1200GS engine failure

[Steady Eddie]

Wee

mixed riding 57 58 the seat off the dl 1000 is much wider and comfier
averaged 59 mpg on hols but a lot of steady e roads on the way home


this link is for a ingenius device for altering the windscreen i use a 65 quid tall givi with this bracket and it is outstanding massivle effective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0168zh-yWXM

the front suspension is undersprung afork spring upgrade [not progreesive ]is a probable must standard is 75 nmtrs mine is now 100nmtrs [fat barstard i know ]

bin the trailwings upgrade suspension .... rears not too bad and its a cracker in the corners ...sv engine is pleanty fun

Apologies to all for this slight thread hijack , but thanks to Minky head for the information - the madstad bracket will be a must for me if I go that route , and I reckon a seat change as well - even on the beemers I've owned , I never got comfy on a standard seat - the best I ever had was a 2nd hand Corbin seat I put on my 1100RT - that thing was ace , and transformed the riding experience for me .

Safe riding one and all ,

Steve

 

[Sgt Bilco]

I'm surprised some people seem to think it's almost an acceptable thing that these engines let go.
I was doing maybe 80 mph on a straight road, but oil went all over teh rear tyre and brakes, the rear wheel locked until i clutched-in.

If i'd been on a bend then the end result may well have been very serious. What's acceptable about that?

No one is saying it`s acceptable and you were unlucky to have an engine let go but has it never happened to any other bike??????

Get some perspective folks.........

P.s. the wee strom maybe cheap but feck me it`s pig ugly and how the hell can it be a direct replacement for a 1200?? It may be better on fuel but pretty gutless in comparison on long haul but each to their own I guess.

 

[Lugs]

s


h

i


t




i have no idea

bannana yellow

i

cant

really s
pe ll



.

ps ...i just use the cock on the bike to tell the time

i find find it easyier when riding


as a 2nd bike or a choice between a used gs it

is


.... shite

--------------------------------------------------------------





OK. So i read and re read your post and took the subliminal message from it.

Now you make sense.

Ian

 

[Wreford Miles]

I feel left out...

My 1150 just keeps knocking out the miles year after year and my Airhead gets thrashed offroad and put away dirty and just keeps doing what it was built to do.

My right hand mirror did come lose once... I had to stop and wizz it round with me finger stuck up the hole to tighten it, that really pee'd me off. Think I'll start a thread to see if others have had the same fault ;-)

 

[Lugs]

I feel left out...

My 1150 just keeps knocking out the miles year after year and my Airhead gets thrashed offroad and put away dirty and just keeps doing what it was built to do.

My right hand mirror did come lose once... I had to stop and wizz it round with me finger stuck up the hole to tighten it, that really pee'd me off. Think I'll start a thread to see if others have had the same fault ;-)

Quality!

For the record I had an 1150 Adv and the same thing happened to me, so...............+1


Ian

 

[minkyhead]

s


h

i


t




i have no idea

bannana yellow

i

cant

really s
pe ll



.

ps ...i just use the cock on the bike to tell the time

i find find it easyier when riding


as a 2nd bike or a choice between a used gs it

is


.... shite

--------------------------------------------------------------





OK. So i read and re read your post and took the subliminal message from it.

Now you make sense.

Ian

ignorance is the malody of those who know no better .....

very few people in this country would be able to construct such a well thought out repost
has someone been helping you?

i can see i am out of my depth here

brilliant argument ...i bow to to your superior intelect

.really well thought out .... well done indeed !

 

[Wapping]

I'm surprised some people seem to think it's almost an acceptable thing that these engines let go.
I was doing maybe 80 mph on a straight road, but oil went all over teh rear tyre and brakes, the rear wheel locked until i clutched-in.

If i'd been on a bend then the end result may well have been very serious. What's acceptable about that?

OK Ok...but you lived, thankfully, to tell the tale.

If it's of any real help I know someone whose 1200GS dropped a valve (offside pot I seem to recall) with not many miles on the clock.

The thing was quite a mess inside.

I have no idea if he feels like discussing it with anyone but I could ask if he fancies exchanging notes with you. He lives in Essex.

I did hear that the BuMW dealer were a bit off hand about repairing it. Some tale that they suspected his GPS had muddled the electronic controls of the engine managemt system.......there agin, could just be pub talk....

Let me know....

 

[Wapping]

The failure on the new police r1200's is down to being on the side stand. I just don't leave mine ticking over for any length of time and mainly use the centre stand

How does a large, multi-cylinder, radial engine manage....

 

[minkyhead]

How does a large, multi-cylinder, radial engine manage....

i think they rotate around the crank ..gravity then feeds
could get some strange reaction in the corners though

 

[Wapping]

i think they rotate around the crank ..gravity then feeds
could get some strange reaction in the corners though

...Are you suggesting that the pistons spin around...so that the one that starts at two o'clock, rotates through four, six, eight, ten o'clock and midday.....? Oil dripping in as it passes six o'clock....?

What happens to the exhaust pipes, do they flail around.....?

How might a multi-row radial work then....?

The big circular castings in the picture may give you a clue that your idea might not be quite so cunning as you thought....I have a sneaking feeling some big studs (and a bloody big nut) went through those, to hold the mighty beast in place....it being tricky to see how they hold the engine in otherwise......

 

[Fredb51]

Radial/Rotary

You guys are getting confused between radial and rotary engines. With radials, the crank rotates while the main structure of the motor is stationary. Rotaries (very scarce now and only really current around the time of WW1) have a stationary crank and the motor rotates.
In any event the picture of the motor that was posted in this thread to try to prove (or not) a point is irrelevant as it's a two-stroke and therefore couldn't care less which way up it was, as far as lubrication is concerned. It's not a big radial either- it's for model aircraft.

 

[Rushy]

I feel left out...

My 1150 just keeps knocking out the miles year after year...
My right hand mirror did come lose once... I had to stop and wizz it round with me finger stuck up the hole to tighten it, that really pee'd me off. Think I'll start a thread to see if others have had the same fault ;-)

Quality!

For the record I had an 1150 Adv and the same thing happened to me, so...............+1


Ian

Well you are in the lucky minority ............I have never had to do that. However, after 5 years and 30,000 miles I had had replace some squeaky bearing in that bloody stupid driveshaft system.......cost me £80 feckin quid ...Thats .......more than £0.0025 per mile in additonal running costs

 

[Bryn]

I feel left out...

My 1150 just keeps knocking out the miles year after year and my Airhead gets thrashed offroad and put away dirty and just keeps doing what it was built to do.

My right hand mirror did come lose once... I had to stop and wizz it round with me finger stuck up the hole to tighten it, that really pee'd me off. Think I'll start a thread to see if others have had the same fault ;-)

I had a similar problem with my 1150 GSA ... 3000 mile trip to Rome and back .. dropped the bike at the top of the Stelvio pass... it knocked my nearside mirror around... and like you had to tighten it back up with my fingers

Fecking BMW pile of shite... I only wish I had it sorted in the recall ...

 

[BillWright]

Remember the original post

I made enquiries as to the instruction not to let the R1200RT idle whilst on the sidestand.

Apparently there was a school of thought that if the oil level was low than the pick up point may have been out of the oil bath, causing oil starvation. Gravity would sort the left pot.

BMW apprently instructed that only super unleaded should be used.

Don't shoot the messenger, I don't know if this is based on fact or what some bod at Transport Services decided.

 

[cookie]

Apparently there was a school of thought that if the oil level was low than the pick up point may have been out of the oil bath, causing oil starvation. Gravity would sort the left pot.

one might have expected the big ends to go first then.

i think that's bollocks. that's not aimed at the messenger BTW

 

[Lugs]

I had heard the same.

There must be some merit in it just on the physics alone?

Anyway. 5pm looms.

Ian

 

[Ming]

As Many on here know I have had a few GS's but currently dont have one and have a few KTM's .

I like Beemers there nice to own and fun to ride .

at the moment I prefer my Ktm but dont Know if I will ever have another Beemer.

What I do know is Suzuki are complete and utter shite the build is appauling and the warranty is not worth a **** .and yes I have owned quite a few .


Why A suzuki owner would insist on ramming his clearly sub standard Gutless POS down the throat of a group of people who clearly like another marque is beyond me ?????

Yes my watch is worth more than your pile of crap bike .


And actually the last Porsche Carrera I had was a 997 C4S in Black


The Future is Orange (that's a joke numbnuts!!)

 

[Owen Snell]

I made enquiries as to the instruction not to let the R1200RT idle whilst on the sidestand.

Apparently there was a school of thought that if the oil level was low than the pick up point may have been out of the oil bath, causing oil starvation. Gravity would sort the left pot.

BMW apprently instructed that only super unleaded should be used.

Don't shoot the messenger, I don't know if this is based on fact or what some bod at Transport Services decided.

Air cooled engines have a low power density due to cooling issues, mainly the inability to cool evenly resulting in hot spots.

Seems to me that the power density on the GS12 has been upped, and to compensate for the cooling deficiencies, oil cooling has been adopted.

Since the cooler has no fan, running the engine while stationary for long periods of time must be a bad thing. Firstly the pump is running at its slowest, reducing oil flow through the engine and also the cooler. Secondly, the lack of airflow across the cooler will seriously compromise its operation.

The upshot is a hot engine with hot oil that will have thinned down and an oil pump working at low speed delivering low pressure. Maybe the uphill side just suffers first when the pressure is low / temperature is high?

 

[Tractorpilot]

An interesting school of thought but I own a 1200 and although I leave it on the side stand, I do not leave it idling for any more than 2 or 3 minutes. I have had 2 complete seizures with evidence of failure of one exhaust valve on the right hand cylinder in both cases. Idling the engine may be a contributory factor but it can happen without this being part of a rider's normal way of doing things.

I suspect a combination of 2 or 3 factors, possibly aggrevated by rider's (uninformed) practice
- design (ability to cool)
- valve/valve stem material specification
- manufacturing quality control valve/valve stem friction weld (or equivalent manufacturing technology)

I think it is a problem where if you combine any 2 or 3 of 4 factors it could fail.

Very difficult to assign accountability (it was him - he did it!!!/ not me guv, nothing to do wiv me)


It is worth noting that the people posting seem to all be using 2004/2005 bikes. If it is not a problem in later bikes,
- what was changed,
- why and
- where is it documented?

How do you tell the difference between older 'unreformed' bikes and newer 'sorted' machine?

 

[Owen Snell]

.......
I suspect a combination of 2 or 3 factors, possibly aggrevated by rider's (uninformed) practice
- design (ability to cool)
- valve/valve stem material specification
- manufacturing quality control valve/valve stem friction weld (or equivalent manufacturing technology)
.........

Do you know the actual failure mode? Is the valve actually dropping into the pot due to failure at the top of the valve (spring, collet etc.) or is it siezing on the stem? The problem is that there are so many possible causes, only BMW can know the real answer.

Same as everyone else, I am only guessing based on the sidestand theory, which may not even be relevant.