BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I have a 2008 R11200RT and was giving it my first DIY service, since it has the servise indicator  I bought a GS911 as a mater of course , somceit has all the diagnostic functions, after I had completed the service I duely reset the service indicator for the next scheduled service, and decided to have a look at all the various functions that covered,
One of the functions in to do with the ESA, in which it allows you to recalibrate the front and rear sensors for he ESA, however when I view these I see that the settings for the front sensors are at 0, where as the rear have two numeric settings, My question is any one knows, on a 2008 R1200RT does it have front sensors or just rear sensors, as no fault codes show on an autoscan  of the bikes ecu, also the bikes internal computer does no show any errors, in fact by all intensive actions, there are no faults on the bike at all, not displayed,soI do not know if the ESA is not working as it should on the front, in which surely the bike should show an error on the ESA system, and or on the GS911?
Or is the system on this year of bike only fitted with rear control sensors,and I am worrying about something that does not exist on the bike, I have to say that I do not feel much affect when I alter these settings via the ESA button anyway, or they are very suttle?
Confused
Dave

The front shock only has damping adjustment whereas the back also has preload.  That might be the reason you get a different  reading.  Easy to tell if it's working.  Put it on One up and then go directly to Two up with luggage.  You will feel the back go up. I don't think the settings can be changed.

If your machine has been serviced outside the dealer network for some time, then my sincere advice (from experience on my 2005RT) is to have the chassis software for the ESA [size=2px]updated [/size]to the latest release at a dealer. This fixed a number of calibration & setting problems I was having.

By asking nicely at the NEC show , I managed to get BMW UK Head of Motorcycle Technical Services to look up the "after" results and confirm that new upper and lower limits of travel had taken effect.

Hi RTman
Thank you for your prompt response, I am sorry I did not get back to you straight away, but we were called away, on a family mater, I am still rather confused as the rear figures are 486 & 974 but the front figures are 0 & 0 no numeric figure at all, I would have expected as they are not greyed out as not applicable, or any such thing, nor are they showing any error messages on the bike or on the GS911 unit, which I would have expected, the only error message that shows is when I click on the calibration screen to calibrate the front ESA setting, and it states that it is not receiving any signal from the controller!
So I am at a loss to comprehend if there is a fault in the controller, the Shock, or the GS911 which is brand new, and has been updated to the newest firmware, when I operate the ESA button, and place my hand on the front shock, I feel no pulse or feel any movement, which I would have expected that there would have been some kind of vibration or sense that something was happening, when I get a chance I shall try removing the shock, and checking that a wire has not broken, or a connection come loose, but other than that I can not think what has gone wrong, I am sure that nothing is happening in the front shock area when the ESA button is activated
Yes when I operate the 2 up with luggage the bike raises at the rear, but nothing happens at the front, only the rear moves, surely ther should be some movement at the rear?

There will be no movement on the front when you change the settings.  There's one thing you can try to see if anything is happening to the front.  Set the ESA to Soft and then ride down a twisty bit of road.  Then change the setting to  Sport and repeat.  The steering should feel much more direct in Sport.  It did on mine anyway.  I know nothing about aftermarket testing kit so can't comment on your GS911.

gothicman54 wrote: I am still rather confused as the rear figures are 486 & 974 but the front figures are 0 & 0 no numeric figure at all,

You will always read 0 from the front - as the front doesn't have any preload adjusting mechanisms - on the RT. Only GSA
This is normal reading.

RTman10 wrote: The front shock only has damping adjustment whereas the back also has preload.  That might be the reason you get a different  reading.  Easy to tell if it's working.  Put it on One up and then go directly to Two up with luggage.  You will feel the back go up. I don't think the settings can be changed.

does the bike need to be running or just have ignition on?

Engine running.