BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Hi everyone on this forum. Thank you for having me. I live on the South Coast of England and generally use my bike about once every one to two weeks, lots more during the spring, summer ,autumn months.
I have a 2018, R1200RT and had an MOT at the beginning of December, when they told me that the exhaust flap was seized. This is the third one since the bike was new. I would have thought that there could be a way of sorting this out, or just get rid of.
After all most of the rain,road,dynamic changes are done to the engine mapping systems now.

The GS1300 has a horizontal flap, so maybe that is the answer. The flap is primarily for noise emissions, it doesn't do much else, so if it is stuck open, then there are no issues, except on the 1250 you get an orange warning light.

Do a search, there are loads of threads about lubrication and fitting emulators etc. Even if you manage to free it, it will probably stick again unless you regularly lubricate it with high temp spray. I would just leave it and gorget about it.

Just get rid of it and fit a HealTech Servo Eliminator. Provided the flap is stuck in the open position, and you'd know about it if it wasn't, 50 quid and half an hours work and the problems goes away for ever. Some say it makes the exhaust a little louder, but I didn't notice and difference after I converted mine.

https://healtech.co.uk/shop/exhaust-ser ... nator-ese/

OR you could just ignore it. On my 1250 I got a warning light, but I believe on 1200 models although it logs an error on the diagnostic, you don't get a dashboard warning.

Capt Sisko wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 1:57 pm Just get rid of it and fit a HealTech Servo Eliminator. Provided the flap is stuck in the open position, and you'd know about it if it wasn't, 50 quid and half an hours work and the problems goes away for ever. Some say it makes the exhaust a little louder, but I didn't notice and difference after I took mine.

https://healtech.co.uk/shop/exhaust-ser ... nator-ese/

OR you could just ignore it. On my 1250 I got a warning light, but I believe on 1200 models although it logs an error on the diagnostic, you don't get a dashboard warning.

Yep, no warning light on mine, 2017MY

Casbar wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 8:58 am Do a search, there are loads of threads about lubrication and fitting emulators etc. Even if you manage to free it, it will probably stick again unless you regularly lubricate it with high temp spray. I would just leave it and gorget about it.

This

And this

Capt Sisko wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 1:57 pm Just get rid of it and fit a HealTech Servo Eliminator. Provided the flap is stuck in the open position, and you'd know about it if it wasn't, 50 quid and half an hours work and the problems goes away for ever. Some say it makes the exhaust a little louder, but I didn't notice and difference after I converted mine.

https://healtech.co.uk/shop/exhaust-ser ... nator-ese/

OR you could just ignore it. On my 1250 I got a warning light, but I believe on 1200 models although it logs an error on the diagnostic, you don't get a dashboard warning.

I'm being lazy

I tried to unseize mine and it worked for about 2 weeks then needed doing again! I tried all sorts to free it off and nothing would keep it from seizing

Once it goes its game over just get a HealTech Servo Eliminator and have done with it

Remove the cables and open it and it will just stay wide open

Not wanting to hijack the thread but is there any proven maintenance on working flaps to prevent this happening ?.

Panman40 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:47 pm Not wanting to hijack the thread but is there any proven maintenance on working flaps to prevent this happening ?.

Not that I am aware of

sakm wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 8:01 pm Not that I am aware of

Agreed, when mine went I scoured the internet for a fix, and yes people did free theirs, apply high melting point grease and got it moving again, but 6 weeks or whatever later it was stuck again; but no, no one ever came up with either a prevented maintenance routine or permanent fix for one stuck.

As a side note my mechanic reckons the flap is there to make the bike comply with emission regulation when new, however unlike cars, emission tested aren't part of the motorbike MOT requirement in the UK (or any other EU country for that matter) so BMW weren't going to spend a lot of money on developing a decent part. It's cheaper to pay out for the warranty claims than spent the money on developing the aforementioned decent part. Don't know how accurate this is, but it sounds reasonable, if a little disappointing for a premium product to me.

You can try this, but it will most likely return

The flap is there for "noise" emissions, it has nothing whatsoever to do with engine emissions as people perceive it. Some will also tell you it provides some back pressure, this is also a moot point as the flap is after the cat and doesn't impact anything to do with fueling.

Casbar's comments are spot on.