Issues with 1200GS reliability

AberdeenAngus

AberdeenAngus

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Off to Africa soon and would like advice re spare parts.

From what I can gather the ring antenna problems appear to have been corrected on later models ......and there is a good roadside fix for the fuel pump reg problem should it arise....

Are there any other major reliability issues with newer model GS's (it's a 2009 GSA I have) that I need to consider.

What spares would you recommend for a three week trip ?

Any help gratefully received
 
Re the FPC, take a spare as its relatively inexpensive and you can always sell on the unused spare later if you don't need it.
 
A pair of the diddy links that join the handguards to the mountings inboard end. I think these are sacrifical....
A pair of the placcy hinge-pins from the windshield centre mount.
Clutch lever, a few bulbs.
rear brake pads.
 
ok boys don't tie your knickers in a twist, it was only a popular joke...

I am sure it will be ok Aberdeen angus. I have only taken the gs to europe a few times, I always carry half a pannier worth of possible fallible parts (fpc, antenna, oils, tools) and the only time I ve faced a disabling problem was in central London 2miles from my house and 700 yards from the bike shop...

On a serious note, you should get a decent recovery service which repatriates the bike in case of complete meltdown and also carry 2 things easily replaceable by the roadside: An FPC and a ring antenna.
 
Angus, on a positive note on reliability, I came back a few weeks ago from a tour of Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic etc, organised from this site. We had 20 BMW bikes, 16 were 1200GS/GSA, we each did 3,500 - 4,000 miles. We were riding on roads but not hanging about, but had no reliability issues in the 20 bikes, including the 1200GS/GSAs. This is not the same as 3 weeks riding in Africa but gives some indication of 1200 reliability with a medium sized sample. I'd still take some easily changed spares as mentioned, good tools and a recovery insurance.

Theop, this is the 1200 section, the Honda comment seemed less than helpful to a guy asking for advice.
 
theop said:
ok boys don't tie your knickers in a twist, it was only a popular joke...

I am sure it will be ok Aberdeen angus. I have only taken the gs to europe a few times, I always carry half a pannier worth of possible fallible parts (fpc, antenna, oils, tools) and the only time I ve faced a disabling problem was in central London 2miles from my house and 700 yards from the bike shop...

On a serious note, you should get a decent recovery service which repatriates the bike in case of complete meltdown and also carry 2 things easily replaceable by the roadside: An FPC and a ring antenna.
Click to expand...

Bikes new so I thought recovery would be covered by BMW?

I thought the ring antenna business was sorted ?
Am I wrong ?

Are the FPC's that fail, all corroded ?
Checked mine last night and its the new black type fitted, but it was still sat in a puddle.
Now I have a little ritual when I put the old girl away for the night - I get in there with a cloth.
If you keep it clean, dry and sprayed with WD - do you think they still might fail ?

Someone mentioned bevel box oil seal - is this a known/common failure?

Does anyone do a boxed set of spare lamps?
 
AberdeenAngus said:
Are the FPC's that fail, all corroded ?

Now I have a little ritual when I put the old girl away for the night - I get in there with a cloth.

If you keep it clean, dry and sprayed with WD - do you think they still might fail ?
Click to expand...

no.

above and beyond, but pointless IMO.

yes.
 
Are the FPC's that fail, all corroded ?
Checked mine last night and its the new black type fitted, but it was still sat in a puddle.
Now I have a little ritual when I put the old girl away for the night - I get in there with a cloth.
If you keep it clean, dry and sprayed with WD - do you think they still might fail ?

I don't think those electronic fpc failures have much to do with water ingress or corrosion... They just fail, the same way my iphone just did... electronics have a finite life and a percentage of any sample will fail prematurely - like lightbulbs, why some last 10 years and some 3 days?
 
theop said:
I don't think those electronic fpc failures have much to do with water ingress or corrosion... They just fail, the same way my iphone just did... electronics have a finite life and a percentage of any sample will fail prematurely - like lightbulbs, why some last 10 years and some 3 days?
Click to expand...


Ah, a homogeneous Poisson process with an exponential failure distrubution:toungincheek

So you reckon they are failing randomly.
I thought it was down to them sitting in a puddle and quietly rotting.
I thought they had upgraded the finish and seal on the FPC. Both things that would suggest it was corrosion & water ingress causing the problems.
 
AberdeenAngus said:
Ah, a homogeneous Poisson process with an exponential failure distrubution:toungincheek

So you reckon they are failing randomly.
I thought it was down to them sitting in a puddle and quietly rotting.
I thought they had upgraded the finish and seal on the FPC. Both things that would suggest it was corrosion & water ingress causing the problems.
Click to expand...

there appears to be two separate problems:

1) water getting past the seal and corroding the FPC connections in the well beneath.

2) the actual FPC simply failing.

the visible part when fitted is just a heat sink. it matters little if that gets corroded.
 
My FPC failed last week in a bimble around the trough of Bowland - the top of the unit looked lightly corroded and the underside was as new, due to the seal... A friendly fellow Gser was carrying a spare that save my bacon from waiting from the recovery truck - I ride a 57 plate 1200 with aprox 9500 miles and have never had one bit of trouble apart from this - had the ring attena changed as a recall - the photos of the replacement (and the p*ss taking) are on the link below for the uninitiated



http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199985
 
cookie said:
the visible part when fitted is just a heat sink. it matters little if that gets corroded.
Click to expand...

Not so sure. Some metal oxides have excellent thermal insulation properties.
A nice layer of corrosion could stop the heatsink working effectively perhaps causing the FPC to cook.

Just a thought.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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