R1100RT idle

[tjones]

Bought a '97 R1100RT a month or so, with a bit less than 30K on it. Supposedly had meticulous care by the original owner, etc.. My question is about the idle. I can allow the bike to warm to operating temps, and when riding, when I come to a stop, the thing will idle about 1350 rpm's just smooth as silk, then after about 5 seconds, the idle will drop to about 950 rpm's and shake, stalling sometimes. The bike has aTechlusion box installed that (ccording to the instructions),is set correctly. Any ideas? Do I need to see about having dealer set check the synch on the throttle bodies? This is my first BMW, and also my first fuel injected bike. Not real familiar with it yet,
but seems to be a fantastic ride!!!

[fish]

Bought a '97 R1100RT a month or so, with a bit less than 30K on it. Supposedly had meticulous care by the original owner, etc.. My question is about the idle. I can allow the bike to warm to operating temps, and when riding, when I come to a stop, the thing will idle about 1350 rpm's just smooth as silk, then after about 5 seconds, the idle will drop to about 950 rpm's and shake, stalling sometimes. The bike has aTechlusion box installed that (ccording to the instructions),is set correctly. Any ideas? Do I need to see about having dealer set check the synch on the throttle bodies? This is my first BMW, and also my first fuel injected bike. Not real familiar with it yet,
but seems to be a fantastic ride!!!

hi tjones :wave congrats on the new (to you) scoot and welcome to the MOA forums.

I had a '97 RT too, and I couldn't get it to idle reliably at 950rpm. 1000-1100rpm was a much more stable idle.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean about warmup time (idling?) and an idle speed of 1350 then dropping. Can you be a bit more specific about all that? The idle speed is the idle speed. It shouldn't change, with the exception of when you use the "choke" at cold start. I don't know your location, so maybe it's really cold where you are, but the 1100 starting procedure should be...

1. in neutral or clutch pulled-in.
2. key on and make sure kill switch is in middle position.
3. pull fast idle (choke) lever full up/back and hold it there.
4. push starter until engine catches. may require a little throttle, depending on when it was last ridden and how cold it is.
5. release fast idle lever to high position. idle should be about 1200-1300 rpm.
6. shift to first and ride off. do not let it idle for 40 mins like a harley. it's unnecessary and put extraordinary wear on the engine as well as raises the chances of overheating (melted plastic, oxidized chrome, burnt paint, burnt oil/rings/piston skirt, etc).
7. After riding for a block or two, push the fast idle lever all the way in.

note: don't ride a cold engine hard. get at least three bars in the display before you goose her.

as far as throttle body sync, it needs to be done after a valve adjustment every 6k miles. there's no way to just change the idle...you need to adjust all of the cables and sync the TBs at the same time.


my '97 was glacier green.

[tjones]

When I was referring to warm-up time, I meant riding the beast until normal operating temp,(5 bars on the gauge) or so. Also, I'm not kidding when I was telling you about the thing wanting to idle about 1300 rpm's when I pull up to a stop light, and then after about 5 seconds or so, the idle speed falls down to about 950 and the bike starts to shake and sometimes will die. If I try to very slightly open the throttle to speed the thing up a bit, it will respond for another few seconds, then back to the slower idle and shaking. Acts as if it has to be above the 1000 - 1100 rpm before it idles smoothly. Now, I know that's where it is supposed to idle anyway, but my question is why is the darn thing not doing it to begin with? Have checked the spark plugs,they are clean and gapped correctly, have checked the settings on the Techlusion box, and according to the sheet that came with it, all seems to be working correctly, air filter is clean, don't know what do try next...
Thanks for any and all suggestions....
Have a good day and ride safe.....

[lorazepam]

try a valve adjust and tb sync, I bet that would help quite a bit.

[fish]

try a valve adjust and tb sync, I bet that would help quite a bit.


I agree with lorazepam. Check the condition of all of your throttle cables. The idle slowdown thing has me concerned that you've got a cable binding or worse, fraying.

[tjones]

Gentlemen, Thank you for the insight. I will look into the suggestions that you had. Hopefully it will solve the problem.