Mystery Part

[nobody]

New member here with a question about a part that plopped out from under the left fairing. I recently purchased a 2009 K1300GT and took the left fairing off. When I did, this little fellow dropped out. No idea what it is or what it goes to. Any help would be appreciated. It has a phillips head inset inside, but there is no screw on the other side as you can see.

 

[john1691]

Hard to tell what size it is from the photo, so just guessing, does it fit inside your front axle?

 

[nobody]

No, it's not that large. It's about 1/2" in diameter, black plastic. Doesn't look to belong to anything, did just take the bike to get an oil change, think somebody left something extra for me?

 

[evergreen]

It looks a little like the adjusters for the deadlight aim. Hard to imagine how it would fall off, though.

 

[nobody]

It looks a little like the adjusters for the deadlight aim. Hard to imagine how it would fall off, though.

I think you are exactly right, it does look like that part. Here's a link to a photo posted that shows it on the left side: http://www.k-bikes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11752

Now the question is, how to reattach the little bugger?

 

[nobody]

mo' mysteries

So being the noob with the bike, I took the part and a flashlight to see where it might be missing from. I did see another one of the black knobs to the right side of the back of the headlight, so that confirms this is missing from there somewhere.

I also did find the white flip switch to adjust the headlight and gave it a tug and the thing was just loose. Here's the parts that are to it. So now I have three parts and it looks like the black knob might have gone on top of the white center part, but it looks like it's too loose to hold onto the metal shaft. Am I getting warm on my guessing here? Anyone care to clue me in to what it should look like? Thanks.

 

[evergreen]

OK, there are two adjusters, one for the up/down (that's the one you have in your hand), and another that adjusts the headlight left to right. Do you have an owner's manual (look on page 73 or so)? The white nylon looking larger piece is there to lower. or "dip" the aim of the headlight if the bike is heavily loaded to the rear, causing the headlight aim to blind oncoming motorists. It works in a cam like fashion, harder to explain here. When it's all together, it points straight down when "dipped" and is horizontal when set normally. The black hex shaped nut is screwed onto the shaft. IIRC, since the shaft comes out of the bottom of the headlight housing, tightening the nut lowers the throw of the headlight beam. I would guess that the large lever like piece goes on first, followed by the smaller white piece, the shoulder of which engages the two pins on the lever. The nut then goes on hex shaped end toward the rear of the bike and it holds it all on.

I have found that the easiest way to reach all of this without taking everything apart is from the front of the bike, reaching up betweeen the forks. There should be a threaded shaft sticking out of the headlight assembly, to to accept all the pieces. Is your bike under warranty??

Oh, I'll wager that your headlight is pointing very high right now!!!

 

[nobody]

OK, there are two adjusters, one for the up/down (that's the one you have in your hand), and another that adjusts the headlight left to right. Do you have an owner's manual (look on page 73 or so)? The white nylon looking larger piece is there to lower. or "dip" the aim of the headlight if the bike is heavily loaded to the rear, causing the headlight aim to blind oncoming motorists. It works in a cam like fashion, harder to explain here. When it's all together, it points straight down when "dipped" and is horizontal when set normally. The black hex shaped nut is screwed onto the shaft. IIRC, since the shaft comes out of the bottom of the headlight housing, tightening the nut lowers the throw of the headlight beam. I would guess that the large lever like piece goes on first, followed by the smaller white piece, the shoulder of which engages the two pins on the lever. The nut then goes on hex shaped end toward the rear of the bike and it holds it all on.

I have found that the easiest way to reach all of this without taking everything apart is from the front of the bike, reaching up betweeen the forks. There should be a threaded shaft sticking out of the headlight assembly, to to accept all the pieces. Is your bike under warranty??

Oh, I'll wager that your headlight is pointing very high right now!!!

That's what I said in another post on another forum! Seemed like I was lighting up the sky and I wondered if this was normal. Yes, the bike is still under warranty, had it at the dealer last week when they replaced that lower arm thing under warranty. When I got it back home, I noticed the black knob. Since I have to go back for another warranty item anyways, I'll have them fix it then. The computer is giving the oil alert when it shouldn't. They changed the oil last week, so I know it's good. Thanks for the insight, and yes, I did see a photo of it in the manual (online version) and it showed the way everything is supposed to look, just as you described. Thanks!

 

[evergreen]

see pic I just added

 

[nobody]

Thanks for the picture. Well I tried to put the parts back on and it looks like there isn't enough of the metal shaft exposed for the black knob to get a good enough bite to hold, making me wonder if the screw has been turned so much by someone previously that it made it pop off. Is that a possibility? I'm just going to return it to the dealer and let him fix it.

 

[nobody]

So I took it to the dealer this morning and they confirmed everything said here. Unfortunately, BMW doesn't show a separate part to order for it, soooo they are replacing the entire headlight assembly under warranty! Seems crazy to have to replace a five cent part with something that is going to cost them a whole lot more.

Funny thing is, the technician took the part over to a 1200GT they were working on and that bike was also missing the black knob! Wonder how often this happens to GTs and the owner doesn't even know? Might want to check your bike...

Thanks for the help. At least that mystery is solved.

 

[evergreen]

Glad they're going to take care of it.

It seems to me that if your bike weren't under warranty, you could remove the cover for the light bulb, then pull the bulb and carefully (and very cleanly!) insert a short piece of wooden dowell of the right diameter into the hole for the llight bulb and lever the reflector such that the shaft would move to the rear. The reflector is hinged in the X-Y planes, and when your nut fell off, the spring in there pushed the shaft forward, into the assembly. I only mention this in case someone else has the same problem. The shaft for the adjuster or the nut could be stripped, but unless someone used a wrench to adjust the headlight (not needed) that's unlikely.

I had an R1100RT sime time ago that had the adjuster inside the assembly break, and I was able to, using a heat gun, soften up the seal around the headlamp and actually open it up and fix the issue. The seal material just re-sealed when I pushed it back together. Never leaked!

Anyway, best of luck!

Greg