Wethead cam wear issue.

[JimVonBaden]

Helped a friend, Ed, with his GS. Both intake cams were starting to eat themselves. Small ridges on them, and the hardened surface was delaminating.

Swapped out both intake cams and checked the valve clearances, in spec. I also did the can timing check and adjust while I was there. Goth it in tope dead center, locked the motor and pulled it apart.















Once done we changed the oil and lubed the rear splines at the final drive.

[HMF]

Those cams do not look good.
Is the delamination a common problem and does the rust on what looks like a non-wear surface indicate a problem elsewhere?
How many miles on that bike?

[JimVonBaden]

Those cams do not look good.
Is the delamination a common problem and does the rust on what looks like a non-wear surface indicate a problem elsewhere?
How many miles on that bike?

59K miles on it. Not a very common issue, but not unheard of. Speculation is that the rust is in the areas where improper hardening is, since there is no rust on anything else.

[bdimon]

BMW should be offering to do a warranty repair even though the 3-year, 36,000-mile warranty is expired. 59,000 miles is far too soon for this to happen. Very discouraging.

[eap]

What could be better than a friend in need? Well, how about a friend in need that is a mechanical master like JVB. Thanks Jim for getting me back on the road, awesome as usual watching and learning from the expert!