Final drive oil seal

[SHORTY]

My seal has just failed after 16000mls. This seems to be a common fault, now i may be a little simple having bought this pile of sh**e but i expected that a go anywhere adventure motorcycle would be reliable for more than a few thousand miles My seal started to leak in the south of france at the begining of my holiday but it lasted till i got home.Is it just me or are BMW bikes about as reliable as an old hand grenade. My bike has now had the fuel pump failure the battery failure and now the final drive (hopefully only) oil seal.What is wrong with BMW owners that we stand for such reliability and pay so much when a bandit cost half the price and is at least twice as reliable my last bike was an old fireblade that i put 30000mls on and it NEVER let me down.

 

[E. Buygum]

It's not good and I'm sorry you have been inconvenienced but my "bullet proof" Honda VFR had to be recovered twice with fuel pump failure and had a number of other niggling problems in the 2 years I owned it (including faulty side stand switch and fuelling problems both of which meant it wouldn't run...fortunately I was at home so inconvenienced but not stranded). I moved to a Triumph Sprint and soon after discovered www.T595.net where I learned I could expect a catalogue of faults. 35,000 miles later and the only problem I had was a blown headlight lamp. I bought my 1200GS in June because it's such an absolutely fantastic bike to ride; I then discovered this forum and wondered if I had made a horrible mistake and should have gone with the Tiger after all. Well, so far, so good. I have never enjoyed riding and owning a bike so much as the GS but I suppose it's always a bit of a lottery.

 

[SHORTY]

It's not good and I'm sorry you have been inconvenienced but my "bullet proof" Honda VFR had to be recovered twice with fuel pump failure and had a number of other niggling problems in the 2 years I owned it (including faulty side stand switch and fuelling problems both of which meant it wouldn't run...fortunately I was at home so inconvenienced but not stranded). I moved to a Triumph Sprint and soon after discovered www.T595.net where I learned I could expect a catalogue of faults. 35,000 miles later and the only problem I had was a blown headlight lamp. I bought my 1200GS in June because it's such an absolutely fantastic bike to ride; I then discovered this forum and wondered if I had made a horrible mistake and should have gone with the Tiger after all. Well, so far, so good. I have never enjoyed riding and owning a bike so much as the GS but I suppose it's always a bit of a lottery.

Dont get me wrong this is my second GS and i am sure that the reliability has gone down on all bikes and i know how good the GS can be BUT for the money someone (BMW) is having a good laugh at our expence. My friends have various makes and models and they think i am mad to even consider buying another Bmw, all i ask is for some basic reliability. I have an old landrover and do not worry about its reliability why should i have to worry about a new bike? Is the answer to replace it more often or carry a list of spares ie fuel pump controler oil seals jump leads etc.

What i want is for honda to take a GS strip it down copy the good things put in a V4 +1000cc engine and build it correctly and knock £3000 of the price. That way you loose the tractor engine and gearbox but keep the handling and looks.

 

[Howard Millichap]

My seal has just failed after 16000mls.

Is it just me or are BMW bikes about as reliable as an old hand grenade. My bike has now had the fuel pump failure the battery failure and now the final drive (hopefully only) oil seal.

You bought a fashion item with an attractive badge and paid far too much for what is less than average quality (re MCN article).
Some individual bikes seem to be a lot worse than others. e.g. my GS had all sorts of problems and breakdowns while others on here reported no worries at all. I got fed up with continually fixing it, I got rid and bought a Triumph Tiger955i now with 52000 miles, no probs whatsoever.

 

[wilbjr21]

Sorry to hear about your problem with the seal ...... I don't thinks it's all that common; but at least it's not a show stopper like the FPC which is common.

As to your other points:

Well it is promoted as an Adventure motorcycle ........ but you would still carry spares if going to to remote places wouldn't you?

I carry spares - to try and avoid too much inconvenience - bikes are machines.

It is really irritating to have a fault - I moved back to BMWs from Honda because of reliability issues (real - not imagined from forums). I've had four GSs now - no issues and a good local dealer experience every time.

Are small men more aggressive spitfire) ?

 

[Paul Wakefield]

way you loose the tractor engine

Each to their own - that's the thing I like about the Boxer. I find 4's insufferably boring!

 

[piskoGSA]

What i want is for honda to take a GS strip it down copy the good things put in a V4 +1000cc engine and build it correctly and knock £3000 of the price. That way you loose the tractor engine and gearbox but keep the handling and looks.

That will not be a GS then especially when the boxer is out!!!

This is my 2nd GS. I got on a boxer on '93 and I can' t say that I've suffered any serious faults yet. So .....

I've got the recalls on me just in case though

 

[walti]

I've had a final drive oil seal replaced too.

Engine sounds like a bag of spanners on a bad day - even the dealer has said it's sounding a bit rough now - for no apparrent reason!

48,000 miles.

Next bike will be a shaft drive tourer, can't make my mind up between K1200GT, R1200RT, Pan European and FJ1300.

Resale value on my GS must be really low as it's looking quite knackered after "just" 48,000 miles.