battery failure.start of trip

[pistonbrokescooby]

hi
got all geared up to go to stelvio on the gs ,rode the bike daily for 2 months ,no probs , hour and a half before catching the ferry , got the bike all tooled and gear loaded ,got cleaned up leathers on ,down drive with 5 mates , presto no power ,just a clunk .nothing for ten mins ,now late for ferry , dragged the ducati s4rs out and took that , gutted the gs was not going . late for ferry only just got on in time .
in all fairness the dealers were great ,picked bike up next day ,put a new battery on and delivered bike back day i came home .
how can a bike a year old with 3500 miles on have a duff battery already,cell went down , ??????? .

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Couldn`t you have jump started the GS, rode to the dealer, got a new battery and then on to the ferry

My battery failed yesterday, OK it`s nearly 3 years old so no worries for me, so I got the old girl started and went to the dealer to get a new one.....no drama

 

[Account removed]

how can a bike a year old with 3500 miles on have a duff battery already,cell went down , ??????? .

Lack of use ? I once read that a battery takes 40 minutes to re-cover from a start up, only an idea.

 

[pistonbrokescooby]

battery whaaaa

hi sgt bilco
i had 45 mins to get to the ferry port ,50 mile away ,i live on a hill and tried bump starting ,just locked up in 3 gear . the dealers close at 6 i think ,and the time was 9pm . had better fun on the ducati anyway in the end . was disappointed with the gs big time .can handle the bike breaking down , but what a time to let you down ,lucky enough to have a spare bike .

 

[pistonbrokescooby]

batt

hi mgj
the battery was in good cond ,goes on a charger when not in use ,plus i used it for work on the day 40 commute.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

hi sgt bilco
i had 45 mins to get to the ferry port ,50 mile away ,i live on a hill and tried bump starting ,just locked up in 3 gear . the dealers close at 6 i think ,and the time was 9pm . had better fun on the ducati anyway in the end . was disappointed with the gs big time .can handle the bike breaking down , but what a time to let you down ,lucky enough to have a spare bike .

All`s well that ends well but what a pisser

Things like that only happen when you least want it...I think it`s called sods law.

 

[cookie]

hi mgj
the battery was in good cond ,goes on a charger when not in use ,plus i used it for work on the day 40 commute.

sorry to hear about your problem, but it does tend to confirm my theory that permanent connection to chargers mask the symptoms of a knackered battery, leaving you fecked when the battery fails.

 

[karnevil]

My battery,still origonal from 2006,went flat at my parents after Langdale Quest.Mondial came jump started it,all was fine with the battery and its been fine since!Have they still got that open circuit problem?

 

[ukaloon]

I've just got back from 2000 miles through France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy via the Dolomites and Alps and then back again.
I ride an 1150GS but was with a couple of mates on 1200's.
One was on a GSA bought new by him in November 2006. His bike started playing up on the last few days, the ABS/Brake failure light came on, the speedo and rev counter dropped to zero under hard acceleration on one occasion, and then he had no power for starting and had to be jump started. Then he noticed that his odometer was clocking up miles at an amazing rate. In a few hundred miles it counted up 2000. The computer showed an average speed of 140+ mph and 75+ mpg. All very odd

He managed to get home on it and we took it to Cannon BMW on Tuesday. They contacted him today to say it was a dead battery. No idea if the odo can have the miles wound back, but I suspect he'll have to wear it.

 

[deaninkl]

this has happened to my 2007 bike twice, first time it was collected and replaced under warranty. Second time I had to pay for the pick up and a new battery as warranty was over 2 weeks before.

Both times there was no warning, no battery fault warning, just no electrical power. Luckily I was at home first time and close to home second time. In a country where there is only one BMW bike center its scary. BMW told me simply a flat battery, but why no warning and why could I not jump start the bike???

Quite worring for me as we have one BMW bike service centre in a country the size of England..... and no RAC.

 

[NorthernBoy]

Lack of use ? I once read that a battery takes 40 minutes to re-cover from a start up, only an idea.

That certainly does not sound right. I went through a few months of using the bike only for the 20 minute commute to work, and the battery was fine during that. I'd be extremely surprised if it took more than about five minutes to replace the charge that starting took out.

 

[Brig]

I have had the same sort of thing only I was at home and just going out for a bimble 4300 mile on clock ridden every weekend and some week days.Perhaps the battery is just not good enough for the bike.Any dealers wish to comment.By the way I got told by Bahnstormer that I need to buy a battery charger.

 

[Tailspin]

Same thing last week. Battery went at the dealership. No warning. Battery replaced under warranty.

 

[NorthernBoy]

BMW have been very good replacing batteries for me. The last bike had an alarm, and a week or so of non-use could see the battery as flat as a pancake, after which it would never really be the same again. I'd jump start it, ride to work, then call out the engineer and get him to fit a new one.

Because of the frequency with which it happened, I didn't get an alarm on this bike, and it seems to be better, although I've still had it fail to turn over once (a jump start and a decent ride seemed to sort it out).

I'm not sure why they seem to go so easily, but perhaps they have pared the weight down to the absolute minimum, and know that they are now on the limit of what they can handle.

As long as they keep replacing them with no questions asked, I'm reasonably happy, but I always carry jump leads now, just in case.

 

[ukaloon]

I've just got back from 2000 miles through France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy via the Dolomites and Alps and then back again.
I ride an 1150GS but was with a couple of mates on 1200's.
One was on a GSA bought new by him in November 2006. His bike started playing up on the last few days, the ABS/Brake failure light came on, the speedo and rev counter dropped to zero under hard acceleration on one occasion, and then he had no power for starting and had to be jump started. Then he noticed that his odometer was clocking up miles at an amazing rate. In a few hundred miles it counted up 2000. The computer showed an average speed of 140+ mph and 75+ mpg. All very odd

He managed to get home on it and we took it to Cannon BMW on Tuesday. They contacted him today to say it was a dead battery. No idea if the odo can have the miles wound back, but I suspect he'll have to wear it.

Well he has his bike back and working now. Cannon charged him £170 to supply and fit the new battery, check all the electrics and reset the fault codes. Nothing they can do about the mileage. They say the speedo works off the ABS sensor and it was the lack of charge that caused this to fault and give false readings.