Instrumentation woes

[blackburnlee]

Has anyone else had problems with their instrumentation? By this I mean "Sticky" operation of both the speedo and rev counter needles and almost complete failure of the gear indicator facility.

Mine went AWOL on the way back from Portugal a few days ago for no good reason. I've checked the connection at the back of the engine next to the gear linkages but all seems to be in order.

It's off to CW tomorrow for its 6k service. I'll let you know what happens. In the meantime any comments?

 

[Shep]

Quite common for gear indicator to misread after a very wet ride/wasing the bike, bit of wd40 on the sensor and leave the bike standing with a warm engine to dry out.

Regards Shep

 

[blackburnlee]

Yep, tried that but the indicator went during warm weather after very little rain in the hours before that and the speedo and rev counter needles went funny during sunny weather after no washing or rain. Very strange.

 

[Russ]

i believe it is all eclectronic, the speedo and revs are fed digitally to the dash (i.e. no cables a fly-by-wire kind of arrangement) and it's converted to a nice dial and needles kind of arrangement for your perusal.

Looks like a dealer job

 

[kiwiAdventure]

Once when I washed the bike my speedo would only go up to 20kph and no faster. The next morning all was OK.
I have not had a charge to ride the bike in the rain as we have had hardly no rain for months and Autumm is really dry as well.
we did have problems with a couple of 1200gs stopping in river crossings.

 

[JayGee]

...I have not had a charge to ride the bike in the rain as we have had hardly no rain for months and Autumm is really dry as well...

OK Kiwi, no need to gloat, wouldn't you really like to be able to ride in torrential rain and gale force winds (like I was doing yesterday!)

 

[honker]

gear indicator disappears on mine everytime I wash or when out in a downpour like yesterday. Out with the WD40 and its fine....

Stu

 

[blackburnlee]

According to CW they're going to replace the sensor as well as the speedo unit. Usual good service from them and I'm going to pick her up tomorrow.

At least the problems were apparent when they had the bike and didn't disappear as usually happens with these things!

 

[HMR]

Be aware that the instrument unit is "open" and not waterproof.

I have seen a R12GS drive of the road into a pond. It was picked up within a few seconds but the instrument unit was already filled completely with water.

We took the unit apart (Torx T10) and emptied it, dried it with a hair dryer, and after that it worked OK.

Bottom line - DO NOT use a water hoose to clean the instruments! Never ever!

 

[blackburnlee]

Took the bike into CW for the 6k service and to get a resolution to my instrumentation problems. They replaced the instrument panel and gear indicator switch. Problem solved.

Well done CW. In particular Darren on the service desk was really helpful.

 

[gfspencer]

My speedometer started messing up yesterday just 60 miles into my ride. Sometimes it would move in “jerks”, sometimes is would not read at all and other times it would stick at 45 mph. The bike sits in a dry garage. It was a bright sunny day. Maybe I can get it fixed when I go in for the 600 mile tune-up. This is my fifth BMW and the first to have problems. I hope this isn't an indication of things to come.

 

[blackburnlee]

When I asked CW they told me that they've had a few cases of "Sticky" needles and simply replaced my whole instrument panel. Hopefully they'll do that for you when you take it in.

 

[kiwiAdventure]

When I asked CW they told me that they've had a few cases of "Sticky" needles and simply replaced my whole instrument panel. Hopefully they'll do that for you when you take it in.

Does that mean your milage is now 0. Would be good for resale

 

[gfspencer]

My dealer – BMW/Ducati of Charlotte (North Carolina - USA) – said that they would get me in Saturday for a look. They don’t have an instrument panel in stock but they will try to get one “just in case”. They told me that I am the first to report such a problem. I hope it is an easy fix.

 

[blackburnlee]

Unfortunately this does mean that your mileage is back to 0. I made sure that CW annotated the service booklet but at least the small scratches on the old panel (From too much cleaning I suspect) are gone...