My GS1150 Spontaniously Combusted!

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mikeinreadinguk

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Well my wife rang me mid stag night last night to tell me my bike was on fire.

I dashed home but the drama was over. The only info I got was that the horn sounded for about a minute (activated by the BMW alarm I presume) and then lots of smoke came out from under the tank / seat (pretty much from under where the tank meets the seat). Just at the point my neighbour was about to pour a bucket of water on it everything subsided.

The bike lives outside on a steepish drive with the front wheel pointing up the drive.

I have wiped the seat and tank off. Looks OK but all bar one of the 7 fuses has blown.

By the way if you have ever battled swapping a battery without taking the tank off don't do it again. The tank comes off real easy (mind you I can't comment about how easy it goes back on yet).

I have sprayed everything with WD40 and am about to replaces the fuses and turn her on. With a foam extinguiser handy.

Any thoughts - has anyone had a similar experience?
 
DO NOT turn it back on yet.

FIRST YOU MUST open a youtube account and then have somebody videoing you when you turn the ignition back on:D
 
good burner

You will with out doubt done severe damage to the wiring harness so DO NOT
turn it on unless you wish to complete the cremation job. Fuses are there as safety switches to protect against fire so take off the tank and see what is melted. When all has been resolved make sure nothing has been wired in without a fuse. Do not attempt to remove replace battery with te tank in position as you could short out the terminals with the tank and then you
will go up with the bike fueled by the petrol in the tank, you have had a lucky escape.
dave gs.
 
It sounds like your neighbour had a lucky escape as well - pouring water on an electrical fire underneath a petrol tank is pretty much what I'd have thought was the last thing you should do.

If most of your fuses have gone, it's probably going to be bad. Thinking about the description, I'd start looking at the loom. What's likely to have happened is that some damage to the loom has caused a short to earth. As this heated, it will have melted the insulation on the nearby wires, allowing them to short to the wire with the original fault, in turn shorting them to earth. Fortunately, all the fuses blew and the fire subsided.

I'd suggest starting by looking under the fusebox, as that's where there are lots of wires in close proximity but which are covered over. Look for blackening and use your nose as well as your eyes - you'll know when you're getting closer :augie

If the problem's as extensive as it sounds, I'd strongly recommend fitting a complete new loom. If you try and fix all the wires, you've a big chance of being stuck with lots of intermittent problems.
 
Fuse No 5 the culprit

No obvious signs of damage at all. The power feed (BMW fitted and direct from battery) for the Autocom was chaffed and might have shorted but no sign of it getting hot. No obvious signs of overheating or damage to any components or wires.

All bar one fuse blown and some had small areas of melted plastic.

Replaced all fuses and number 5 (Motronics and Diagnostic Plug) has blown straight away. My ammeter only handles DC sub 1 amp so will try and borrow a better meter if I can.

Its probably at the point where I realise I can't fix it and need to get it relayed to the garage.

Especially as I don't even know what Motronics is. Motor electronic? Hence the presumed expensive engine electronics black box?
 
sounds out like the main feed from the battery not sure if this is fuse protected need to check the outer insulation hasn't chaffed against the frame a short on this would most certainly burn intothe loom and blow the fuses on the aux circuits

best of luck:rob
 
posted last one as the one above came in

will look again more closely at the loom, but I think its off to the BMW garage, thanks guys, Mike
 
Ah ha.....

Yep, things got a bit toastie under the battery tray, and I'd guess its a new loom for sure. Looks like the trays a bit of a bugger to get off as it goes under the injectors too, so off to the garage.

Can anyone recommend a good independant BMW specialist near Reading Berks?
 
which oil did you use?


coat, hat, door....

PS if you want a hand shipping it to steptoe I seem to be getting very good at bikes in the van sort of thing, however can you disconnect everything that left to disconnect and drain the petrol out first....
 
There`s no need to remove the tank to swap a battery...just chock it up,as directed in the Haynes manual.

So then,what did you trap or short to earth while changing yer battery ??? :D
 
Don't know how relevent it is, but on a K100 I used to own, when riding around the M25, smoke started pouring out from under the tank. When I pulled over and tried to turn it off it just kept running, even after hitting the kill switch. A quick call to a BMW mechanic followed, and he told me to tap the fuse box quite hard, and to my amazement it stopped. I then disconnected the battery, took out all fuses and removed the CDI unit. When the recovery people came we started pushing the bike up into the van and the bloody engine started again!

Turned out a couple of wires in the loom had shorted out and created their own little network. A new loom was needed.

I'd advise you to give everything a good once over, and maybe take your bike to a dealer for them to worry about.
 
I shorted the lights at the low beam on my 1150 and when the ignition was turned on the smoke poured off. Didn't blow a fuse as the circuit's not fused (although mine is now) but that melted all the lighting north of the fuse box as well as melting those wires it was wrapped up next to. Meant replacing lots of wiring and resoldering the right hand controls. Getting at the wires the hardest part as I didn't want to disconnect the ABS which prevents a lot of access.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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