Please respond if you've NOT had a 1200GS/GSA fuel pump controller failure

- Russ
- bike details 12 GSA - Apr 07
- mileage close to 16000 miles
- typical weather conditions ridden in - All. 40C+ to icy UK with lots of water.
- is the bike stored for long periods of time - No, used almost daily for short trips with a weekly longer jaunt and european touring a couple of times a year.
 
Chris Tunbridge
Sept 2007 R1200GSA
10100 Miles
Used 4-5 days a week
Riden in all weathers
Kept outside all year (Alas I have no storage:()
Never unused for more than a week.
 
Couldn't have said it better myself. :thumb2

BTW, there's 10 'everything's fine' posts on this thread and >50 reports of failures on the other... :augie

Tim

Are you looking for a target percentage of bikes sold that have failed, that once you have reached, BMW have said they will take some action? Is there a percentage failure rate that once they reach, from their own records, they will then investigate?
 
Dave T.
2006 R1200GS.
13500 Miles.
Used pretty much daily.
Ridden in all weathers.
Lives outside(not even under a cover, just chained to the house!!!)
Never unused for more than a week.

(Only probs so far: Gearbox input/output shaft seals went at 23 months, engine front cover corroded. Both sorted quickly and easily under warranty, therefore Dave T is still a happy GSer :thumb2)
 
Gavin Cairns
1 April 2008
2,600 miles
Ridden Monday - Friday
Whatever the weather happens to be
Stored in garage at home and work
 
BTW, there's 10 'everything's fine' posts on this thread and >50 reports of failures on the other... :augie
Tim

I wasn't going to bother adding to this nonsense, but after reading that...

Paul L
2006 GS (Apr 05)
13,5000
Ridden year-round, UK, all weathers mostly mon-fri
Garaged at home, bike shed at work
:thumb2


"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Benjamin Disraeli.
 
not had one fail since I sold the unreliable piece of toss.
nor gearbox failures
nor flying top boxes
nor dead batteries
nor brake failures
nor electrical failures
nor electronic failures
nor side panels flying off
nor steering lock failures
End of troll......
 
05 1200GS 30,000 miles fuel pump never gone wrong - However I do keep the 'water trap' that's its home clean and dry.
 
not had one fail since I sold the unreliable piece of toss.
nor gearbox failures
nor flying top boxes
nor dead batteries
nor brake failures
nor electrical failures
nor electronic failures
nor side panels flying off
nor steering lock failures
End of troll......

I'm afraid you're becoming a wholey predictable bore.

Now that you are a happy Honda owner will you ever leave us happy BMW owners alone and STOP repeating your VERY well documented experience ad nauseam....................please. :aidan
 
Dave H
April 07 1200GS
11K miles
Ridden weekends and holidays
All weathers (when away)
Kept in garage
Not used when salt on roads
 
May 06, GS

5k (I know :ymca:ymca)

Ridden in all weathers (normally rains when out with other Tossers)

Garaged

Original battery crap, changed for Odyssey after 6 months

No other problems.

After reading about this controller problem, I inspected, cleaned and dosed mine with WD40.:thumb
 
I wasn't going to join in either but for the sake of science.....

05 did 20,000 miles, usually used daily in all weathers - no problems with EWS or fuel pump

08 has done 5,400 miles since May same usage as above - again no problems (touch wood)

Rob

p.s. It gets a quick wash once a week if there hasn't been any rain to do the job for me.
 
Do you really think they dont already have the factual evidence?

Couldn't have said it better myself. :thumb2

BTW, there's 10 'everything's fine' posts on this thread and >50 reports of failures on the other... :augie

Tim

I think it's a pity Tim's thread has been split, albeit it makes amusing reading to watch the two camps at each others' throats.

There is of course nothing wrong with Tim's investigation. Indeed, I applaud his endeavours, it being better to present some information (and I assume comment) to BuMW rather than simply moaning on a website. It's always better to write to an organisation explaining ones concerns, rather than just fume. There again, it's often easier to fume and threaten death and destruction....

However, as I am sure he realises, Tim's comment vis-a-vis the replies ratio shows how difficult it is to collate a sensible statistical reply.

For all Tim knows, 100% of the 'unhappy' camp have now replied but only 10%of the 'happy' campers.

If no more happy campers reply - either because they do not see the second thread or because they cannot be bothered - it will stay at 80% unhappy (or whatever the number is).

If the small number of 'happy' replies doubles, the ratio will suddenly drop to 40% (ie, now more happy than unhappy)

That's the problem with small surveys......pure and simple.....However, if the ratio grows in favour of the unghappy camp, it really doesn't matter, it will simply help Tim's case (or at least his belief in his case).

As Dahoum pointed out, BuMW will probably know the failure ratio to an incredible accuracy. Why? simply because they will know how many replacement fuel control units have gone through their hands. Data like this has to be tracked as, like most automotive manufacturers, BuMW operate on a 'Just in time' stocking / manufacturing process.

If BuMW make a change to the design of the component or to the bike (the vanilla 1200 has changed already, I believe) then BuMW will (quite rightly) simply say that it's in line with their continuous improvement programme....

If BuMW do a recall or campaign, as they seem to be doing for some units vis-a-vis the EWS problem, that will be good, too.

===

What would, of course, be truly funny is if the problem is not water (as many suspect) but heat (as many others suspect).

Those that have blocked up the ingress of water -- thereby stopping heat escaping -- may have triggered (or speeded up) their controller's demise. This is something that may not show up on Tim's survey, adding to the survey's data's (probable) inaccuracy. As ever, the devil is in the detail.....
 
- rider name
- bike details (model and year)
- mileage
- typical weather conditions ridden in
- is the bike stored for long periods of time

Timpo
R1200GS Adventure, September 2006.
10,000 miles
Mostly good weather but have been caught out a few times. Never used on salted roads.
Longest period of storage is 4 weeks, average is a few days between rides.
Stored in dry garage.
 
PS

In case Tim or anyone missed it in the other thread:

I have had no problem with the fuel controller on two 1200 GS bikes. Both owned from new:

(a) Vanilla 1200 - 22,000 miles in two years (18,000 in one). 04 year.

(b) GSA 1200 - 28,000 miles in two years. 06 reg.

Used in all weathers, fuel pump area left 'untreated' and untampered with......no rust, paint peeling or corrosion to the bike....I must be lucky! Ooops, forgot, the paint has worn through to the frame where my left heal rubs....must get smaller feet.....

Garaged when not in use, sitting on an Optimate (which has never fried the electronics) 24/7/365.

===

However, I know the vanilla bike suffered a rear oil seal failure at about 22,500 (just after I sold it). Previous to that I had - at about 12,000 miles - a problem with the Canbus shutting down the peripherals for no good reason....It transpired that imported problem followed a software update, itself to fix a problem i did not have, but others had moaned about....it's a funny old world....

The 1200 GSA had a complete new final drive at about 24,000 miles and a gear position pot at about 25,500.

Not perfect but probably not too bad. Certainly no worse than the long list of Honda bikes I have owned....

=====

I carry a replacement fuel controller....should I ever need it....and know how to bodge a work around.


I carry a spare EWS ring, that may itself be duff.... I know how to bodge it in. Carrying a spare key, too, or the bodge won't work.

For everything else I have BuMW Assist, the BuMW extended warranty, the AA, a small tool kit, the combined wisdom of UKGSer.......and prayer....:D

=====
 
Black Swan Theory

There are only 2 types of 1200 riders

(1) Those who have had a Fuel Pump Controller fail on them in a remote location and (2) those that will.
 
For everything else I have BuMW Assist, the BuMW extended warranty, the AA, a small tool kit, the combined wisdom of UKGSer.......and prayer....:D

It all sounds fine, but I have to say that empirical evidence shows that the last thing will not help any more than asking the tooth fairy
 
Of course this won't be a scientifically reliable survey, but the inconsistencies will at least be consistent. Tim (or whoever) will t least be able to say "We asked the same sample size for both positive and negative replies, and THIS is the result" instead of just "XXX reported a problem."

Water vs Heat: Mine failed after a whole day's riding in the rain, some of it really torrential, followed by a night parked in the rain, followed by a damn good thrash up the Stelvio pass (not rhyming slang) - when the bikes I was with were all running very hot. So my failure could be down to water, heat, or both, or neither. There was no sign of damage when I hacked apart the broken unit.

(I haven't taped up my ventilation holes, but the unit now sits in a big lump of silicon grease. Even when the well fills with water, it's not getting anywhere near the seal at the bottom. Lor donly knows if this will prevent another failure, but I carry a spar ewith me everywher I go now just in case.)
 


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