'98 with 80K miles 1st gear is starting to slide into neutral without any prodding from my foot. More disturbing is the occasional "automatic" jump into second. Drained the oil but didn't see anything other than the usual metal fur on the magnet and the oil color was normal. Does this sound like a shift fork problem, or something else? Any chance the shift lever and linkage could be a contributing factor?
This occurred on my 99 GS1100. Problem solved by previous owner at 58,000 miles. Just spend $4000.00 on tranny rebuild and throw in a new clutch and a few other items while your in there. Runs like new- now. If you need the name of a good mechanic in San Dog, PM me. Good luck!
They are pretty simple trannys. Just two shafts, 4 forks and a selector drum to move the forks. It makes sense to try and rule out a linkage problem first as that is external to the tranny. I would think a bent linkage would cause it to be tough to shift gears in the first place instead of causing it to pop out of gear. I would suspect maybe a weak detent spring, allowing the selector drum to move on its own. No way to really check without pulling the tranny and opening her up. I still have the cover off mine, so I will try to get some pics this weekend to illustrate what I am saying.
That's not going to happen! As much as I like and have gotten thousands of good miles out of the GS I'm not spending (and don't have) that much money on a 14 yr old motorcycle.
That sounds promising and something I could do myself. Thanks for a bit of positive news that doesn't involve spending thousands!
I'd check the linkage as was mentioned. Just make sure the arm is on the shaft coming from the gearbox to your linkage. Sometimes it comes aloose and gives your symptoms. You have to take the bolt out and push the arm on and then put the bolt back in. There is a detent on the shaft to take the bolt. No disassembly needed.
Just in case the linkage is not the problem, here are the pics I promised. This shows the two main gear shafts, and the output shaft. Now the same from the bottom where you can see a little of the shift forks on the selector drum, and the shift detent with the spring sticking out of the case. A side view. And a close up on the shift detent and selector drum. If something happens to that spring, it could cause it to pop out of gear. I do not think it is a common a problem, but still possible. I know I would not spend $4000 on a new tranny without opening it up to see if you could identify a problem/cure. But then again, I am used to tearing into engines and some trannies, I am about to split the case on my VWs tranny to rebuild it.
Thanks for going through the trouble of posting the photo's. They're a great help to see what I'm up against. If it is a weak or broken spring wouldn't there be problems with the other gears as well? Richard
One would think so, but trannies are tough to predict what the cause and effect is/are. I would expect if a shift fork was sticking or even mislodged from where it should be, you would have trouble even getting into certain gears. Also some gears shift easier due to how the grooves are cut on the selector drum. So the internal pressure needed to shift is not the same for all gears. Since yours pops out of gear or even shifts by itself, it points to the shift selector drum or shift detent. At least that is where I would start looking untill I could rule out a problem with those parts of the tranny.
If at the last intersection passed trough before opening it up, the traffic light was green, the gearbox turns green on the inside. The same if the light would have been red I bet it's Castrol :)
Yep, good ole grean syn gear oil. You should of seen the blue-green stuff in my FD, it looked like I used gypsy moth larva to fill the FD!
Heck I've never seen green gear oil before, LOL, I guess I'm new to this, only gear oil I've been using in my R1100gs is bel ray's gear saver gl5, wich is red in color any votes against it ? should I comply with the green law and switch ? I'm already sporting my Green e c o friendly shirt LOL
Hootowl, hi! Someone else will probably step up and post more details, but I know that Anton is the premier transmission expert for BMW's. His website is filled with fantastic information that he's gleaned from his years of experience. This is a link to the page where he lists various transmission numbers and the details of what is different between one model and another. http://largiader.com/tech/oiltrans/ If you have a few minutes, perusing his whole website is totally worth it. It looks like from the last three letters EAE of your serial number that your transmission is an M97, that was used in the later R1100 bikes, 1997 and up. Now I'm no expert, which means I defer to others who may have different thoughts and suggestions. Is this helpful? Enjoy, Liz From Anton's site:
Richard, hi! You're so welcome. Do let us know how things turn out with your transmission's shifting issues, please. Liz
def recommends you use 75w-140 GL-5 with added moly in the transmission and FD but, what does he know!!!
