1200GSA -ignition switch problem

[topper]

On a run at the weekend - stopped for a bite and turned the key to off. Engine kept running. Took the key out and put it in my pocket. Engine kept running.

Hit kill switch - engine stopped but could be started simply by pushing the starter - could'nt leave it like that!

So disconnected the battery - came back 10 mins later - re-connected battery and won't start - so Relay home for me.

So ignition switch at bottom of key barrel no longer connected to key so when key turns switch doesn't.

Point is, when I spoke to Motorrad Central (who have since fixed it - excellent service as always) they said this was the 3rd or 4th one this year alone! So clearly a known problem. Good job I was only in Fort William and not somewhere properly remote!

Topper

 

[wilbjr21]

Some sympathy with your situation - most definately. Your the first one to post this as a problem with the latest bikes.

Pity you spoilt it with the cheap and easy shot:-

Good job I was only in Fort William and not somewhere properly remote!

 

[Rhino]

I was lucky My gs12s wiring failed on the drive way as I wheeld it out to go to work, having a bike that sudenly turns off if you turn the bars to the right and then comes back on when you turn them back to the left would have been a sure off. The thing is stuff like this is bad no matter where it happens, I had to take yet a nother day off work due to My 06 bike breaking down.

 

[silvermog]

Aah the joys of 1200GSA ownership ...

I had exactly the same symptoms, removed the key, ignotion stays live, thumb the starter and you're away with the bike.

Got it BMW assist recovered to dealer (about 45miles away), they diagnosed a failed ignition asembly, ordered and replaced in about 3 days. BMW assist returned bike, ran fine.

Two weeks later, exactly the same symptoms, same palaver, dealer replaced again, returned by a chimp working for BMW assist who had the GSA on a fold-up trailer behind a Vito.

Got lost getting here, spent 25mins on phone finding me, then drove past me waving at end of my drive and proceeded to drive 2 miles up a lane onto a farmyard, thru farmyard into field access and bogged his Vito down in the field --- why you ask?? --- because it transpires he can't reverse with a trailer ... I walk after him and eventually find him after long (exasperated) mobile conversation. Then spend 20mins getting bike off trailer in muddy yard (which he also doesn't know how to do!) so that he can dismantle the trailer, pack it and hopefully unbog his van.

To be honest, by that point I had had enough and rode the bike back to house, covered in shit due to his incompetent attempts at unsticking the van. The bike was so plastered I had to hose it down to even see the paintwork.

Does the saga end ..... nope!

Ran fine for a couple of weeks, then at 9:30pm, 150miles from home, put key in ignition to find that the bike wouldn't fire due to EWS! warning, ie. immobiliser triggered. The antenna ring around the ignition circuit had failed, bike and me recovered to S. Wales, 2am at home, 2-3hrs kip then back to site by car as I had to be back at site by 7:30am. Bike recovery this time was fine, but BMW assist then arranged a further recovery of the bike from home to dealer, more problems as a single driver turned up to load bike on trailer even tho I advised no one able to help.

Bike returned 3 days later with new antenna ring (from factory), this time on a collapsable trailor again, now with a broken strap supposedly holding it on and frame wear (ie. paint removal) where it was braced.

I await with interest my next ignition problem ... even dealer couldn't believe it third time when I rang, "Didn't we just do this a week or two ago ...?".

So:
- Rydales Cardiff, good service, good feedback
- BMW Assist, good response on phone, good feedback until recovery arrive, crap communication with dealer, mostly crap sub-contracted recovery units as they know p*** all about transporting bikes securley and safely
- R1200GSA, fantastic bike, but ignition glitches getting me down, ride around the world on a GSA, no thanks, the electronics/electrics are too complicated to be that far from a dealer ...

BTW, as a final aside ... whilst waiting on one of the last recovery trucks to turn up I had 30mins chatting with great driver, he estimates that in the last year of bike pickups he had done, 95% of work had been BMW bikes (about 20 bikes), with most of these being electrical/ignition faults.

Have fun

 

[Wizard]

Happened to me a few weeks ago. Part replaced and no issues since.

For anyone else it happens to, just leave the bike in gear and flip down the sidestand. The electrics will cut out themselves after a couple of minutes. Only downside is you can't arm the alarm.

 

[Rhino]

Aah the joys of 1200GSA ownership ...
- Rydales Cardiff, good service, good feedback
- BMW Assist, good response on phone, good feedback until recovery arrive, crap communication with dealer, mostly crap sub-contracted recovery units as they know p*** all about transporting bikes securley and safely
- R1200GSA, fantastic bike, but ignition glitches getting me down, ride around the world on a GSA, no thanks, the electronics/electrics are too complicated to be that far from a dealer ...

BTW, as a final aside ... whilst waiting on one of the last recovery trucks to turn up I had 30mins chatting with great driver, he estimates that in the last year of bike pickups he had done, 95% of work had been BMW bikes (about 20 bikes), with most of these being electrical/ignition faults.

Have fun

Had a similar discusion woiht most of the recovery guys who picked up My GS, IE we get lots of BMW all with electrical or brake problems.
It seem to depend where you are when you get recovered as to the quality of the zervice. I have nothing but praise for the guys who have picked Mine up so if you can break down in Bedfordshire
Maybe let BMW assist know of you displeasure with their contractor, I was under the impression the bike had to be transported in a safe and secure manor, and a bike trailer isnt secure.

 

[beemerboy9]

95% of work had been BMW bikes (about 20 bikes), with most of these being electrical/ignition faults.

Have fun

Depends where you live.....

When my 1200RT was trailered away from home in North London with a broken alternator, the driver said that 95% of his recoveries were scooters with knackered batteries because they had not been driven far enough to recharge after using the electric start. His record... 8 scooters in 1 day.

 

[Rhino]

lonond scooters mutter mutter...they should declare open season on em....then again the guy who picked mine up last time was talking about one gs he picks up greulalry... so far has ahd new starter, alternator and 2 batteries all under warantee..turns out the owner only does 1.5 miles each way to work each day. Now thats one low milage bike you would want to steer clear of and surley it would be quicker to walk than ride a gs ?

 

[smirky]

Had EWS failure twice and fuel pump once on my GS , BMW assist have always been good/efficient but the breakdowns don't fill me with confidence for the future

 

[Paul Mac]

Some sympathy with your situation - most definately. Your the first one to post this as a problem with the latest bikes.

Pity you spoilt it with the cheap and easy shot:-

Good job I was only in Fort William and not somewhere properly remote!

Why???? - the guy was telling it as it happened and is right to point out the consequences of it happening miles from anywhere. Not a cheap shot at all but a sound obsevation on the sorry state of the poor design that modern new breed BMW motorcycles have plummeted to.