Self Calibrating ESA

[ianran]

On a recent trip to Rom, riding two up with luggage, every now and again my suspension, which was set to two up, would drop down to the single rider level. The display would still show two helmets. Cycling round the esa settings and effectively pressing for two up, it would then lift up again.

Popped it round to my dealers who reset and calibrated the suspension. It did it again couple of days ago.

Has anyone else experienced this? I've had an "explanation" from BMW which frankly I think you could spread on your roses.

 

[Neil W]

Mentioned it to dealer a last month as mine was doing it on a solo tour of Germany , showed no faults, whilst away in the Alps two up, last week mine did it about four times in one day and twice on the following day. Meant stopping and in all cases pillion and rider off bike to get it to raise again. On each occasion the suspension display clearly showed the two up symbol
Strangely never did it the following two days.
In for a service next week and will bring it up again with the dealer again !

You are not alone with spurious and effing annoying ESA faults and glitches

 

[stever1]

It happened twice on my 2 month old GS, dealer looked at it but can't find any fault. Not a problem anymore as I've rejected the bike for a different fault. Getting another new one soon as

 

[ianran]

It is bizzare, previous TC's never did it. I'm told it's xalivrating itself, if so why does display show 2 helmets when the bike is clearly not set for that.

 

[batman1]

My GSA-LC 2015 very occasional drops from 2 helmets down to one helmet and back up again all by itself. My two GS-LC's never did this.

It's not really an issue now I'm aware of it, I eventually get it sorted, then when it's settled and locked in it's fine, it doesn't do it on the move, only when stationary.

If any of the helmets are flashing I know it's not locked.

 

[Rockred]

Strange this, I had my WC fully loaded, one up for a trip to Northern Spain and forgot to reset for one up plus luggage, When I got back I saw that it had changed its self to one up plus luggage with no input from me.

 

[Rockred]

Strange this, I had my WC fully loaded, one up for a trip to Northern Spain and forgot to reset for one up plus luggage, When I got back I saw that it had changed its self to one up plus luggage with no input from me. The bike is a 2015.

 

[Neil W]

Mine can drop when stationary or when moving .
Also with mine the problem is that on the dash it still indicates that the suspenion is set for 2 up but it is sitting almost on its bump stop when loaded ie on its solo setting, stopping the bike and getting off it will not rise on its own even unloaded ..
You have to cycle the suspension down onto the solo setting at which point the electronics seem to catch up with the level the bike has set itself at and then you can cycle back through onto the two up settings and the rear will raise again.
Not sure if it is the ESA suspension unit , the ECU software or perhaps yet another faulty left hand switchgear , who knows ?

Glad it has a 3 year warranty

 

[ianran]

Only problem is its not seen as a fault!

 

[batman1]

Strange this, I had my WC fully loaded, one up for a trip to Northern Spain and forgot to reset for one up plus luggage, When I got back I saw that it had changed its self to one up plus luggage with no input from me. The bike is a 2015.

Sounds like someone somewhere is looking after you....or you have a clever ghost in your esa? ...However lets not forget it is called intelligent suspension!

 

[Soar]

I have experienced It twice on my 15 GS-LC. Both times when stationary just after my pillion got off the bike. The suspension lowered itself and then raised back up immediately afterwards without any input from me. On both occasions I was using the two up setting for the ride.

I contacted the dealer and that said I could come in and have it checked. No fault codes were shown when they had the bike in. I hope it doesn't happen again, but I will post here if it does as this should be fixed by BMW.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MonsterMork]

Not experienced this myself (late 2014 TE), but my thoughts would be a sticky/malfunctioning height sensor - when at a standstill if the sensor sends a signal to the ecu that is not consistent with what the ecu was expecting then it could be that the ecu resets itself so that it is in line with what it is being told by the sensor rather than the input from the rider at the switch. Would only do this at a standstill as it will expect different readings whilst moving due to the suspension moving as it hits bumps etc. No idea if this would be the case though, it's just a theory, but I've seen dodgy height sensors do all sorts of odd things to Range Rover L322 suspension.

 

[Neil W]

Well mine was in for service today and all of the suspension settings required recalibration

 

[Mr Anderson]

Mines been doing that since new in 2015, they can't find faults but from 2up it drops then raises with no flashing symbols.
It also did it fully loaded with pillion too and I couldn't get the side stand down!!

 

[Neil W]

Problem comes when the bike is scanned nowhere is it showing as a fault, I know from using diagnostics on cars with active suspension that you will always get issues logged but on the BMW bike system there is according to the dealers ZILCH recorded.

Recommended by BMW that if it does it with pillion and luggage is that the system is NOT designed to lift the weight of the bike /rider/pillion and luggage from low to higher settings as the pump is not strong enough , so you should get the pillion and yourself off the bike and even then you may have to remove the loaded panniers to get the bike to rise. (apparently the early incarmantions of ESA could do this easily).

Liking the idea of a change at thee years old for a new NON ESA bike (specced to what i need) and stick Maxton or similar suspension on it .

Can't quite understand how Aprilia can design their Caponord with active suspension (very similar to the GSA set up ) that basically has software that as soon as you sit on the bike it can tell by weight what is required ie solo, solo plus luggage , two up or mega fat b*stard mode . Mate has one and at 5 years old the suspension has been absolutely perfect and the ride quality is vastly better than the BMW's

Mines been doing that since new in 2015, they can't find faults but from 2up it drops then raises with no flashing symbols.
It also did it fully loaded with pillion too and I couldn't get the side stand down!!

 

[ianran]

Problem comes when the bike is scanned nowhere is it showing as a fault, I know from using diagnostics on cars with active suspension that you will always get issues logged but on the BMW bike system there is according to the dealers ZILCH recorded.


Recommended by BMW that if it does it with pillion and luggage is that the system is NOT designed to lift the weight of the bike /rider/pillion and luggage from low to higher settings as the pump is not strong enough , so you should get the pillion and yourself off the bike and even then you may have to remove the loaded panniers to get the bike to rise. (apparently the early incarmantions of ESA could do this easily).

Liking the idea of a change at thee years old for a new NON ESA bike (specced to what i need) and stick Maxton or similar suspension on it .

Can't quite understand how Aprilia can design their Caponord with active suspension (very similar to the GSA set up ) that basically has software that as soon as you sit on the bike it can tell by weight what is required ie solo, solo plus luggage , two up or mega fat b*stard mode . Mate has one and at 5 years old the suspension has been absolutely perfect and the ride quality is vastly better than the BMW's

Rode A Capanord wasn't that impressed, as for pumping up loaded, mine was set up and left from previous days rides, two week tour with SWMBO and myself meant I left it set the same all the time. The only reason it would have neededto pump up was because it decided to drop down.

 

[fredaroony]

Rode A Capanord wasn't that impressed, as for pumping up loaded, mine was set up and left from previous days rides, two week tour with SWMBO and myself meant I left it set the same all the time. The only reason it would have neededto pump up was because it decided to drop down.

I owned a Caponord 1200 for just over two years and the GS shits on it in every possible way. The GS handling is much better and neutral as the Caponord will wallow when pushed hard.

 

[fredaroony]

Can't quite understand how Aprilia can design their Caponord with active suspension (very similar to the GSA set up ) that basically has software that as soon as you sit on the bike it can tell by weight what is required ie solo, solo plus luggage , two up or mega fat b*stard mode . Mate has one and at 5 years old the suspension has been absolutely perfect and the ride quality is vastly better than the BMW's

The Caponord 1200 was only released in 2013 so not sure if you are talking about the previous model but that did not have active suspension. Also the ride quality is not better at all than the GS and I was quite happy to get rid of my Caponord.

The GS soaks up bumps just as good, if not better, than the Caponord 1200 and certainly handles better.