RhoXS
Active member
I replaced the battery in my 2023 Transcontinental today. Thought I'd share my experience with others.
1. I bought a Yuasa GYZ32HL. I chose this because Yuasa is a high quality battery and the GYZ32HL has more capacity in the exact same dimensions.
2. The R18 does not need battery programming like some other BMW vehicles. It's an old school remove and replace.
3. Seat removal is not required.
4. No special tools. Having a set of Torx bits is required of course. The only tricky bolt is the positive cable connection on the right side of the bike. Use the small Torx wrench in the bike's tool kit to loosen, then spins out with fingers.
5. Remove the battery:
a. Remove Both plastic side covers
b. Remove Left side exhaust cover immediately below the passenger floorboard. Need to do this to access the lower floorboard mount bolt.
c. Remove Left side passenger floor board mount.
d. Remove Left side plastic battery cover; two small bolts at top then pull lower pins straight out of the grommets. You should be looking at the battery now.
e. Battery strap. Grab the extra strap and release from the hook. Fold out of the way.
f. Pull the battery out only far enough to disconnect the negative terminal. This is important because the positive cable bolt clearance is so tight that the risk of grounding is high when removing. Push it upward out of the way. Push the battery back in to relieve stress on positive cable.
g. Disconnect the positive cable on the right side of the bike. It's the bolt right behind the positive jump start terminal.
h. Find a robust run of twine or wire about 2 to 3 feet (1 meter) long and tie it to the positive cable ring connector. You'll need this to fish the cable back through when installing the new battery.
i. Extract the old battery. The short positive cable should come with it along with your fish line.
j. Remove the positive battery cable from the old battery.
6. Reinstallation is the reverse, with the exception of fishing the positive cable back through. I found it helpful to have a friend work the fish line on the right side while I inserted the battery back into the battery case. This process can be a pain, but have patience. It took me four attempts to finally get the positive cable to feed through right.
7. The GYZ32HL was a perfect fit and the bike's electronics came right back up with no data loss.
Hope you find this helpful.
.
1. I bought a Yuasa GYZ32HL. I chose this because Yuasa is a high quality battery and the GYZ32HL has more capacity in the exact same dimensions.
2. The R18 does not need battery programming like some other BMW vehicles. It's an old school remove and replace.
3. Seat removal is not required.
4. No special tools. Having a set of Torx bits is required of course. The only tricky bolt is the positive cable connection on the right side of the bike. Use the small Torx wrench in the bike's tool kit to loosen, then spins out with fingers.
5. Remove the battery:
a. Remove Both plastic side covers
b. Remove Left side exhaust cover immediately below the passenger floorboard. Need to do this to access the lower floorboard mount bolt.
c. Remove Left side passenger floor board mount.
d. Remove Left side plastic battery cover; two small bolts at top then pull lower pins straight out of the grommets. You should be looking at the battery now.
e. Battery strap. Grab the extra strap and release from the hook. Fold out of the way.
f. Pull the battery out only far enough to disconnect the negative terminal. This is important because the positive cable bolt clearance is so tight that the risk of grounding is high when removing. Push it upward out of the way. Push the battery back in to relieve stress on positive cable.
g. Disconnect the positive cable on the right side of the bike. It's the bolt right behind the positive jump start terminal.
h. Find a robust run of twine or wire about 2 to 3 feet (1 meter) long and tie it to the positive cable ring connector. You'll need this to fish the cable back through when installing the new battery.
i. Extract the old battery. The short positive cable should come with it along with your fish line.
j. Remove the positive battery cable from the old battery.
6. Reinstallation is the reverse, with the exception of fishing the positive cable back through. I found it helpful to have a friend work the fish line on the right side while I inserted the battery back into the battery case. This process can be a pain, but have patience. It took me four attempts to finally get the positive cable to feed through right.
7. The GYZ32HL was a perfect fit and the bike's electronics came right back up with no data loss.
Hope you find this helpful.
.