Engine Died

[Lunsarboy]

Having had just over 5000Kms on my R12GS without so much as a hint of the many problems people have reported, I guess it was my turn. My bike is in the workshop. I was on the way home on the motorway at 130Kph when the motor suddenly lost all power for about 3/4 seconds then surged and continued for about 100 meters then the process was repeated twice more, pulled over as the engine died totally. Would not restart. I had no warning lights or anything and am at a total loss. One hour later felt shit sitting in a tow truck with a "new" bike on the back. I will let you know what they say when they get round to sorting it out.

Lunsarboy

 

[Costas Tsiringakis]

Hi there, something simular hapen'd sometime ago on my 1150.
As I passed over a hall in the road the engine died.
After being towed I found that the computer of the bike under the tank was unplugged from being moved sudenly by the bad road and it was only a matter of plugin it back in.Good luck

 

[Paul Wakefield]

Sounds like fuel supply. Suspect the pump; well probably not the pump itself but the electronic gizmos next to it - there have been a number of failures.

Paul

 

[DustyM44]

Engine died

Could it be the sidestand switch? Had problems before with BM's. Especially when rode alot in the wet...which in this country is alot!

 

[BlackBetty]

They all do that Sir!

Right, I'll get my coat:blckeye

 

[Howard Millichap]

New bike, £howbloodymuch? Stopped by the side of the road???

Should have bought a proper bike....Triuimph Tiger955i.

British and bloody good to............and a darned site cheaper.

 

[Howard Millichap]

Have you got an alarm fitted? Bet it's that if you have.


Still crap bikes though.

BMW, living off the good reputation of the bikes up to 1985.

Modern ones, built to a price but they still charge premium rates.

 

[Paul Wakefield]

Still crap bikes though.

Well it may be crap but its a hell of a lot more fun than my Triumph was.

Paul

 

[john wells]

My money, if I had any left after buying new R1200, would be on a failed fuel pump. Exactly the same thing happened to me. Bmw recovery service was pretty poor aswell but thats another story.

 

[BBB61]

New bike, £howbloodymuch? Stopped by the side of the road???

Should have bought a proper bike....Triuimph Tiger955i.

British and bloody good to............and a darned site cheaper.

Heard of a bloke on the Triumph boards I go to having the engine on his Tiger go bang big style after only 1500 miles. Also had the engine on my original Sprint ST start burning oil after 15000 miles. They had to replace the pistons and rings in the end.

Bottom line is that this can happen to any manufacturer.

Bob

 

[Lunsarboy]

Hi Guys

Well I have just spoken to my BMW dealer here in Madrid and he says intial test seem to be pointing to the fuel pump It has taken 2 working days so far and he tells me he has to see if BMW Spain have the part AGGGGGH!!!
I know these things can happen on any bike or car but it is none the less very annoying. I live 40 miles outside of Madrid and the Bike is my sole mode of transport (having opted for €15k of bike instead of car) and buses don't run to often out here in the sticks.
Loan bikes are a non starter here as was trying to get a test ride. Folks in the UK I think would get a higher level of service from the worst dealer in the Uk than you do from anyone here. As they say "patience is a virtue' it is certainly needed here.

Keep smiling

Lunsarboy

 

[RobC]

A situation like this is backing up my idea of keeping my current bike as well as buying the GS. It must be handy to have a spare.

Could you not hire a bike for a while and pass on the cost to BMW?

 

[Lunsarboy]

Would love to but here in Spain getting a loan car or bike just does not happen. I could hire something but even that is hard work and then trying to get BMW to cough up would be even harder.
I am now thinking about exactly that maybe getting a 2nd bike or a smart car or something like that as a backup. But again that pisses me off that I can't trust the reliability of the bike to think of back ups. I hope this is a one off but then there is lots of evidence on this forum that it probably won't be.
I know lots of you have not had a single problem and i was one of those till last week. I have only owned a couple of bikes in my life Yam XT350 had for 2 years without any problems, Transalp for the last year again not a single thing, sold Transalp to buy what I expected to be the best bike in the world (for me in riding terms it is) but did not expect for parts to fail so early. Maybe some of the comments made about over priced and lower quality are true. I guess history will judge the 1200GS, will it be as good, reliable etc as it's ancestors.

A disillusioned first time GS owner
Lunsarboy

 

[Emoto]

One of the things about electric parts that fail is that they tend to fail very early in their service lives, or they don't fail at all. So, you get the problems out of the way early and then can expect smooth sailing.

 

[Lunsarboy]

Emoto I can only hope you are right

Lunsarboy

 

[Paul Wakefield]

you get the problems out of the way early and then can expect smooth sailing.

Bike is off road for the 2nd time in 6 months. Went out for ride on Saturday; got engine warmed up but felt totally flat over 5k revs. Get to destination (only about 7 miles) and EMS light comes on.

Advised not to drive it so recovered back to dealer.

Diagnosis - Guess what. B****y fuel pump AGAIN. Only consolation is that parts are to be delivered tomorrow instead of a 2 week wait like last time. And I get the opportunity to have some other warranty work done at the same time.

Paul

 

[The Machine Cat]

A situation like this is backing up my idea of keeping my current bike as well as buying the GS. It must be handy to have a spare.

Having a fully functionnal R90/6 (soon with real brakes), on the side of my GS make me feel a lot better :.)