BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

RTman10 wrote:Another 12 months Service done at,7796, next due at.13796.

When will the items listed, (valve clearance, spark plugs & air filter),  required at 12,000 miles be completed.

I don't have the answers, just what I'm being told. The service schedule is a bit of a mess, dealers are taking their own interpretation. BMW customer service and technical can't even agree. Apparently the software will not allow you on the 2014 plus to re-set the 6k mileage warning until within a certain mileage of that. One dealer told me to bring along my annual service receipt from Feb and they would re-set it. Whereas the other said they will waive the oil change and the cost of the inspection and stamp my book for the 6k. Sounds like a balls up to me.

When will the items listed, (valve clearance, spark plugs & air filter),required at 12,000 miles be completed.



On my present annual mileage would expect them to be done in 12 months time when I should be just shy of 12K.  BMW Customer services are primarily car based and seen to do little else than pass you back to your dealer.  Service
Schedule look straight forward enough to me. People who tell you none of the dealers or BMW are working to the same rule book need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

If your bike has always been serviced at the same BMW dealer, they have the history & should be able to advise what is required at what time/mileage interval to maintain the T&C's of any warranty if applicable.

I prefer to know & understand myself what is required & when, usually it's a case of "the computer says".

On the TC RT, the valve clearances & engine synchronisation is required every 6,000 miles.

Looking at my service book the following services were completed:-

Running-in Check 20/07/12 at 545 miles, Next service due 20/07/13 or 6,000 miles, not 6,545 miles
1st Annual 23/08/13 at 1,646 miles, Next service due 23/08/14 or 6,000 miles, not 7,646 miles
2nd Annual 25/04/14 at 2,029 miles, Next service due 25/04/15 or 8,029 miles, not 6,000 miles
I suspect this service was done early due to a change of ownership at the time.
3rd Annual 01/04/15 at 3,160 miles, Next service due 01/04/16 or 9,160 miles
The bike was in my ownership at this time.

The observation being that the valve clearances should be done at 6,000 miles. I did them myself at 6,860 miles.
The BMW dealers wouldn't have seen the bike until it had done 9,160 miles, therefore invalidating the T&C's of any warranty.

The 4th service was completed on 19/08/15 at 10,030 miles, less than 1,000 miles over the due mileage of 9,160 miles.
The 5th service is booked in for 19/09/16, one month over the due date, not yet reached 16,030 miles but will be somewhere near to.

It would seem that whoever did the first 2 services didn't understand the system.  The mileage allowance should always be 6000 miles between services. 

RTman10 wrote:When will the items listed, (valve clearance, spark plugs & air filter),required at 12,000 miles be completed.

On my present annual mileage would expect them to be done in 12 months time when I should be just shy of 12K.

If for some reason your annual mileage increased to more than around 4,000 miles per year, the BMW dealer has put in the book that the next service is due at 13,796 miles.

If you do more than 13,000 miles, you would be invalidating the T&C's of any warranty.

RTman10 wrote:It would seem that whoever did the first 2 services didn't understand the system.
The mileage allowance should always be 6000 miles between services.

Allan Jefferies did understand the system, the valve clearances are due at 6,000 miles, that is why they put this mileage in the book & didn't add 6,000 miles to the odometer at the time, they would have been overdue & invalidate the 2 year manufacturers warranty.

Having said that, after the 2nd Annual service at 2,029 miles, they did add 6,000 miles to 8,029 miles, just goes to show they don't know what they are doing either.

Valve clearance check is every 12K miles on LC bikes.

DaygloDavid wrote:On the TC RT, the valve clearances & engine synchronisation is required every 6,000 miles.

Just using my experience as an example.

DaygloDavid wrote:The 5th service is booked in for 19/09/16, one month over the due date, not yet reached 16,030 miles but will be somewhere near to.

Having completed the valve clearance checks myself for the second time at 10,674 miles, it makes sense to me to push the service to 13 months, getting nearer to the 16,000 miles.

BMW Warranty Services have confirmed that they allow the bikes to go 1,000 miles or 1 month over the service due date, without invalidating the T&C's of the warranty.

Valve clearances on the TC at 6k is the problem, that is why there is a 6k service on the LC. The service bloke said that is why they are enforcing the 6k even though there is nothing more to do than the annual. Its a load of bollocks as far as I'm concerned. I'll get the free 6k book stamp, then decide where I stand for the next one. In theory, the next annual should be in Sept at the 6k service date. But the dealer told me the annual has a ticker as well and will warn me to get the bike seen again in Feb, which will be ok, as I'm not having the oil changed on the 6k. By then I will be approaching the 12k.

Casbar wrote:Valve clearances on the TC at 6k is the problem, that is why there is a 6k service on the LC.

Sorry, I don't understand this, the valve clearances on the LC are due every 12,000 miles.

Casbar wrote:I'll get the free 6k book stamp, then decide where I stand for the next one. In theory, the next annual should be in Sept at the 6k service date. But the dealer told me the annual has a ticker as well and will warn me to get the bike seen again in Feb, which will be ok, as I'm not having the oil changed on the 6k. By then I will be approaching the 12k.

Surely the service indicator due date & mileage can both be set to 12 months or 6,000 miles from the last service.

The bike was serviced in Feb. 2016 with 3,000 miles on the clock, presumably the oil & filter was done at this time.
If the bike goes to 12,000 miles by Feb. 2017, the oil & filter will be overdue, should be done at 9,000 miles.

This is getting very complicated.  If you have your bike serviced by an authorised workshop and you comply with the service intervals written in your handbook any warranty work required will be done. 
Anybody that says a clock reading of 6, 12 or 18K is when that bike must be serviced irrespective of when it was last serviced or at what mileage is talking rubbish.

BMW Service schedules say valve clearances are mileage related, every 6,000 for TC's & every 12,000 for LC's.

My TC RT was serviced at:-
2,000 miles, next due at 8,000 miles beyond the 6,000 miles valve clearance checks,
3,000 miles, next due at 9,000 miles beyond the 6,000 miles valve clearance checks,
10,000 miles, next due at 16,000 miles beyond the 12,000 miles valve clearance checks.

What date & mileage is in the Rider's Manual (service record),  plus dealer stamp is just exactly that.
For details of the work carried out, see invoices.

BMW Warranty Services have access to all work completed by a BMW dealer on any bike, this will determine whether or not the T&C's of any warranty are valid or not.

RTman10 wrote: This is getting very complicated.  If you have your bike serviced by an authorised workshop and you comply with the service intervals written in your handbook any warranty work required will be done. 
Anybody that says a clock reading of 6, 12 or 18K is when that bike must be serviced irrespective of when it was last serviced or at what mileage is talking rubbish.

Well all you chaps are more expert than me. I am just telling you what mr BMW Technical department told my dealer (unless he is talking rubbish, which I doubt as its caused a bit of a storm). The head honcho at technical said - annually and 6k, not or 6k. He has said he will send out a notice to all dealers telling them what the schedule is. My point around the 6k thing is, its a throw back to the TC that needed valve clearances done at 6k, unlike the LC, which needs the clearances and air filter change done at 12k.


They also told me the 6k indicator can not be reset to read a further 6k until you are within x miles of the 6k. So at the Feb service, at 3200, they could not have even reset so the service was shown at 9k, because it can't be done. That was confirmed by two dealers and Mr BMW. The customer service chap was from BMW Motored and seemed knowledgeable, about bikes, unless he was just a car bod reading the service schedule. Anyways he is going to also be told, annually and 6k unless 6k comes up at the annual point. I am not having the oil changed, so Feb next year will be full annual service, if near to 12k, it will be combined, if not, then when I reach 12k, they will do the extra bits needed for the 12k.


Its all very well everyone giving an opinion, and the advice has been good, because I chased it up. But basically, they are saying I need the 6k book stamped and to get that I have to have the service/check to maintain my warranty - end of!