I would clean the crap out of the parts, maybe even gently scuff up the surfaces, then splooge a high grade epoxy into the slot of the broken piece, prior to slipping into place. Maybe even epoxy a piece of safety wire around the perimeter to help retain the shape. Good epoxy should keep it there without further problem. You could also get some fiber mesh and embed it in epoxy smeared on the visible surface to build further integrity. I would be wary of drilling holes in the plastic and putting a screw in there. The plastic is already brittle from heat and age, adding a screw could potentially crack the plastic in a new place. Really really stupid of BMW to make this part out of plastic. I bet the replacement part is an assembly with shaft.
Do you think the broken throttle body cable pulley has anything to do with the rough idle problem you've been having ?
I agree with the thinking of holding my tongue. The fact is I don't know that he broke them. I didn't see him twisting the grip, I just know is was working well a few hours before and the next time I got on it (the following morning) it was bad. Adding to the mix, my brother-in-law is active Navy and is Permanent Change of Station next week. The boy and his mom will follow Dad in a few months. If I say anything now it will make a tough family dynamic tougher. He will be missing his dad and I will just be a dick. If I do anything with the boy it will just involve tools (of which his father owns none), a minor repair or project, and some general tips on torque and the evils of the over-abundance of same. doG knows I could've used that lesson in my day. I am never going to mention this to him or his pa, much to my wife's relief. Much of my angst has waned and it is entirely possible the boy had nothing to do with this.
I didn't know anyone had read that thread. I don't think so. I had just serviced the bike that week and had ridden around town quite a bit. It was running fine. I mentioned the AF-XIED in my first post. I put those on the prior week also after pulling off my Power Commander. While I liked the PC for the most part, I was desperate to fix that idle problem and thought (with some help) that the O2 sensors needed to be back in the loop (heh-heh). Plus I have had reservations about the PC for some time. I took a ride over Tioga Pass last summer and the damn thing wouldn't run for crap....way too rich. So I had been looking to do something different. Well when I took off the PC one of the connections to an injector was pretty foul with corrosion. Really odd because every other connection looked pristine. Anyway I am hoping that was the cause of the intermittent-idle issue. But I wont know until it wont idle again (?).
I am probably going to try to do something with them. My hope would be to repair them with parts from Bing. If those parts are Unobtainium I will attempt to fashion a repair. You guys have some good ideas on how to go about it.
It might be old news to you all, but today I discovered the TB shaft rides on tiny needle bearings. Good thing this happened to me now. They are pretty dry and look like they could have failed at any time. I'm gonna go get some throttle body bearing grease and lube 'em up.
Wonder if the bearing is retrofitable to bushing TBs. Then again, I'm not sure I think Bearings are better than bushings for this.
Your idea about helping him learn some skills is a good one. I would try to turn it into something of a life lesson on perception, start off by telling him you don't think he had anything to do with it breaking, but it would be easy to perceive that, and that any time he uses or handles something that belongs to someone else there is that risk. It may help him to be a little more aware of the situation and save him some grief in the future. You will be someone he feels he can come to in times of trouble and he's already going through a rough time having to move for his dad's job. good luck.
Was there any follow up to this? Mine broke on me last week while riding to work. I ordered a set of TB off ebay, with the cable box and FI setup attached. I think using plastic is bollocks. If a 13 year old can break them, WTF? In my case, it happened after shifting from 1st to second. No throttleÂ…Not fun. Anyway, I wasn't the only one to have this happen. http://www.arfc.org/complaints/2009/bmw/r_1200_rt/10609639.aspx I filed a complaint as well. The OP should too. This is rubbish. Hopefully there is a response to how he fixed it.
I also used to build R/C planes and have used this fix on plastic and other things. As stated before clean the broken faces good, but also do this: use some rough sand paper to texture the exposed plastic on both sides of the break on top of the pieces. Then use hobby woven silk (would have at a hobby shop). It's used for control surface hinges and for covering stress points. This stuff has to be cut, you can't tear it. It's very porous and very strong. Think strapping tape without the tape sticky suff. Cut a piece so it will cover the crack with a half inch on each side. Clean everything with alcohol, use a good epoxy between the faces of the crack and put a glob on top the glued joint. Place the silk over the crack and rub plenty of epoxy through the silk so the silk is completely soaked with epoxy across the crack. Since the piece is off, do this on both sides (top and bottom) of the broken joint. Give it 24 hrs to cure completely and then see just how hard and strong the reinforced joint is. YMMV. Good luck. Curt
That's more fuss and bother and it would take longer than just replacing them and then I'd always wonder will the repair hold. The other thing is, would I feel comfortable in selling a bike with that kind of repair on it? No.
Yeah, sounds like you've already decided to replace it. Sorry I bothered and fussed trying to describe a 'fix'.
Ah, I already ordered a set of throttle bodies off ebay. They come with the cables and distributor box and the FI. I might as well wait until they arrive. I am so pissed they broke. I just have about 30K miles on my bike. It's ridiculous.