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Did you do the 18K service at 36,000? If not, change all plugs. Also do the rest of the service and give the rad a good thorough clean inside and out. Look for the fouled spark plug. If you have a bad coil, the cylinder with the fouled plug is the one with the bad coil. If you did the 18,000 mile service, keet riding until your engine light goes on. Coils can work intermittently. It is rare that during a failure, you won’t get an engine light or a code thrown. If your situation is intermittent, at one fail or another, you will get the light and the code maybe not every time but sometimes. If you never get either, the vast likelihood is that you have a problem other than a bad coil-maybe a fouled injector or bad gas. Try injector cleaner and octane boost before you rip your bike apart for nothing.
 
I don't have in-depth knowledge of the BMW's ECU, but on some auto's I know that there's a count threshold it needs to exceed in a set time for a code to be triggered.
 
Update: I bought my lift, assembled it, and put the bike on it. I scanned for codes ( finally ) and found no discernable engine faults. So cleared all codes and reset the service flag (as I needed to anyway). The service light (white) is cleared and the bike fired right up.

BUT; I know what I felt and I felt a cylinder bog down. The bogging was intermittent and would alternate between correctly running and bogged in an instant. Coils. But no engine code? If the plug was the problem, the engine may not detect that, yes? The plugs have 40k on them. Do plugs pop in and out of working?

Advice por favor: @Gunnert @Prince
I wouldn't anticipate a bad plug. @ 40k miles they're still good. I changed plugs @ 50K and they were fine. Odds are it's a coil going bad, but which one? Without it throwing a code its a WAG. I'd suggest waiting until it either throws a code (engine trouble light on) or the motor starts to miss ALL the time. If it's missing (no code) your only option is to try using an infrared heat gun to identify which cylinder is 'missing'. I wouldn't expect to be able to read "bad cylinder" via checking a spark plug if it's only missing every now and then.

Duane
 
I have a 2012 GTL that had an intermittent running issue. It happened after getting some fuel at a station that I don’t think sells much premium. At times it would under hard loads or accelerations it would act like it was missing and would cause it to shutter but then would suddenly clear up and rev to redline with no issue. I first added some injector cleaner thinking it might be a fuel issue even trying to see if by running it completely out of fuel would clear up the issue. All the time I was dealing with the problem that would come and go the bike never gave me an engine code. At the same time I had an issue with the sprag clutch for the starter that caused occasional starting problem to happen that progressively got worse. Knowing that I was going to have to have the sprag gear assembly replaced I decided that I would have the spark plugs changed and a service inspection done at the same time. This was done at 35000 miles on the bike and the dealer was going to keep it over the winter. Shortly after they picked it up I receive a letter from the dealer telling me that they were no longer going to be in business and that they would do the work and store the bike until April. Then receive the recall notice for the bad fuel pump problems from BMW after that dealer had closed shop so they would not be able to do the pump replacement. They had done the starter sprag gear replacement and service work and stored it until April. I decided that I would pick it up with my trailer and keep it in my trailer until a different dealer could get the replacement fuel pump for the recall. This took more time than I had hoped for because I didn’t receive a call from the that dealer informing me a pump had found its way to them until November of 2021. By now It had been sitting in my enclosed trailer since April 2021 I decided because it was winter I would take in this April 2022 to have the pump replaced. I have now been riding it since the pump was replaced and it hasn’t run this well since I bought it. I’m not sure because if it was that sat for a year completely out of fuel or the replacement of the spark plugs or the new fuel pump but one of those seemed to have fixed the problem.
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
I thought about the pump too; it is running consistently at 65PSI, but I do not know the device's sample or error rates, so that is an observation only.
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
I cannot get this thing to throw any codes! I can hear it (a "blip" in the tone periodically) I can feel the bogging too on the road.

My problem will be timing. This bike must take me to PA in 5 weeks and run flawlessly on the track. It then has to repeat that down to SC and then KY three weeks later. If I must I will have to shotgun it; which has its own problems.

I ordered up sparkplugs ($13.00) and I have one coil handy. Five coils at $250 would suck and it is an awful troubleshooting practice, but this bike needs to run perfectly this Summer.

If it wasn't a matter of recycling fluid between each test, I would take the new one and go down the line one at a time to see if anything changes. Or change two coils three times. The change is too instantaneous to be a plug.; and it bounces back.

My thought is if it were the fuel pump, that bogging would be across all cylinders, not just one. When it does bog down I can throttle up (load it) and all other cylinders fire.

I don't think it is a complete failure in the cylinder when it does this. I think the spark works but goes cold relative to the other cylinders. I say this because when it bounces back, there is no odd burn from extra fuel and the tail pipe is not wet.
 
On mine, the coil interruption was for matter of seconds and only when at idle or just pulling away from a stop. I equated it to being heat related and once air was flowing and the bike was at speed it wasn’t an issue.
 
@Thad_K6 , the coil removal tool you refer to only works on 2-3 of the K 1600 coils; not enough room to use it.

Duane
 
I assure you all that the BMW extractor tool (BMW part no. 83302153002) works on all coils due to its design. I ordered mine from the dealer (best price I could find @ $50).
Watch Font Rectangle Clock Strap
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
Thank you @Thad_K6. I will look at that. The hinged "shoulder" of the extractor looks as though it is designed to pry against; the handle looks as though it pivots down to pry up.
 
Thank you @Thad_K6. I will look at that. The hinged "shoulder" of the extractor looks as though it is designed to pry against; the handle looks as though it pivots down to pry up.
It is very adjustable and durable. I put a small piece of wood against the valve cover and the handle for added leverage.
 
I twisted my coils a wee bit left and right a few times and they pulled out by hand. You can't move them too far as the sockets are slightly oval.
One spark plug of mine was not in good nick but the one where the coil had failed (number 3) was in good condition.
I changed all the plugs anyway.
Whilst I was changing the coil and so much of the bike stripped down I checked my valves as well, all in spec at 34k miles and not checked at 18k miles.
 
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I, like many, enjoy a well-made tutorial or "instructional" video on anything maintenance that is done to the bike. I'm always impressed by the quality that gets put into some of them. The visual learners like me feel like they can take on anything new when we see it done in front of us. That said, does anyone know of any video that already documents the process of coil, plug and/or valve clearance? Even one showing radiator removal, cleaning and antifreeze return with system bleeding.

For those of you planning to do any of this higher-level maintenance, please do not take this as any form of subliminal influencing. I wouldn't do such a thing simply to further improve the content of an already great forum. :)
 
It is very adjustable and durable. I put a small piece of wood against the valve cover and the handle for added leverage.
The below video will start at the point where he starts removing the coils, all six, with that tool - after seeing this and your recomendation, I think I'll order one of those tools.

 
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