Stalling

[Ozz]

Before I approach my dealerships service centre, can I get some advice from the group?

In the last 3 days I've been taking advantage of the bright sunshine and been heading out ostensibly to look for a new set of gloves, but also to shake off the cobwebs of not riding as much over the winter. At the end of a two hour ride on day one, I slowed to follow a fire engine up a hill. The fire appliance slowed to turn right and I blipped the throttle to shift down to first in anticipation. The bike seemed to bog down and it stalled. No biggie I thought, clutch in, starter prodded - nothing at all. Bike refused to turn over. Two minutes of frantically turning the ignition on and off, key out - nowt. Just as I'm about to paddle down the hill and call BMW, it decided that it wanted to play and started.

Day two - no issues.

Today, the bike bogged down and stalled while shifting down from 4th to 3rd. Started first time.

Its a May 2014 GSLC with 10000miles. Anyone got any ideas / advice?

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Running too lean ?????

 

[Engineer]

The LC like all of the previous 1200s could stall when slowing down to low speed for a junction or roundabout - my LC did it a few times but since the 6000 mile service it stopped doing it. I was told that when it was serviced there was a software tweak to how much the engine was 'backed off' when the clutch was pulled in - now whatever the technical details may have been it certainly stopped the infrequent issue.

Your problem may or not be the same (mine only ever did the occasional stall, it always re-stared immediately) - how many miles have you done, what year is the bike and does it have all the firmware upgrades? I suggest that you let you dealer check it out.

 

[rdonson]

After the dealer update, when i am slowing down my bike sometimes revs a bit when i pull in the clutch to stop it stalling. Does anyone elses bike do this?

 

[Engineer]

After the dealer update, when i am slowing down my bike sometimes revs a bit when i pull in the clutch to stop it stalling. Does anyone elses bike do this?

I haven't noticed that as such, but when the engine is cold I have noticed that playing with the clutch at low speed the clutch is directly controlling the engine revs, there is an anti-stall thing going on there but I haven't totally got my head around it yet.

 

[Outrider]

After the dealer update, when i am slowing down my bike sometimes revs a bit when i pull in the clutch to stop it stalling. Does anyone elses bike do this?

My '14 GS also does this now after the latest BMW firmware update, but at least the stalling has stopped!

 

[Outrider]

Hopefully just updating to the latest firmware will resolve this, it did on my '14 GS

 

[Ozz]

The bike went into Coopers @ Sunderland today. Explained the issue and then waited around for a couple of hours. The mechanic doesn't know what's caused it but believes that the software update would cure it as it resets the throttle etc. Unfortunately the computer said no and it wouldn't load the update. More curious was the fact that the exhaust flap has seized in the closed position. He doesn't believe that this has caused or affected the main issues (stalling). I was surprised at this revelation - I did enquire whether I would feel this as a loss of power. I know that the flap is there mainly to get around noise control, but having a flap stuck closed would surely be felt...?

Bike is going back in 2 weeks for new flapper valve assembly (on waranty) and software update. We'll see what happens next...

 

[Ozz]

The GS was back at Coopers today for what turned out to be a new exhaust system (exc the can)...all because the flapper valve had seized. God knows how much that was. The bike has also had the latest firmware / software update. I'll have to see if this will all cure the stalling issue, but the update has made the bike feel completely different. Gone is the low speed surging especially around 30-40mph. The fuelling is definitely better.