GSWayne
Guest
I took my bike with 2200 miles on it into my local BMW dealer on March 30 to have a cracked top case replaced under warranty, which they did. They said the bike didn’t sound right and said I should not ride it home. It showed no error codes (low oil pressure or high temperature) in the computer. They checked the valve adjustment and cam chain tensioner and the noise was still there. It is still at the dealer (4 weeks later) and they have not yet given me a quote on the repair, but they said it needed a new right side cylinder and piston, and perhaps more parts. They say it is not covered under warranty.
Here is a history of the bike. I bought it with 1200 miles on it (from a dentist who was selling the bike because he hurt himself surfing and would not be able to ride the bike for a long time) and I noticed the oil was below the window when I got it home. I added ¾ of a quart to bring it up to the top of the window. This means it was about 7 oz. low which is about 5% of oil capacity. The 600 mile service had been done at 528 miles at the local dealer. At 1800 miles I was riding down the freeway and the engine died, and when I pulled over I smelled smoke. I checked the oil at that time, the level was OK, so I restarted the bike and thought it sounded funny, but I had just put on an Aeroflow windshield that day so the wind noise had dropped way down making the engine noise much more noticeable. I thought that the funny engine noise at the time was just the lack of wind noise. I reported all this to the dealer.
Therefore, according to BMW, the bike can normally burn enough oil in 700 miles to destroy the engine without any indication of low oil pressure. It looks like this low oil can also cause a problem to occur 600 miles after the oil was restored to its normal level. I find this hard to believe. Does anyone have a reasonable mechanical explanation of how this could happen? Will low oil cause some parts to seize up and not others? Anybody had luck fighting warranty battles like this?
Here are 5 other cases of similar right cylinder damage that were not attributed to low oil level. It looks like there is another low probability but high consequence defect in R1200GS design or manufacture, or these other cases, which were covered under warranty, were also due to low oil and those owners had the sense not to mention that the oil was ever below the window.
Here are links to stories of very similar problem which I sent to the dealer:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95298&highlight=warranty+noise
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74543&highlight=warranty+noise
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45124
http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthrea...=warranty+noise&topic=&Search=true#Post643774
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90377&highlight=warranty+noise
Moral to the story:
If BMW’s claim is true, you better always carry oil with you and check your oil level every time you stop because in a long days ride (700 miles) you could ruin the engine.
Here is a history of the bike. I bought it with 1200 miles on it (from a dentist who was selling the bike because he hurt himself surfing and would not be able to ride the bike for a long time) and I noticed the oil was below the window when I got it home. I added ¾ of a quart to bring it up to the top of the window. This means it was about 7 oz. low which is about 5% of oil capacity. The 600 mile service had been done at 528 miles at the local dealer. At 1800 miles I was riding down the freeway and the engine died, and when I pulled over I smelled smoke. I checked the oil at that time, the level was OK, so I restarted the bike and thought it sounded funny, but I had just put on an Aeroflow windshield that day so the wind noise had dropped way down making the engine noise much more noticeable. I thought that the funny engine noise at the time was just the lack of wind noise. I reported all this to the dealer.
Therefore, according to BMW, the bike can normally burn enough oil in 700 miles to destroy the engine without any indication of low oil pressure. It looks like this low oil can also cause a problem to occur 600 miles after the oil was restored to its normal level. I find this hard to believe. Does anyone have a reasonable mechanical explanation of how this could happen? Will low oil cause some parts to seize up and not others? Anybody had luck fighting warranty battles like this?
Here are 5 other cases of similar right cylinder damage that were not attributed to low oil level. It looks like there is another low probability but high consequence defect in R1200GS design or manufacture, or these other cases, which were covered under warranty, were also due to low oil and those owners had the sense not to mention that the oil was ever below the window.
Here are links to stories of very similar problem which I sent to the dealer:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95298&highlight=warranty+noise
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74543&highlight=warranty+noise
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45124
http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthrea...=warranty+noise&topic=&Search=true#Post643774
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90377&highlight=warranty+noise
Moral to the story:
If BMW’s claim is true, you better always carry oil with you and check your oil level every time you stop because in a long days ride (700 miles) you could ruin the engine.
first thing in the morning......before he turned over a new leaf yesterday. Well done mate. 
