Full BMW history saved my bacon

[Cornwallis]

I've heard the pros and cons for main dealer servicing once the two year warranty has expired, so I wanted to share a recent experience that's convinced me that the pros are greater than the cons.

One month before my 06 plate GS was five years old, I needed to have an ABS pump at over of £1500 fitted. Yes, it did make me pucker-up a bit when I received the news! As a major component, and with a full BMW service history on the bike, my dealer managed to get BMW to pay for the part which saved me around £1300. I just paid £225 for the labour and brake fluid.

So, if anyone has a bike with a full BMW history but no extended warranty, my advice is to get a service in just before it's five years old.

 

[Mr K]

 

[VAL. H.]

Arr!

Mines six, does that mean it'll be ok?


Val.

 

[Cornwallis]

It means you're all alone in the brutal world of the consumer society. There are rules and I'm sorry to say that they no longer apply to you. You're beyond help I'm afraid. Fare ye well fellow biker.....

 

[Red Rock]

How much of that £1500 did you spend on the extra cost of dealer servicing over the 5 years? Self servicing or going indepenedently, you might have broken even if you'd had to get the part yourself, but that's the worst case..If it hadn't gone and most don't, you would be quids in not going to a dealer. Also you were fortunate to get BMW to pay. I't not a given, in which case you would have paid the extra servicing costs, and the price of the part.

I'm not convinced..

 

[steveh]

so 5 years on bmw servicing would of cost me 1500 quid easy against about 500 quid indie and myself doing th basics. In addition I specked non ABS from new, guess its all about perspective!

BMW dealers equals rip off merchants once you've experienced a decent expert indie....I give you motoscot, steptoe etc etc

you are deluded my friend

 

[earthmover]

Just as an aside, my son's VW Polo had the ABS light come on, just before it's MOT. The brakes worked, but the ABS would not (tested on private land, obviously ) and I was reliably informed that this was an MOT fail.
Two different garages quoted in excess of £2000 to fix it!
An Audi/VW scrap specialist in Manchester (can't remember his name) suggested I check the strip fuse for the ABS, as it can develop a hair line split that doesn't look as if it has failed. Sure enough, this was the case, and one £2.00 fuse later, everything was back to normal.
Of course the 1200's don't have fuses. Glad mine hasn't got ABS.
Mark

 

[Ralphieb]

Yeh same thing happened to me. With the number of failures of these units there should be a recall. Must admit our local dealer in Brisbane (Morgan and Wackers) did the right thing by me but $400 labour is still a bit of cash when the unit should not fail in the first place????

 

[GSband]

..... Glad mine hasn't got ABS.
Mark

There seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding as to what part breaks down. Actually, this has nowt to do with ABS, but with the brake assistance system on BMW bikes from MY 2001-2006. I had the same thing happening to my 2005 R12GS. It was out of warranty when the pump failure occurred (2007), estimate was 1200€, but BMW covered all costs. Having lost faith in the servo assisted brakes, I sold the bike afterwards, and replaced it with a 2007 model, without brake assistance, but with ABS.

 

[stolzy]

Just as an aside, my son's VW Polo had the ABS light come on, just before it's MOT. The brakes worked, but the ABS would not (tested on private land, obviously ) and I was reliably informed that this was an MOT fail.
Two different garages quoted in excess of £2000 to fix it!
An Audi/VW scrap specialist in Manchester (can't remember his name) suggested I check the strip fuse for the ABS, as it can develop a hair line split that doesn't look as if it has failed. Sure enough, this was the case, and one £2.00 fuse later, everything was back to normal.
Of course the 1200's don't have fuses. Glad mine hasn't got ABS.
Mark

This sort of thing is common at main dealers (cars and bikes). Plenty of fitters and few mechanics, so the easy thing is to start swapping parts rather than do any diagnostics.

I had an extreme example with an overheating BMW528i. Limped to the local dealer who kept it a week and said the head was shot, but removing the head on an old engine (200k km) would cause damage to the block and the only sensible option was a new engine. This news was accompanied by a quote for €13,000.

Took it to a local grease monkey who filled it up with coolant and its done another 60k km since without problem. Grease monkey didn't even charge me anything, said he didn't do anything so he wouldn't take my money.

He gets all my repair money now - he took the gearbox out of my landrover to fix a gear selection problem. Put it all back together with a new clutch and it was just the same - so he just charged me the cost of the clutch parts, no labour, no fix, no fee.

 

[Myke Rocks]

Consider this

J
Of course the 1200's don't have fuses. Glad mine hasn't got ABS.
Mark

We have a 2000 Seat Leon.
The master cylinder has been changed 3 times so far. Very unreliable. Common fault. In the fullenss of time all hydraulic systems will fail.

Should I sell it & look for a car with cable brakes?

Myke

 

[WindyChuffer]

I've heard the pros and cons for main dealer servicing once the two year warranty has expired, so I wanted to share a recent experience that's convinced me that the pros are greater than the cons.

One month before my 06 plate GS was five years old, I needed to have an ABS pump at over of £1500 fitted. Yes, it did make me pucker-up a bit when I received the news! As a major component, and with a full BMW service history on the bike, my dealer managed to get BMW to pay for the part which saved me around £1300. I just paid £225 for the labour and brake fluid.

So, if anyone has a bike with a full BMW history but no extended warranty, my advice is to get a service in just before it's five years old.

You could of course have just got by with no ABS by ignoring the problem if BMW had not coughed up. ABS compliments the brakes after all...

 

[shugie]

You could of course have just got by with no ABS by ignoring the problem if BMW had not coughed up. ABS compliments the brakes after all...

Not sure when it changed, but on the earlier 1200s like mine, the ABS pump provides the pressure for the brakes as well as the ABS function. If it's not working the "residual" braking is crap. Although there seems to be a way of getting rid of it with some new plumbing.

 

[beermonster]

We have a 2000 Seat Leon.
The master cylinder has been changed 3 times so far. Very unreliable. Common fault. In the fullenss of time all hydraulic systems will fail.

Should I sell it & look for a car with cable brakes?

Myke

No just don't buy a bike with bloody ABS

 

[Cornwallis]

No just don't buy a bike with bloody ABS

Sadly, we're not all blessed with Beermonster's riding skills and rely on ABS to keep us safe and return us to our families unscathed. And some of us just end up buying a bike with ABS because it's a great deal at the time.......

 

[GSband]

Not sure when it changed, but on the earlier 1200s like mine, the ABS pump provides the pressure for the brakes as well as the ABS function. If it's not working the "residual" braking is crap. Although there seems to be a way of getting rid of it with some new plumbing.

On the GS range equipped with ABS BMW installed an assisted brake system in modelyears 2001-2006. This system would 1) assist the brakes (servo function), 2) carry out the integral function, and 3) carry out the ABS function. When braking, there would always be electric pumps augmenting brake pressure. Braking with the handlever would mean two electric pumps applying pressure on front and rear brakes. Braking with the foot pedal would mean one electric pump applying pressure on rear brake. If the wheels would block under braking, then the same pump system would carry out the ABS function.
If the electric servo pump fails, you're left with 'residual' braking, since a part of brake pressure is lost. This is potentially dangerous : the rider not expecting 'residual' brakes could get into trouble. You also loose the integral function and ABS. In itself, the failures have nothing to do with ABS. Since the servo function was not really needed on bikes BMW gave the servo system up, while holding onto ABS.


Since model year 2007 (before the R1200GS got a facelift) BMW has installed it's improved brake system on ABS equipped R1200GS's. When braking with the hand lever, the front brake is working without intervention of an electric pump, while the rear brake is functioning because of an electric pump (integral function). When only using the foot pedal, the rear brake is functioning without the intervention of an electric pump. If the wheels block under braking, then electric pumps carry out the ABS function.
If the pumps fail, you're always left with fully functioning front brake (via hand lever) and fully functioning rear brake (via pedal). What is lost is integral braking and ABS. What you're left with is braking pressure as usual.

I hope this clarifies things a bit. I'm a strong believer in ABS. But I sold my 2005 R12GS after the servo system failed. IMHO the most important part in any moving vehicle are the brakes.

Cheers!

 

[WindyChuffer]

Point taken GSband....I didn't realise the ABS pump was also the servo on the earlier bikes. Its been a while since i had one of those.

When I take my GS off road I disconnect the front wheel sensor, which in turn disables the entire ABS / linked braking thing.

 

[beermonster]

Sadly, we're not all blessed with Beermonster's riding skills and rely on ABS to keep us safe and return us to our families unscathed. And some of us just end up buying a bike with ABS because it's a great deal at the time.......

Perhaps your not which indeed is sad, far better to rely on those said skills than abs, if you ain't got them that's something you may want to attend to. As for a great deal, not really, especially if you have to pay the dealer to bleed the bloody thing or worse still replace the module.

You could of course do it yourself which I have done on someone else's bike, it just confirmed my opinion about ABS, was a right PIA. Anyway apparently it's soon to be compulsory on new bikes so our rulers yet again get to decide whats best for us, whilst we have to pay for the additional cost.

So whilst we may have differing opinions as to the merits of ABS it just won't matter in the long run.

 

[Beemerman59]

Everyone's personal opinion of course. For me, after 33 years of riding bikes all year round I will never buy another bike without ABS.

 

[ianran]

Point taken GSband....I didn't realise the ABS pump was also the servo on the earlier bikes. Its been a while since i had one of those.

When I take my GS off road I disconnect the front wheel sensor, which in turn disables the entire ABS / linked braking thing.

Cant you just turn it off on the left hand switch gear