Coil replacement
On my last off road trip my 2006 1200GS started misfiring on the last few days on opening the throttle hard. I have started with the easy stuff and replaced the plugs and air filter and although the bike runs better the problem is still there.
Seems like the culprit is one of the coils (can they be damaged when putting the bike down even with engine protectors?). My plan is to make use of the coils from a friend's bike this week and swap them out one by one to see whether that is the issue and which one it is.
Two questions :
* My friend is concerned that in doing the swap i may end up blowing one of his perfectly good coils (he has recently bought an LC and is looking to sell his bike so is rightly quite sensitive about this!)
* Is there any inexpensive way of replacing a coil as I understand they run at about R1800 each!
I had similar problems, and one day I happened to have my head near the pot while it was happening, and I could hear the coil arcing to the cylinder head. The insulation had broken down. A quick look and I could see the flashes inside the tube where the coil sits.
I managed to swap the coil with another similar model bike. Look, try the coil from your friend's bike - if it breaks as a result, replace it and then have Donford find out why your bike is breaking the coil (this won't happen, it is the worst case scenario).
The most likely scenario is that the coil is arcing to ground - and all you need to do is confirm this before ordering another one. I don't think there a cheap options here. You might be able to confirm the problem the way I did - remove the protectors so you can see into the tunnel where the coil sits, and in a darkened garage see if you can spot the arcs.
Thanks Charles I did see your thread on this issue from a few years back - will try what you suggested. Geez and I though buying the bike was the expensive part .. ha ha!
Guess you can't put a price on fun 
Hey Peter
We even pay more at parking meters because we ride BMW 
Speak to someone like Jandre, Alf or Andrew King for advice on replacing the coil. They might know of alternatives or workarounds.
And yes, commuting on a BMW is no cheaper than running a small car - but it is a whole lot more fun and quicker through the traffic.
Yes thanks I have been in discussion with Jandre already on this - will see what the weekend testing uncovers.
Rode my son's Dakar for a week (just couldn't bring myself to use the car) whilst I had the front of my bike disassembled waiting for my windscreen frame to be fixed - longest week ever! Would have hated to have to try and get out of town last night in a car - it was bad enough on the bike!
Charles
You are 100% correct about the BMW bikes being more fun and quicker through the traffic. I have never missed being at home the way I am missing it now. The desert of Iraq is perfect for my Dakar and she's parked in my garage in Table View. Really miss my bike! (and the family,of course).
hi Peter, had similar issue with my 06 model too.
If you know what coil it is, just replace it. R1700 at Donford CT. Tried to get discount on my Membership card but they just had a good laugh. Also new coil looks different from old one. don't panic.
There's also a nice video on google to test for the offending culprit. While bike's running you can unplug the connectors one at a time at the coil and then listen to the idle. Of course there's a difference between the primary (top) coil and the secondary one below. and the bike will happily idle away on 3 plugs. slightly rough of course but the ecu tries to compensate. another thing to do if you have an older bike (ahem) is to invest in one of those haynes workshop manuals. at Trac Mac.
Coil update - swapped out the coil I suspected might be the problem with a friend's bike yesterday and she ran like a dream. Thanks for the advise and feedback. Now just need to find some spare cash for the replacement 
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