Disclaimer: I do not warrant that this is the "right way" or only way to do this. It's just what I, a mere shadetree mechanic with a good lot of K bike wrenching under my belt, plan to do.

The victim: A 56K 93 K1100LT that has not run since June of 2010.

How do I know? It just so happens that the guy who sold it to me purchased it in 2010 and took it apart in order to give it a spline lube.  He didn't feel fully confident putting it back together by himself so he enlisted me to do the actual clutch spline lube and help him put it back together.  (I'd already done a bunch of successful spline lubes by then including my own 93 K1100LT that I purchased back in 2005.)

After we'd finished the spline lube I took it for a spin around the block to make sure everything was in order so, despite the usual jokes about buying dead bikes that "ran when parked," I'm the last person who rode this bike so I know for a fact that it was in good running condition. (The reason he never rode it was due to inseam issues so he rode his low seat K75RT instead.)

Another good thing is that he purchased the bike from a reputable BMW dealer (A&S) so it's likely that one of their wrenches gave it an inspection prior to the sale.

Step 1: Pre-lube the engine and get it turning slowly (manually) in order to get the cylinders lubed.

(I didn't get home until about 10 so I'll do this in the morning.)

Since K engines are flat in-lines on their side, merely pouring a little oil in each cylinder won't get the circumference of the cylinder walls and rings lubed.  What I've used in the past and plan to use on this bike is fogging oil since it's an aerosol oil made for engines that can be sprayed at the tops of the cylinders once the spark plugs have been removed.

Once I've got the cylinders pre-lubed with the fogging oil I'll put the bike in fifth gear and turn the rear wheel to turn the engine in order to spread the oil on the rings and cylinder walls. (I'll leave the spark plugs out since the engine will be much easier to turn without compression.)

Step 2: Oil & filter change.

Once I know the engine will turn (I'm pretty confident that it will) I'll give it an oil change with Valvoline High Mileage Oil because high mileage oils have additives to help restore dry seals and the Valvoline HM oil has a good reputation.

Step 3: Turn the engine a few revolutions with the starter in order to get the remainder of the engine oiled.  

I don't want the fuel system working when I do this so, before installing a known good battery to spin the engine with the starter a few times, I'll unplug the fuel level sender that powers fuel pump the and leave the Motronic disconnected so the injectors won't function.

Step 4: Fuel system

Once I have the engine turning and oiled I'll attack the fuel system before attempting to start it. I haven't pulled off the gas cap yet to see what the inside of the tank looks like but hopefully I won't have to deal with the black goo of doom.

I'll report back tomorrow once I get it turning.

That's a very wise post for anyone taking a K from storage. Now to find more such Ks!!!

Nice, looking forward to hear/see more!
What about the airfilter?

Cheers

The air filter is a non-issue. The air filters on these bikes are very oversized for a 1.1 liter engine so the chances that's an issue are somewhere between zero and none.  Once I get it running though I'll pull it out and blow some air though it to clean it and maybe replace it if it looks dirty.

I decided to get the left lower fairing out of the way to make it easier to pull the spark plugs. Here are my high tech radio plate extraction tools (Bamboo cooking skewers):



I sprayed some fogging oil into the cylinders, let it sit for a while and then, as expected, was able to turn the engine using the rear wheel in 5th gear.

Then I finally mustered up the courage to take off the gas cap. Things are pretty nasty but the vibration damper, instead of turning into goo, had turned into a million tiny hard flecks of rubber. A bit easier to deal with than goo.

And of course the fuel pump and fuel level sender were covered in rust.

On the bright side, I siphoned about three or four gallons of what used to be gas out of the tank so it doesn't look like I'll have to deal with a leaky tank.

Didn't feel like cleaning out the tank today so I put a different tank on it with some fresh gas and sure enough it started right up. On all four cylinders to boot which means none of the injectors have clogged. Which kind of surprises me since they've been sitting for nine years.

I have another set that I'll send in to get refurb'd but it seems to do OK on its original ones for now.

I didn't change the oil yet because I wanted to mix up the old stuff a little before draining it which I'm off to do right now.

Well, today when I started it up it started pissing gas.  The fuel return line had cracked on the bend and my moving things around must have caused it to fail.  Not a big surprise given its age and how long it had sat.  Not a big deal though as I'd planned on replacing the fuel lines anyhow.

I've got the faring lowers off and, despite looking rather sad when I took possession of it, there was actually a very nice K bike hiding under all of that dust.  The frame's in great shape and all I'm having to deal with is dust, not rust.  It also seems to have been well taken care of.  The air filter is more or less new and I can tell that the valves have been attended to. (Sealant all around the valve cover.)

Here's what the right side looks like after I cleaned things up while I had the bottom of the air box out to get to the fuel pressure regulator when replacing the fuel lines.



I have most of the fluids changed now (still need to bleed the brakes and put in new fork oil) and once I get things all cleaned up and install the requisite amount of LEDs this will be a very nice K1100LT. I'm really forward to riding it.

And the windscreen motor is working to boot!

Excellent narrative - looking forward to following this one 

Now that I know it runs well and will be roadworthy again soon, I went to get a license plate for it today. No joy.

It turns out that when I transferred title last week the gal at the county office titled it as a car so the licensing retailer I went to couldn't give me a motorcycle plate for it, only car plates.

Need to go back to the county auditor's office tomorrow to get that resolved.

How did you get the black color to come up so nice on the engine?

club_c wrote:How did you get the black color to come up so nice on the engine?

Just some cleaner wax and a little elbow grease.  There was actually a nice bike hiding under all of that dust.  I can tell by the lack of rust on the frame and elsewhere that's it's been well taken care of and probably spent most of its life in a dry garage.

If I didn't already have a K1100LT then I'd probably keep it but instead I'll do some worthwhile mods to it, take it for a 2-3,000 mile shakedown ride and then sell it.