Aug 21 20022. I was tired of getting my flapper freed every year so I decided to leave the flapper in the frozen open position and remove the cables that are attached to the flapper. I locked the nuts on the cables and secure the cables to the shock frame closest to the flapper. I used a rubber grommet to space the cables away from the frame andI pointed downward so no water can drain down into the cable tubes. The wire cables are free to move and I no longer have to fuss with this. The servo motor will sometimes go a little crazy during the activation of the valve and will probably post a fault (as I have seen using my GS-911) but I really don't care. No warning lights will post on my dash. I hope this helps others who are tired of this yearly maintenance
This flap just reduces noise at start-up. It’s of no use otherwise. Mine constantly seizes. I spent ages sorting it and it moved beautifully smoothly but within 50miles it seized again. It’s not a problem if it seizes in the open position but it sometimes creates a fault code and engine light (MIL) but not always. I have now disconnected the cables so they move freely under the cover. The stepper motor can move them and the ecu thinks all is ok.
Hi Gazza, You are absolutely right. BMW would not change mine under warranty as they were angry with me because I cleared the fault with my GS911after stripping down and freeing the flap. However, as you say, after the next ride it was seized again. This time I did not do anything and left the fault code in. Went back to BMW for its end of warranty check and, I could not believe it, but they ordered new header pipes (around £1500 fitted). Never a problem since and it has happened to every owner I know. You have to kick up a fuss while it is under warranty though. I was told that there is a design fault and they have changed to ceramic pins or something on the flap. Never had a problem since!
@@normski3091 yes very common. You either get a good one or a bad one, pure chance. I also run an RT that has been trouble free from new whilst others I know had seizures. Incidentally my GS911 program shows a fault recorded with the disconnected cables as the expected resistance/feedback is not present. No MIL though. There is an aftermarket module available now to overcome this issue. I believe It connects into the wiring loom feed to the motor.
@@Gazza3501 Really interesting Gazza. Whenever I am in a BMW showroom there seems to be someone waiting, having a coffee, for his header pipes to be changed. This design fault must have cost BMW a fortune, but if you are out of warranty then a real horror!
Fascinating stuff, you’re certainly not the first person to suffer with a seized exhaust flap. Please report back as to how well the new lubricant works. I was told to use the graphene powder on motorcycle ignition locks as we shouldn’t squirt WD40;in there as it attracts muck. Thanks again for sharing. 👍🏻🔧
About a month ago I traded in my R1200R for a 2013 R1200GS at a well established BMW dealer .They admitted this exhaust flap issue .They wire open the valve, remove the servo motor cables and plug in a Servo Buddy or HealTech gizmo to stop a fault code . I got them to do this straight away , also removing the servo motor ,then add the HealTech electronic unit that I had already bought myself . One thing less to worry about !
Hi Graham, that is a solution I have never heard of but sounds good. A few weeks ago my brothers 1200RT went in for an end of warranty check, at the end of 3 years, they found straight away the flap stuck. Replaced under guarantee which was good because he was trading it in the very next day for the 1250RT. We rode up to Alan Jeffries BMW dealership in Shipley to collect his new bike. There was a guy waiting in service for his two year old GS,. He told me they had found a problem in the exhaust and it was in for warranty work to sort it, he had no idea there was a flap in the exhaust. He could not believe when the bike was complete this wonderful new £1200 header pipe. BMW explained that there was an issue with the built in flap and the replacement had ceramic parts which solved it🥳
@@normski3091 Also mentioned to me was that every Boxer engined bike that's traded in they examine and lube the driveline splines now before resale . They have seen examples of splines needing to be lubed and this is done to safeguard themselves . Strangely lubing the splines isn't a service schedule item .The dealership I use here is Mount Motorcycles in Mt Maunganui , Bay of Plenty District .
Hi Hymek, BMW surprised me by changing the header pipes under warranty, even though I had it working. The new headers with the flap have never stuck at all and it is a full year now. BMW have clearly changed something, but they will never admit it🤦♂️
@@normski3091 Norm, thanks for the reply. My bike is a 2017 model which had header pipes changed at 12 months as a warranty job. At the first annual service the dealer said the flap had raised a fault code just once and so they asked if they could replace the headers. Bike is now 3.5 years old and I've been watching some of your videos and thought, I wonder if my valve has seized again and it had! The bike had shown no loss of performance or fault lights and has been serviced by the dealer regularly since. It's currently all in bits while I try to unseize the flap, it was proper stuck. Assuming I can get it going again, I'll be checking it regularly in future.
I had the same problem. It is a bad design. It is there to get through TUV noise tests I am told. It does not seem to effect performance. Stay safe and bonne route.
It’s a dreadful design carried over from the pre-LC 1200 then worsened by incorporating within the header and cat as one assemble. It’s not serviceable. I was told that a misfire on my 7,500 mile 2014 GSA was due to the flap valve sticking. New replacement would have been £1,800. I bought a used low mileage replacement. No effect whatsoever. I sold my GSA recently having given up on BMWs integrity and service.
I have just bought a 2019 Ducati Scrambler 1100, which also has known issues the the exhaust flap, I'm definitely going to go down the Healtech route and delete the exhaust servo.
WD40 is a waste of time and effort trying to lubricate an exhaust flapper valve. The other products are more appropriate for exhaust temperatures. Great video, thank you for sharing.
When I had my RT I used to dapped of anti-seize on both ends of the shafts to prevent it from seizing, now I found out they have a better anti-seize compound called Nuclear anti-seize which can stand up to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, you have to search on Amazon for it
Thanks for sharing these videos, great quality and British so like for like. There seem to be a few regular faults that occur on the R models. I have a 2018 GS Adventure and I’m looking to do some of these service issues myself. Where would you suggest I get the service info from? The two options seem to be the good old Haynes manual which covers up to 2017 but they say it also covers up to the 1250 models or the BMW disc but I believe it only works on Windows computers and I notice you have a MacBook the same as I have. Keep up the good work.
Great to hear from you. I have never used the BMW disc but it would no doubt be very useful.....if as you say it worked on a Mac. I now have 4 Haynes manuals for BMW Boxer engine bikes covering from 1980's to my present bike, as I keep buying them as I have changed bikes. I find they are excellent but sometimes to link the actual photograph that the text relates to is a very confusing. It is the Torque setting that are vital, oil's required and capacity, don't know what I would do without that information. The most useful tool I have ever bought is the HEX GS911 WiFi. It does way more than you would expect. The other day my son's 2005 GS failed it's MOT because the back brake light didn't come on. He went straight out and bought a new bulb, no difference. Plugged it into the GS911 cleared the fault, bulb straight on. When you do the brake fluid change....wow amazing. Must do a youtube on that next!
Normski thanks for that, I did see some Haynes manuals on another of your videos so I guessed that was at least part of the answer. Better order one from Nippy Norman’s. Seeing the Myford took me about 35 years. 😁👍
I heard a rumour you only use a licence when you do a reset of service interval not when you do error scan. Bought one myself for my new 1200GS, tried it on the 1150GS (1999) but wasn't able to do scan. Will look at that later again.
Think maybe that is correct. I only have used it when I have serviced bikes and it takes a license when you plug it into a different bike. But it does not reset the service interval on a 2005 GS because the bike never had that feature. Sure it used a licence though, but I wasn’t counting🤔
Has anyone had trouble with 1200GS-gsa going into limp mode. This could be the reason, sticking exaust valve. Why don't bmw make this part accessible for home maintenance.
Anything you put in there will carbonize and seize. The axis of the butterfly may be out of alignment, but shellite is a great cleaner and ceramic paste. Clean/paste/clean-- and repeat until free,and leave dry.
Hi Rod, think you are correct, BMW, bless their little hearts, replaced the whole header pipe on the end of warranty check up. This new one is perfect. My brothers 2019 RT, exactly the same problem. He had the 3 year warranty and they are replacing the header pipes on his this week🤦♂️
I find it strange and poor design that BMW made this flapper valve integral with the headers on LC bikes .At least on my previous generation R model you can remove the valve and the small section of pipe in a way that doesn't generate a fault code .Motorworks sells the replacement small pipe section .
Yes Graham you are 100% correct. It is madness that you have to buy a new header pipe at around £1200. Watch out for it before any warranty runs out. My new header pipe appears to have solved the problem 🤗
@@normski3091 Fortunately and I say this loosely ,my R1200R is a pre LC and has the valve integrated on a small section of removable pipe .I have bought the replacement pipe section from Motorworks in the event my valve seizes . TH-cam has videos on how to remove it ,and even on LC bikes it can be disabled Really pleased your problem is solved.
@@grhmnz4648 brilliant. My friends 2012 RT exhaust flap was seized solid.it was of course open do I disconnected the cables at the exhaust flap end and it runs perfectly 😅
Aug 21 20022. I was tired of getting my flapper freed every year so I decided to leave the flapper in the frozen open position and remove the cables that are attached to the flapper. I locked the nuts on the cables and secure the cables to the shock frame closest to the flapper. I used a rubber grommet to space the cables away from the frame andI pointed downward so no water can drain down into the cable tubes. The wire cables are free to move and I no longer have to fuss with this. The servo motor will sometimes go a little crazy during the activation of the valve and will probably post a fault (as I have seen using my GS-911) but I really don't care. No warning lights will post on my dash. I hope this helps others who are tired of this yearly maintenance
Hi Manuel, really good advice. I did exactly that on a friends 2013 RT. Perfect solution 🤗
@@normski3091 keep it simple
This flap just reduces noise at start-up. It’s of no use otherwise. Mine constantly seizes. I spent ages sorting it and it moved beautifully smoothly but within 50miles it seized again. It’s not a problem if it seizes in the open position but it sometimes creates a fault code and engine light (MIL) but not always. I have now disconnected the cables so they move freely under the cover. The stepper motor can move them and the ecu thinks all is ok.
Hi Gazza, You are absolutely right. BMW would not change mine under warranty as they were angry with me because I cleared the fault with my GS911after stripping down and freeing the flap. However, as you say, after the next ride it was seized again. This time I did not do anything and left the fault code in. Went back to BMW for its end of warranty check and, I could not believe it, but they ordered new header pipes (around £1500 fitted). Never a problem since and it has happened to every owner I know. You have to kick up a fuss while it is under warranty though. I was told that there is a design fault and they have changed to ceramic pins or something on the flap. Never had a problem since!
@@normski3091 yes very common. You either get a good one or a bad one, pure chance. I also run an RT that has been trouble free from new whilst others I know had seizures. Incidentally my GS911 program shows a fault recorded with the disconnected cables as the expected resistance/feedback is not present. No MIL though. There is an aftermarket module available now to overcome this issue. I believe It connects into the wiring loom feed to the motor.
@@Gazza3501 Really interesting Gazza. Whenever I am in a BMW showroom there seems to be someone waiting, having a coffee, for his header pipes to be changed. This design fault must have cost BMW a fortune, but if you are out of warranty then a real horror!
Fascinating stuff, you’re certainly not the first person to suffer with a seized exhaust flap. Please report back as to how well the new lubricant works. I was told to use the graphene powder on motorcycle ignition locks as we shouldn’t squirt WD40;in there as it attracts muck. Thanks again for sharing. 👍🏻🔧
About a month ago I traded in my R1200R for a 2013 R1200GS at a well established BMW dealer .They admitted this exhaust flap issue .They wire open the valve, remove the servo motor cables and plug in a Servo Buddy or HealTech gizmo to stop a fault code . I got them to do this straight away , also removing the servo motor ,then add the HealTech electronic unit that I had already bought myself . One thing less to worry about !
Hi Graham, that is a solution I have never heard of but sounds good. A few weeks ago my brothers 1200RT went in for an end of warranty check, at the end of 3 years, they found straight away the flap stuck. Replaced under guarantee which was good because he was trading it in the very next day for the 1250RT. We rode up to Alan Jeffries BMW dealership in Shipley to collect his new bike. There was a guy waiting in service for his two year old GS,. He told me they had found a problem in the exhaust and it was in for warranty work to sort it, he had no idea there was a flap in the exhaust. He could not believe when the bike was complete this wonderful new £1200 header pipe. BMW explained that there was an issue with the built in flap and the replacement had ceramic parts which solved it🥳
@@normski3091 Also mentioned to me was that every Boxer engined bike that's traded in they examine and lube the driveline splines now before resale . They have seen examples of splines needing to be lubed and this is done to safeguard themselves . Strangely lubing the splines isn't a service schedule item .The dealership I use here is Mount Motorcycles in Mt Maunganui , Bay of Plenty District .
Hi Norm, how's the flap valve 12 months on? Is copper grease or graphite power the better lubricant in this case?
Hi Hymek, BMW surprised me by changing the header pipes under warranty, even though I had it working. The new headers with the flap have never stuck at all and it is a full year now. BMW have clearly changed something, but they will never admit it🤦♂️
@@normski3091 Norm, thanks for the reply. My bike is a 2017 model which had header pipes changed at 12 months as a warranty job. At the first annual service the dealer said the flap had raised a fault code just once and so they asked if they could replace the headers. Bike is now 3.5 years old and I've been watching some of your videos and thought, I wonder if my valve has seized again and it had! The bike had shown no loss of performance or fault lights and has been serviced by the dealer regularly since. It's currently all in bits while I try to unseize the flap, it was proper stuck. Assuming I can get it going again, I'll be checking it regularly in future.
So interesting. I have a 2018 with 7K miles. If the flap doesn’t throw a code, what are the indications that there is a problem? Thx.
Would love to get my hands on a flapper valve to study I have a few ideas I would try
I had the same problem. It is a bad design. It is there to get through TUV noise tests I am told. It does not seem to effect performance. Stay safe and bonne route.
It’s a dreadful design carried over from the pre-LC 1200 then worsened by incorporating within the header and cat as one assemble. It’s not serviceable. I was told that a misfire on my 7,500 mile 2014 GSA was due to the flap valve sticking. New replacement would have been £1,800. I bought a used low mileage replacement. No effect whatsoever. I sold my GSA recently having given up on BMWs integrity and service.
I have just bought a 2019 Ducati Scrambler 1100, which also has known issues the the exhaust flap, I'm definitely going to go down the Healtech route and delete the exhaust servo.
WD40 is a waste of time and effort trying to lubricate an exhaust flapper valve. The other products are more appropriate for exhaust temperatures. Great video, thank you for sharing.
When I had my RT I used to dapped of anti-seize on both ends of the shafts to prevent it from seizing, now I found out they have a better anti-seize compound called Nuclear anti-seize which can stand up to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, you have to search on Amazon for it
Thanks for sharing these videos, great quality and British so like for like. There seem to be a few regular faults that occur on the R models. I have a 2018 GS Adventure and I’m looking to do some of these service issues myself. Where would you suggest I get the service info from? The two options seem to be the good old Haynes manual which covers up to 2017 but they say it also covers up to the 1250 models or the BMW disc but I believe it only works on Windows computers and I notice you have a MacBook the same as I have.
Keep up the good work.
Great to hear from you. I have never used the BMW disc but it would no doubt be very useful.....if as you say it worked on a Mac. I now have 4 Haynes manuals for BMW Boxer engine bikes covering from 1980's to my present bike, as I keep buying them as I have changed bikes. I find they are excellent but sometimes to link the actual photograph that the text relates to is a very confusing. It is the Torque setting that are vital, oil's required and capacity, don't know what I would do without that information. The most useful tool I have ever bought is the HEX GS911 WiFi. It does way more than you would expect. The other day my son's 2005 GS failed it's MOT because the back brake light didn't come on. He went straight out and bought a new bulb, no difference. Plugged it into the GS911 cleared the fault, bulb straight on. When you do the brake fluid change....wow amazing. Must do a youtube on that next!
Normski thanks for that, I did see some Haynes manuals on another of your videos so I guessed that was at least part of the answer. Better order one from Nippy Norman’s. Seeing the Myford took me about 35 years. 😁👍
I heard a rumour you only use a licence when you do a reset of service interval not when you do error scan. Bought one myself for my new 1200GS, tried it on the 1150GS (1999) but wasn't able to do scan. Will look at that later again.
Think maybe that is correct. I only have used it when I have serviced bikes and it takes a license when you plug it into a different bike. But it does not reset the service interval on a 2005 GS because the bike never had that feature. Sure it used a licence though, but I wasn’t counting🤔
Has anyone had trouble with 1200GS-gsa going into limp mode. This could be the reason, sticking exaust valve. Why don't bmw make this part accessible for home maintenance.
Anything you put in there will carbonize and seize. The axis of the butterfly may be out of alignment, but shellite is a great cleaner and ceramic paste. Clean/paste/clean-- and repeat until free,and leave dry.
Hi Rod, think you are correct, BMW, bless their little hearts, replaced the whole header pipe on the end of warranty check up. This new one is perfect. My brothers 2019 RT, exactly the same problem. He had the 3 year warranty and they are replacing the header pipes on his this week🤦♂️
I find it strange and poor design that BMW made this flapper valve integral with the headers on LC bikes .At least on my previous generation R model you can remove the valve and the small section of pipe in a way that doesn't generate a fault code .Motorworks sells the replacement small pipe section .
Yes Graham you are 100% correct. It is madness that you have to buy a new header pipe at around £1200. Watch out for it before any warranty runs out. My new header pipe appears to have solved the problem 🤗
@@normski3091 Fortunately and I say this loosely ,my R1200R is a pre LC and has the valve integrated on a small section of removable pipe .I have bought the replacement pipe section from Motorworks in the event my valve seizes . TH-cam has videos on how to remove it ,and even on LC bikes it can be disabled Really pleased your problem is solved.
@@grhmnz4648 brilliant. My friends 2012 RT exhaust flap was seized solid.it was of course open do I disconnected the cables at the exhaust flap end and it runs perfectly 😅