Throttle body balance R1200GS

[Hermann]

Thanks to the wizardry of the the GS911 tool and Neville's expertise my GS is now idling much smoother and has better off idle response. Another bonus appears to be lower fuel consumption on cruising home. Riding to the Auto Classics venue this morning (prior to balancing), I had a best readout of 5.1 ltr/100 km and finishing up with 5.3 ltr/100 km arriving in Perth.
After balancing on the ride home, I recorded a best of 4.4 ltr/100 km going from Nev's place to city beach and then ending up with 4.7 ltr/100 km on the freeway doing @120 km/hours.
So this reflects an improvement of @ 0.65 ltr/100 km which is absolutely fantastic.

I will of course confirm this with the next fill up to get an accurate consumption figure.

The reason for this work was that this GS appeared rougher at idle, less responsive on road and was prone to stalling at low speed/revs. Comparison was my previous GS, also a 2008 model with identical engine. This was a seat of the pants kind of feeling but there was a measurable difference in fuel economy with my previous GS recording as low as 4.1 ltr/100 km and getting close to 400 km before needing to be refuelled.

Work done prior to the balancing was valve adjustment and new plugs.

I will record future actual fuel figure achieved and post these for reference and see whether any other work needs to be done.

Thanks again Neville. There is a bottle of the best Limoncello coming your way. And thanks to Terry Anne for providing refreshments while this exhausting work was being done. Removing the rubber caps, keeping the save and puttinjg them back on was a big responsibility for me you know.......

[theape]

Hello Herman, Glad it all worked out as discussed.
This is Your club network at its best.
Nice work Nev.

Cheers
Alex

[Hermann]

Following up on fuel economy:Two fill ups since the throttle balance and sad to report that while the readout occasionally dips to 4.5 ltr/100 km the actual average on refill for the last two tanks it has been is 5.1 and 5.4 for just cruising. So no improvement on that side.
The ECU on this bike was reconfigured by the previous owner to "improve" some aspects of low speed response and smoothness for offroad operation. Maybe this is the reason for the difference in fuel use compared to my previous GS.
Not worried about paying for the extra fuel just annoyed about the lower range between refills.

I'm thinking of having the ECU reflashed to factory settings.
Anyone having any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance

[bwanainoz]

In October 2008 I rode a December 2004 build R1200GS from Perth to Brisbane to a total of 4377.5k, and averaged 5.45l/100k. The month of October is mentioned, as the temperature was reasonably moderate. My speed would have been between 105 and 115kph for the majority of this trip. I consistently average around 5.78l/100k on the HP2e with the larger valves etc - travelling at around the same speed as mentioned above, and over the last 30,000k. Both these figures are around the range specified by BMW in the specifications. I consider these figures to be acceptable.

[Bozo]

Herman
I have found speed, wind, load, tyre type and inflation have a massive impact on fuel consumption.

Crossing the Nullarbor I was using over 7.0 litres per 100 km to fight strong headwinds and crosswinds. I am happy to average 5.4 litres per 100 km on long trips on a GS.

It is interesting to see the wide range of actual fuel consumption for the GS at http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/bmw/r1200gs (select units l/100km on the top left hand side). The most frequently reported fuel consumption was 5.6 litres per 100 km.

You may have had a head wind getting to Nev's and a tail wind on the way home but its great that it is idling smoother.

Bozo

[_Wilks]

Hermann - here is one suggestion.

If nothing else works for you, try a Wunderlich Performance Controller. http://www.wunderlich.de/shop/en/techlusion-performance-controller-29470-000-1.html
You control the settings - maybe you'll get the economy you're after but beware there'll probably be a loss of performance to go with it.

I've used a WPC since approx 2010. Initially I had it on my R1200GSAdv and then switched it over to my HP2 in 2013.

On my GSA, I set the various WPC modes (there's 5 modes) for an economy bias. I averaged 5.9l/100km over 30,000km (all conditions).

On my HP2, as soon as got the bike, I had it dyno tuned by Russell Speak in Wangara with the WPC fitted. He gave me a list of mode settings with a mid-range bias, that is, good performance with reasonable economy. I didn't stay with those settings for long - maybe one tank - because the bike felt, errr, flacid . I then tweaked the settings for a performance bias. Since the tweak I've averaged 5.7l/100km over 19,000km. Almost all of those kms have been fully packed adventure riding. The HP2 is a beast of a bike anyway but my WPC setup gives it that little bit more oomph while delivering vgood economy for the conditions.

[Hermann]

Thanks all for your participation, makes interesting reading being able to make direct comparisons. It looks like my GS is in the ball park on fuel economy with others and I probably stress about nothing. I'll give it some thought and maybe have a play with the ECU down the track.

Regards, Hermann

[brian/5]

Just for information here are the fuel consumption stats for my standard 2010 R1200GS.
I have not noticed any significant difference in consumption between premium or standard ULP.
Steady running at 90 Km/h or below can be 4.7l/100km or better
At the higher speeds with luggage around 6.6 or at times higher

- year .... Distance ... l/100km ... Cents/Km
- 2010 . . .. . 1562 . . . . 5.26 . . . . 7.2
- 2011 . . . . 11432 . . . . 5.35 . . . . 8.2
- 2012 . . . . 19221 . . . . 5.44 . . . . 8.7
- 2013 . .. . . 7122 . . . . 5.24 . . . . 8.1
- 2014 . .. . . 8657 . . . . 5.19 . . . . 8.3
- 2015 . . . . 10132 . . . . 5.53 . . . . 7.9
- 2016 . .. . . 7714 . . . . 5.29 . . . . 6.9


Brian/5

[_Wilks]

If you've got buckets of time available try searching "hilltop" in UKGSer. Make sure you search 'titles only', not 'every post'. They've discussed ECU flash/mapping over and over and over....

I'll keep following this thread - I'm always interested to read about local actions & results.

[jono]

Just to throw something else into the mix. After putting a bottle of the BMW fuel system cleaner through my GSA a tank later I had a sustained 11% improvement in consumption.
As background I had been running regular 91 Octane for ages. One of the known draw backs of 91 is that it is known to leave a sticky residue on the fuel system internals. This ultimately decreases its efficiency and can cause problems with sensors. However this can be cleaned away and remedied with the right treatment.
There is a seperate discussion in the technical forum on this fuel cleaner so I won't details it here but for less than $20 it's worth trying before you resort to ECU recaps etc.
It's also been known to fix intermittent fuel gauge problems (cleans fuel sender) and according to Nev it improved his bikes idle and stopped it stalling.

[Nurzo]

Hi guys as some of you know I'm running a 205/50/17 car tire on my 2009 RT.
I did a quick lap of OZ back in April/May with the consumption averaged out at 4.5.
Most of the time I sat on a true speed of 100 kph.
The best I had was 4.2 between Hyden and Norsman, going a fair bit slower because of poor road conditions and getting use to dirt road riding after many years of sealed only.
The worse was 6.2 during a 3 hour run in the NT at 140 kph.
During the run between Hells Gate and Booralah, which was hell on myself and the bike I got 4.4.

The only reason I think I did so well is the rear tire diameter is slightly larger, giving a true speed reading on the speedo.
I did the throttle body balance a year ago with a home made balance tube partly filled with ATF, changed the oil to synthetic and a new set of plugs.
Drowned the left cylinder in a river on the Savannah Way, which took 2 hours to clear, now I think about it it would have cleared and started a lot earlier if I had of disconnected the fuel pump whilst I was cranking the water out.
Clutch master cylinder gave up the ghost just outside Meekathara but I made it to Perth Roe Hwy before calling for help, peak hour is a bit hard without a clutch.

Loved the 2009 RT the best bike i have ever owned.

Steve

[sanaeerumey]

Thanks all for your participation, makes interesting reading being able to make direct comparisonsclick on the link for learn how it works . It looks like my GS is in the ball park on fuel economy with others and I probably stress about nothing. I'll give it some thought and maybe have a play with the ECU down the track.

Regards, Hermann

May be the soul itself comes with a bang inside