Leaking Oil Pressure Switch Replaced on Brigitta

I'd noticed, upon my return from Wyoming, a small pool of oil under Brigitta's centerstand's left foot. Not good. Oil was flowing down the leg and onto the ground.

I made a close inspection of her yesterday and it seemed like two possible spots. I saw oil drops hanging from the wires connected to the the Neutral Sensor Switch under the transmission housing and some seepage evidence on the frame portion under the Oil Pressure Switch.

Of course, since the Neutral Sensor Switch showed more oil accumulation underneath it, I concentrated on that. It was incredibly hard/ackward to get a 19mm Open End Wrench on it but I managed after loosening the rear mounts for the exhaust pipes. I could not get it to move so figured it was tight enough. I did not try applying a lot of pressure since I did not want to strip the nut on the sensor!

So, in an effort to get clear diagnosis of the problem. I sprayed down the sensor and the surrounding areas with carb cleaner/engine degreaser and hosed it down thoroughly with water. I cleaned off the area as much as I could then placed a paper towel right under the sensor to check in the morning for new leakage.

I also cleaned off the area under the Oil Pressure Switch and the switch itself just in case.

I woke this morning and checked, no evidence of leakage! Strange. There was, however, evidence of new seepage on the Oil Pressure Switch's electrical connector. Hmmmm.

Rode Brigitta to work and checked out both spots once I parked her. I lucked out and saw an actual drop of oil roll off the electrical connector on the oil pressure switch! Aha, I said, there's the damn leaker.

Got a replacement unit for $10 from the dealer on the way home and here's photos of the before and after shots. I had to buy a deep well 15/16th inch socket to remove/install the switch by the way. I lucked out, Advance Auto Parts was having a clearance sale on their AMPRO brand tools and they were 5o% off! I got both the 15/16ths and the 1 and 1/16ths (very close to a 27mm) sockets for less than $10 together! I'll be using the 1 and 1/16ths for the swingarm nuts some day when I do the lubing of the splines on the transmission.

Above is the old switch and the new socket

The hole where the switch goes, I lost just a few drops of oil, a mere dribble came out when I took the old switch off.

The new switch, all snugged up

Removal and installation could not have been simpler. I started the engine and checked for leaks and there were none, I will ride with the wrench tomorrow though just in case. : )

Now to monitor her for leakage for the next few days. I am keeping the old switch as a "spare" since it might have been just the failure of the crush washer it came with that caused the leakage.

Brigitta's Picture in the SEP08 BMW ON

For upcoming issues of the BMW Owners Association's Owner News or ON magazine; the editors like to run themed photo submittal contests. I'm not sure they contests are real competitive but I'd like to think that more than the six entries that were published in the September 2008 edition were sent in by the membership at large!

One of the six is a picture of Brigitta that I sent in a while ago. The theme was "Mirror Image" and I wrote about taking the pictures here: LINK

Here's the picture that made the magazine:



Brigitta has changed somewhat since then, now sporting an S fairing in place of that third party windshield which I sold back to Pete Homan.

Ride Report - The Grand Tetons - Day 3

Spent the day riding from Tremonton, UT where I overnighted in a Western Inn, to Centennial, CO. A total of 607 miles today of riding, 400 of them in light to heavy rain and wet superslab surfaces.

My rain gear held up fine, lost some time donning it and taking it off when appropriate, but riding in the rain is "interesting". I've not found any joy in it as I felt when I finally outran the storms that had rained on me from Utah all the way to 32 miles West of Laramie, WY. I'll not take dry road conditions for granted for quite some time I am sure!

I started riding in the pre-dawn darkness (it was already light but the storm clouds obscured everthing) with huge lightning strikes approaching and a rain already starting at 0705hrs. Seven hours and 400 miles later, the rain finally stopped as I left the storm front behind and beautifully dry and sunny conditions greeted me as I neared Laramie, WY at about 1419hrs. Two hours later I was home after tanking up for the last time on this trip. I am sure the folks at that gas station near Fort Collins, CO were wondering just how many layers I was stripping off while at the pump. Temperatures had climbed to the high 80s, but I wasn't complaining, feeling warm/hot felt good after being in the 40s most of the day.

It got as cold as 42.5 degrees as I rode through the rain and wind. Some pretty wicked wind gusts under sunny conditions near Laramie and Cheyenne. I am so glad it was not a combination of that kind of winds AND rain! That would have been more than "interesting".

Because my Motoport/Cycleport Kevlar Mesh gear vents so well, I ended up putting on long underwear, my rain pants liner, jeans, wind shirt, waterproof/insulated jacket liner and my electric vest with neck bib. Then and only then was I warm and snug as I rode along in the sometimes torrential rains. The only time I felt cold after that was when hit by the very strong wind gusts near Laramie.

The rain made for near blinding conditions at times when I was obligated to pass semi-tractor trailers which seemed to have spray mechanisms attached and going full bore as I passed them. Still, not bad if one just keeps steady and rides it out. The wind gusts and turbulence when it was windy and one is passing a big truck is quite another story, much more pucker factor involved until you learn to anticipate the rocking motion caused by the air coming off the truck and then leaning the motorcycle into the wind as you clear the truck, kind of like expecting then riding the bow wave of a large ship!

Note, I was not the only fool out there riding a motorcycle in inclement weather. Saw at least a dozen other riders out there. All types of marques were out, I was even passed by what seemed to be a 1150R Beemer going much faster than I was willing to do. He just waved and kept on going. Never did talk to him, he turned off soon after for gas and I kept going.

A total of 1647 miles ridden in the last three days, Maria did great as usual. I've reconfirmed that camping is not for me, too much of that in my Army days. I know my gear can do rain just fine and so can I for hours on end. I am going to have to get some waterproof overgloves though, wet gloves suck. Also, perhaps a one piece rainsuit that I can shrug into without much hassle.

No pics, sorry, was to busy keeping the motorcycle upright in the rain while maintaining speed.

Ride Report - Grand Tetons - Day Two

After an uncomfortable night's sleep in the tent ( I really have to get an air mattress next time I am foolish enough to do this) I woke around 032o hrs with a sinus headache and unable to sleep. I went ahead and put the rain screen on top of the tent just in case, to give me something to do, before I went back to sleep.

Turns out, that was a pretty smart thing to do, as I woke up at around 0700 with the sound of rain hitting the tent! Yep, had us a morning rain storm. I waited till it stopped, got dressed, fixed the GS mirror on Maria and reviewed the damage in the light of day. Not bad at all, bad scratches on the mirror housing and some minor ones on the valve cover but that's it.

Got the camp broken down and the motorcycle packed up. One of the guys who'd helped me last night in picking up Maria turned out to be a fellow tent camper from Germany. He is touring the US along with his wife and baby during the six weeks of vacation that he gets! The motorcycle provided a bond between us and it turns out he rides a R90 Beemer back in the fatherland. We had a nice conversation while I cleaned up my stuff from the rain.

I finally headed out around 0845 or so and took the following shots of the Grand Tetons Mountain Range. Beautifully sharp peaks, upon which low-flying clouds were impaling themselves like ships on a reef and having their bottoms ripped out by the top of the peaks.




The entrance fee into Grand Teton Park includes entry into Yellowstone National Park as well. I rode the John D. Rockefeller Highway towards Yellowstone. Nice road but it was crowded with cagers who were doing more gawking than driving. Not sure what they were gawking at, it was mostly a two lane road bordering some pretty large lakes on the south side of the park.

One of the many lakes one sees in Yellowstone Park

I finally got to Yellowstone and the traffic conditions just got worse and worse. I was running out of time by this point as it was getting close to noon. I got fed up with cagers just stopping in the middle of the road to gawk at deer or what not, and headed out the west exit of the park. Didn't get to see the major sights, and this is as close as I got to Old Faithful:


The cagers were lined up for at least two miles trying to get into the park as I was leaving it. No way I was going to go back that way to get back down south.

I exited the park at the town of West Yellowstone, quaint little tourist town which I soon left behind after taking this picture and pointing Maria south.


Montana appears to be pretty country, at least the little bit I saw of it before I suddenly came upon the border sign for Idaho:


Idaho was pretty as well so long as I was near the mountains, once you leave their vicinity though, it's just farmland. Now came so long distance riding, with the initial goal of reaching Montpelier which would put me in striking position of I-80 I believed for tomorrow's cruise home.

Weather and mother nature decided my course instead. I saw rain clouds approaching from the South and soon after Idaho Falls got hit by some pretty heavy rains. It was kind of weird the way the rain came on too....it was a solid front of dust/rain which blew through with some really strong winds, then it would rain.

After several abortive attempts to wait out the rain, I decided the heck with it and rode in it all the way to Trementon, Utah. The rain was pretty steady, heavy enough to force me to slow way down while the cages continued to whiz on past me as I cruised in the right lane.

My rain gear did pretty good but it was still miserable. Finally gave up the attempt to reach Ogden, much less Salt Lake City and found a Western Inn Hotel to hole up in out of the rain. I felt much better once I was dried out and the gear was unpacked and drying. Checked in one more time with my loving wife who'd been feeding me weather reports and map information all day and now, am calling it a night.

My loving wife captured this picture of the storm I rode through this afternoon, I was between Idaho Falls and the Utah Border.

www.weatherunderground.com

The drive for Denver and home is tomorrow, I hope to get an early start. I hope the rain is over by then but the forecast does not look good. More rain. Joy.