2002 1150R won't start

[opposedtwin]

Returned from a beautiful 2K mile ride on which my bike ran flawlessly! To show my appreciation I gave it a good washing and wax job. Cranked it up and let it idle a few minutes then pulled it into my basement. .Next day pushed it out for another short ride. Won't start. Turns over great and the battery is new and upon checking to see if plugs were firing I found no spark at all. What do you recommend my next check should be ie, coil, Halls sensor, etc and please state how step is accomplished since I'm a simpleton.

[kirby]

1

[Sunbeemer]

I had the exact same thing happen to my 2002 after washing it after a 3K, 10-day ride. I pulled the left-hand Autolite 3923 Iridium plug and there was no spark. Went round and round with good help from riders on this forum and swapped out the ignition coil and tested the HES (good) and then scratched my head a lot. Finally I pulled the right-hand plug and noticed it was missing the iridium pellet that was mounted in the end of the center electrode (wonder where it went?). I replaced both plugs with Autolite 3923 regular copper-electrode plugs (all I'll use now) and it's been running great ever since. The plugs are connected in series through the coil so if one fails (open) neither fire!

Hope it's this simple for you and this saves you some head scratching

And I don't wash my bike anymore.

[opposedtwin]

Used low pressure garden hose (learned from experience about HP spray). Checked fuses and they're ok. Pulled front engine cover and secured a hair dryer to blow on the HES for about an hour even though there wasn't any indication of water present. Still no start. Hopefully, tomrrow I can check further. Thanks for the tips!

[opposedtwin]

Replaced ignition coil today but still no spark to the plugs. Rechecked fuses (they're still not blown, lol). Would replace the H.E.S but hesitant to spend more money and risk having same problem. It has been suggested to me by my "non BMW" riding buddies that as old as my bike is, 2002, I should take my title with me and be ready to sign it over to the dealer because with a labor rate of nearly $100 per hr repair costs will equal or exceed bikes value. Gotta get different riding buddies or a different bike!

[kirby]

" its not the age its the mileage"

[CycleRob]

"Turns over great and the battery is new and upon checking to see if plugs were firing I found no spark at all".

Since the cylinder fins and valve cover bolts are powder coat painted, placing the sparkplug metal against them will NOT fire that plug! You must ground the sparkplug metal to the intake manifold bolt or other nearby unpainted bolt. Also the other cylinder's sparkplug must also be installed/grounded or your side will NOT fire. The Motronic fuse is the red 10A fuse, #5 from the left (gearshift side). If you remove/replace it, you'll need to recalibrate the TPS (ThrottlePositionSensor) switch parameters:
1--Key & killswitch ON in Neutral (NO starter!).
2--Rotate throttle from idle to full throttle to idle stops, do it twice.
3--Turn off key or start the engine. You're done.

I once experience hard starting after washing my 50R - - it was caused by water that puddled around the sparkplug cap and got inside it. It gets worse when the bike sits overnite with a warm or hot engine that will disperse one drop into a 1,000 micro drop fog coating the sparkplug porcelain and inside walls of the terminal cap, creating a potential short to ground. Even though unsalted water is a poor conductor of the 22KV, it is still a better conductor than the sparkplug gap under the 10:1 cylinder compression pressure. It'll jump thru the fog water droplets instead. Blowing out everything with a shop air blow gun and wiping the removed sparkplug's dusty porcelain ribs clean eliminates potential semi-conductive short paths. Next cleaning jobs included a full throttle 5 minute engine blow off with my 4 stroke gas powered leaf blower (with it's clean, no oil smoke exhaust).

[Sunbeemer]

Assuming you've checked the obvious stuff (kill switch off, sidestand switch functioning, not in gear, yada-yada-yada...)
Spark plugs are cheap (~$2.20/ea) for Autolite 3923) and it only needs 2!

[Keppelj]

An aside: Cyclerob, is your procedure for recalibrating the TPS useful for effectively installing a the booster plug? Don't know quite why I ask, but my (carefully installed) booster gave me no appreciable change and I've wondered why. Others have been happy with the result, less surge.

[CycleRob]

Installing a the booster plug does change the parameters of the IAT, so it would be a good idea to remove the #5 fuse to the Motronic computer and do the TPS reset routine, which by the way should be performed any time either battery terminal is disconnected.

The booster plug works on a cold or recently started engine by telling the ECU that it's colder air going into the airbox than reality, which actually has much warmer air, making the ECU generate a richer mixture --until-- the O2 sensor heats up enough and comes on-line, then trims away that excess fuel. Only if the O2 sensor is disconnected will that thing work. Then you are looking at diminished compensation for altitude, barometer and temperature changes with increased fuel consumption.

Does an R1200R really have a too lean driveability problem? (the site linked to shows one)

[Keppelj]

My experience with the RR is that mine runs flawlessly when cold and in cool weather and gets into a surge mode when warmed. I was hoping for smoother running once warm though my surge is not really annoying now that the valves and throttle bodies and adjusted. I understand from you that the booster has no effect on warmed up running. I don't want to disconnect the 02 sensor. Thanks for the clarification.

[acejones]

Never, ever, wash a BMW. It is not a Harley and does not appreciate it.

[opposedtwin]

Flash forward update. Okay, I had to go out of town for a few weeks and upon returning I rolled my bike out to be picked up and taken to the dealership for diagnostic and/or repair. Couldn't resist trying one more attempt to crank the bike and low and behold it tried to start and then after coaxing with tiny increases on the throttle it cranked. But would run on only the left cylinder. The right exhaust stayed cool. After holding the throttle setting at 3K RPM for a minute or so I blipped the throttle to see if the right side would fire. It did! But as soon as the throttle setting is reduced below 4-5K RPM only the left cylinder continues firing. Right side only runs if the throttle is quickly advanced nearly full throttle. Before giving up and hauling it off to the dealership I want to "plead" assistance once again from you folks, lol.

[shards]

Probably sounds a bit obvious but....(and I did it once, and you never forget).....check that the RHS throttle cable hasn't been yanked onto the lip of the cable holder during cleaning. Your symptoms are exactly what happened to my Rockster after removing the tank and dislodging the cable.

[opposedtwin]

I'll check that but what is so confusing is for a week it wouldn't attempt to crank and when I pulled the plugs and turned the engine over there was no spark at either plug. Tried another ignition coil and still no spark. Leave for three weeks and now it will run on one cylinder. Well, maybe tomorrow it will fix itself. It really is a mystery and there is no more aggravating problem than one which is intermittent.

[Ol' Jeffers]

Hall sensors?? Mebbe... (An extremely uneducated guess which was promted by a desire to help
rather than by any knowledge of the problem!)

[Sunbeemer]

I think shards is on to something...this is the exact symptom of a dislocated right-side throttle-cable ferrule. I'd try to reseat it by gently pulling it off the edge of the recess on top of the adjuster screw (the one you use to adjust throttle body synch at higher rpms), and be sure it drops into that recess at the top of that screw.

Could the lack of spark have been caused by poor grounding against a painted engine part???
Good luck and let us know how you fare.

[fpgirard]

I'm betting that it's the right throttle cable improperly seated......

[CycleRob]

The right exhaust stayed cool. After holding the throttle setting at 3K RPM for a minute or so I blipped the throttle to see if the right side would fire. It did! But as soon as the throttle setting is reduced below 4-5K RPM only the left cylinder continues firing. Right side only runs if the throttle is quickly advanced nearly full throttle.

Like shards first mentioned and then Sunbeemer said with greater detail, ". . . this is the exact symptom of a dislocated right-side throttle-cable ferrule. I'd try to re-seat it by gently pulling it off the edge of the recess on top of the adjuster screw (the one you use to adjust throttle body synch at higher rpms), and be sure it drops into that recess at the top of that screw."

That is definitely what it is! The right cylinder gets the fuel determined by the TPS (ThrottlePositionSensor signal to the Motronic computer), since the TPS moves only with the left TB throttle shaft. When the right TB throttle butterfly is held open by the dislodged throttle cable, it's fuel injector is still supplying only the tiny idle mixture fuel amount determined by the closed left TB shaft, so it over-lean misfires, sending that unburned fuel into the catbox, where the hot catalyst then glows red hot consuming it. The right cylinder runs when you whack open the throttle because the slightly larger opening on the right TB is proportionally much less over-lean at big flow throttle openings so the cylinder will run for an instant . . . until the RPM's rapidly go way too high and you have to close the throttle.


Question: Could the lack of spark have been caused by poor grounding against a painted engine part???
Yes! The silver-gray powder coat paint is essentially a good hard plastic insulator. It (spark) will also fail if BOTH secondary outputs are not grounded to unpainted metal, like the finned exhaust retainer casting.

[Dylzen]

Battery died. Two days later replaced with new.
Now the bike won't start.
I have spark and a good strong crank sound.

Any thoughts would be welcome,
-D.