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That clicking noise i had

Ceesie76 said:
Same on my '16. When the chain tensioner failed, BMW replaced it under warranty with another mechanical one. Now that one is failing. I will replace it myself - $76 instead of the dealer's $1,564 ...
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You should have talked to the service manager n had them call BMW HQ n REPLACE
the darn thing for FREE. They know it's a BIG ISSUE but i guess they are NOT interested in
helping us on the BMW S we ride. IF i was mechanically inclined i would do it myself
 
@DannyCoolBeans I looked up the part number for the mechanical tensioner and found it to be 11 31 8 544 896

For the installation, I will consult my shop manual (on DVD) once I get around to it, hopefully sometime over the next couple of weeks. The most challenging part looks to be the removal of all the plastic. There's also a video on Youtube on how to install a mechanical tensioner that I watched recently, in Italian I believe.

@Greg goes wild The first time the tensioner went bad, early 2018, the BMW dealer replaced it with another mechanical one. I doubt they would warrant that installation, now almost 4 years later.

I have no intention of going back to a BMW dealer unless I have no other option. I can do most mechanical things myself, having done all repairs and maintenance, including full engine rebuilds, on all my vehicles since around 2012. I only took the scooter to the dealer as it was still under warranty in 2018, and for the brake recall (I can't do recalls myself) and both times the dealers disappointed somewhat.
 
DannyCoolBeans said:
Wow man that sucks

what parts did you order and what r you following to do the install?
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Did anyone do this yourself? I bought the old style tensioner for my 2013 650gt and will be installing soon. The manual is crazy!! 4 pages of work to do this simple job. Looks to me like they are just using this for billing that $100 labor charge at the dealer. Several videos I watched for other bikes simply remove and replace. With the amount of noise my bike is making, I assume the thing is not working at all. I will install and slowly rotate the engine a time or two. Not going to take the whole top end of the engine apart!! Please let me know what you have done or what you think of this idea... Thanks!
 
Yes I did replace the mechanical tensioner myself last Summer. I followed the DVD shop manual step by step, it wasn't difficult at all, just a lot of panels to remove. The old tensioner was completely frozen (had less than 8K miles on it) so wasn't doing anything anymore. The new one has seen about 4K miles and is still A-OK (touch wood). No need to take any part of the engine apart, make sure you have the correct chapter of the manual.
If I were you, I would not run the scooter anymore without replacing the tensioner; if it is very noisy as you say, catastrophic engine failure is very possible as the timing chain can skip teeth and it's of course an interference engine, kaboom.
I think the whole procedure took less than 2 hours. I combined it with replacing an idle air hose that was torn, which added easily an hour.
 
did you pull the valve cover and all that from the DVD or just pull the tensioner and replace. That is my plan.
I will then just click the starter a couple of times slowly to make sure the tensioner sets properly. I assume mine is totally retracted too. Yes, I won't drive it as is now.
 
x2 on the DVD being a bit difficult. No, no need to pull the valve cover - I did not touch anything on the engine, nothing at all. Only took out the old tensioner and bolted in the new, pulled the pin and it was all set. The idle air hose runs in the front of the engine, best I recall, and there's more tupperware to remove if you want to get at them. I was only able to replace the one that was torn and leaking air, the other one was in good condition, which was just as well because I could not see a way to replace that one without doing significantly more removal of 'stuff' so was happy to leave that one alone.
 
I found a good Korean video on plastic removal for that side. Its in Korean, but a picture (video) can paint a thousand words!


It does make sense that if the tensioner isn't working then it really doesn't matter where the chain is as long as it hasn't already jumped!! I did buy the one for the BMW i3 extender engine. It is the same they all say.

Thanks for the help! I'll follow up on the success or failure of the project.
 
This is the Russian guy that sells a video series including removing the plastics. Luckily I had a friend coming from Russia last week via China and he brought me a complete kickstand for Cheap from the same guy! It was a big help. Almost impossible to find here in the USA and especially all the way out in Hawaii.

Действие аккаунта приостановлено

antoxagarage.getcourse.ru antoxagarage.getcourse.ru

I haven't bought the course, I'm just a little too cheap. I'll figure it out anyway.
 
That Korean guy looks like it's his first time pulling apart a GT. The main thing is not to break any tabs. I did not know there was a Russian video series for sale on this scooter, but I don't think it should be necessary, the shop manual, though quirky, is pretty clear.
 
Ceesie76 said:
Yes I did replace the mechanical tensioner myself last Summer. I followed the DVD shop manual step by step, it wasn't difficult at all, just a lot of panels to remove. The old tensioner was completely frozen (had less than 8K miles on it) so wasn't doing anything anymore. The new one has seen about 4K miles and is still A-OK (touch wood). No need to take any part of the engine apart, make sure you have the correct chapter of the manual.
If I were you, I would not run the scooter anymore without replacing the tensioner; if it is very noisy as you say, catastrophic engine failure is very possible as the timing chain can skip teeth and it's of course an interference engine, kaboom.
I think the whole procedure took less than 2 hours. I combined it with replacing an idle air hose that was torn, which added easily an hour.
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I did have that NOISE n it got so bad one day. I had to leave my bike at my
clients property cuz the bike would NOT turn over at all. So i left it there until my clients
returned from Germany. They had it towed on a flatbed to the dealer. They started the
bike up n the rattling noise was there. They put another mechanical tensioner in about
8K n now i have almost 15k on it. I will see what happens in about 3 k miles if that
tensioner goes bad again.
 
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