First breakdown

[dave hendy]

Hi there

Had my first breadown on my 07 GS yesterday, while accelerating off a roundabout overtaking a car the bike just died, managed to coast to side of road without any problem and tried to restart but all it did was crank over. Checked for any loose wires etc couldn't find anything wrong so called BMW. They turned up within 30 mins and the first thing the guy asked me was did the bike get used in the wet, I said not usually but we had recently done a 3K European tour with a lot of rain. He said he suspected the fuel pump module and said he had one so would try that first. He changed it and the bike started first time. So I went on my way (within 45 mins).

After this though under hard accelerating I found the bike had a slight hesitation which caused the yellow triangle to flash on the dash. The bike did not cut out but kept doing that from time to time. Has anyone had this problem and know what I should do Should I call BMW backout or just take it to the dealer

Dave

 

[rockchunk]

07 bike has it been out in the rain are these bikes not waterproof sounds like the best thing you could do is get rid of it buy yourself a honda

 

[Mr K]

Sounds like there's another fault. Have the dealer or someone with the tester doobry check it.

Loads of 1200GSs live outside all year round.
I think the "Wet" thing is a bit of a red herring with the FPC issue as I was led to believe it's excessive heat which killed them, that's why the newer ones have different fins and are finished black.

 

[RickG]

Welcome to the FPC club.

It sounds like either fuel starvation or a weak spark. Both can cause a misfire under high loads (like acceleration). Given you've just had a new controller it would be logical to think it may be the culprit. I'd take it to the dealer rather than a call out as they ought to be better equiped to track down the problem (other than simply trying another controller). If the yellow triangle is appearing there may be a fault code generated that could be read out too

 

[RickG]

I think the "Wet" thing is a bit of a red herring with the FPC issue as I was led to believe it's excessive heat which killed them, that's why the newer ones have different fins and are finished black.

I agree, but water is a problem in another way. My bike has to ride through all weathers and then sit out in the rain at work all day, all year. After 3 years of this my FPC died this week so I pulled the dead one apart. No sign of water ingress or corrosion at all, just a bubble in the silicone sealer and what looked like a fried resistor on the PCB underneath. However, I had years earlier sprayed the whole thing with clear cellulose laquer to prevent it corroding. There are pictures of controllers that look like they have been on the bottom of the north sea as they have corroded so badly. Clearly the issue here is that heat loss from furred up heat sinks is rubbish leading to even more heat build up. Is it therefore coincidence that the new controllers have a nice thick coat of black paint on them instead of bare ally?

I think there are instances of water getting past the seal on the base of the controller and then corroding the lower plug so a bit of silicone grease on the seal doesn't go amiss when installing anew one

 

[Alex B]

I had mine replaced at the dealers yesterday (linked to some stuttering a few weeks ago). 2008 GSA.

The new ones are now "coated" to prevent water ingress and any corrosion; but I believe all pre-09 ones were vulnerable. The senior tech showed me one they'd taken off another GSA. It was pitted on the outside and the small seal has just leaked enough to allow water onto the PCB.

They are mounted in a vulnerable location so keeping a healthy dose of protectant in that area behind the beak is a good long term maintenance upkeep idea.

New ones should not fail .......

 

[BegesRus]

I don't believe it - HAS IT BEEN OUT IN THE RAIN - FFS!

 

[(RIP) orbit]

Hi there

Had my first breadown on my 07 GS yesterday

After this though under hard accelerating I found the bike had a slight hesitation which caused the yellow triangle to flash on the dash. The bike did not cut out but kept doing that from time to time. Has anyone had this problem and know what I should do Should I call BMW backout or just take it to the dealer

Dave

Just had a breakdown on my 07 GSA too at a peage on the A 89 in france , cut the engine whilst waiting in the queue to get to the pay booth , paid , hit the starter - nothing - battery fried ! got it started with a helpfull french guys jump leads but had the ABS light on and the same hesitation misfiring and flashing orange light on the display which I sussed was the ASC kicking in at random and was sorted by switching it off untill I got to bmw in Limoges who replace the battery under warranty ( just under 2 years old ). the other anoying thing is that the odometer has clocked up 730 extra kms on the 60 km trip to Limoges. so it may be an idea to get the bike checked , especially the battery condition !!

 

[OldCroc]

Hi there

After this though under hard accelerating I found the bike had a slight hesitation which caused the yellow triangle to flash on the dash. The bike did not cut out but kept doing that from time to time. Has anyone had this problem and know what I should do Should I call BMW backout or just take it to the dealer

Dave

Dave - Does your bike have traction control?? If you are accellerating hard and the rear wheel starts to spin the computer will cut the power to stop the spin - as it does this it is indicated by the yellow triangle. If you are on dry tarmac and it spins up under hard accelleration check your rear tyre!!! If the tyre is worn it may spin up - if the tyre is good you should be lifting the front wheel - which will also make the traction control kick in. I dont believe you have any fault - bike is just doing what the electronics have been designed to do!

OldCroc

 

[dave hendy]

Dave - Does your bike have traction control?? If you are accellerating hard and the rear wheel starts to spin the computer will cut the power to stop the spin - as it does this it is indicated by the yellow triangle. If you are on dry tarmac and it spins up under hard accelleration check your rear tyre!!! If the tyre is worn it may spin up - if the tyre is good you should be lifting the front wheel - which will also make the traction control kick in. I dont believe you have any fault - bike is just doing what the electronics have been designed to do!

OldCroc

My bike has ASC but although accelerating hard it is no harder than normal Up to now have only had the light come on once through spining on some gravel in centre of road while overtaking a car, and it only happened for an second. This was under any hard acceleration on dry roads. The rear tyre is squaring off as it has done over 4K miles. The light flashing was the right sort of thing that you would expect for that though. It did feel like it wasn't running on all plugs when it did it. It was fine before it cut out

 

[dave hendy]

Good news the bike is cured I took the side panel off to look at the fuel pump module and found the smaller of the 2 multi-plugs not pushed in I rode it after and it was fine. Thank god

 

[BegesRus]

crap really - isn't it