother to do the oil and filter pending a revisit. I heard the words "timing chain" and other choice phrases and was loosely quoted a fix it in the 2k's.
We'll keep you posted after I hear the news.

A tick tick is most often caused by one of three things:

1. A worn throttle plate shaft in the throttle body, usually just off idle. This can be verified by placing your finger firmly on the pulley the cable to which the cable is attached. If the noise goes away you have identified the problem.

2. A slapping timing chain. Normally caused by a collapsed or sticking hydraulic chain tensioner but sometimes there is a broken cam chain guide. This can be verified by removing the valve cover and carefully shining a light down and in along the chain to visually make sure the chain guides appear unbroken. If they are not broken you will see a taper on the outboard end. Otherwise it is either not visible or appears squared off where it broke.

3. The number one cause is excessive end play on one or more rocker arms. The spec is huge: .05 to .40 mm. If not near the tighter end of the range they are noisy. They sound like a valve out of adjustment even when they are not.

Now klunks, or deeper knocks are usually more serious and can be anything where moving metal parts meet, and can't readily be diagnosed with a keyboard.

 

[DARKCLOUD]

You don't need a mechanic, you need a lawyer.

 

[117336]

death rattle solved

Wow! Brought the bike in to BMW for the tic tic tic and having heard what the worst could have been, am relieved to have gotten away easy, so to speak. Small in parts and lots in labor. Man I wish I knew how to do this stuff.

Besides the oil and filter change...

Thanks PGlaves. I'll take door #2

Seems on this new to me bike with hi miles (75K) someone forgot to put back in the rt side intake valve adjuster nut.
Both cam chain tensioner springs were replaced.
Valves were adjusted.
Throttle bodies were synced.

Also while there I replaced rear brake pads and fixed a crossed wire in the ABS.

Everything is working great and a trip to Bear mountain this past weekend proved to be quite enjoyable. Now to find some off the beaten path trails.