Corrosion already!

Rong

Rong

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Last September I decided that the GS was not going to like another winter and that the (already quite bad) corrosion was going to get a lot worse. So I took the plunge and traded it in against an ex-demonstrator RT.

The RT is now 9 months old and has done less than 5K miles, none of which have been in salty conditions and to my horror is displaying signs of corrosion on both cylinder heads. I've been back to the dealer where they took photos and sent them off to BMW HQ so I'm now waiting to see what they have to say about it!

I must admit that I didn't expect this so soon.
 

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My question....................

How do you look after your bikes?

If your GS suffered bad corrosion, now your RT - there must be a common link:nenau
 
The tops of the headers etc look rusty to for just the nine months of age. My GSA doesn't look like this after 3 winter riding years. Could the bike have been exposed to salt and not treated whilst it was a demonstrator?
 
Rather that the OP getting stressed out, and everyone else pouring petrol on the fire, why not wait till you get your answer from BMW and then tell us what they say.

The two options are "Bloody bike covered in corrosion and BMW want nothing to do with it" and "What a great bunch of guys they are for sorting it out". Quite different I think you'll agree. Don't presume either one till you've heard the answer - and having already gone down the doom and gloom route, please make sure that if you get a positive answer that your final post on the subject is positive enough to coner up all the negativity expressed.

Just to offer a balance of views I had a wheel bearing issue on my RT recently and Dick Lovett were great about it. They booked the bike in, dealt with it efficiently and gave me a free loan bike while they had mine. Top quality service.

Mark
 
Hi Rong,

Sorry to see your bike deteriorating so quickly but have you treated any of your bikes with a suitable corrosion inhibitor?

I use ACF50 and have used Scotoil FS365 and even GT85/WD40 and find that a liberal coating of any of the above makes a huge difference to the amount of corrosion on the bikes i've had in the past.

I'm so impressed with ACF50 that I now use it on all of my agricultural machines including tractors, telehanders, quadbike and fertiiser spreaders.....Infact anything that is likely to come into contact with road salt, fertiliser, silage and cowshit......!

My GSA30 which is now in it's second winter using ACF50 and has absolutely no corrosion on it whatsoever and although i'm not using it much this winter I wouldn't be happy riding on salty roads without some sort of corrosion protection.

I know you've not been riding in salt but is there anything else that could cause that kind of corrosion to the cylinder head covers? Washing detergent maybe?

FP.:thumb
 
Last edited:
In answer to some of the questions.

I have not, and will not lose my cool or slag off BM if I get a satisfactory result! My delaer (Lind - Norwich) have always been brilliant over the last 4 years of me dealing with them so I have faith that they will push my case. Unfortunately it would appear that this corrosion is not uncommon so I put the post up to see if others had any similar experience. My GS suffered from the usual timing cover corrosion plus some on the cylinder fins but it was an '04 plate having done over 50K miles!

I usually prep the bikes in November with a thorough clean and then an application of ACF50 (with atomiser spray not spray can) but didn't do this with the RT, in fact I've only been out on it once in December! It will however be done this weekend.

My cleaning methods are fairly basic; for a non ACF50'd bike I soak with cold, clean water, thoroughly wash with a bike specific, non salt solution, rinse off with cold clean water then dry with airline and leather. this usually takes me about 90 minutes. For a bike that has ACF50 I leave out the washing with bike cleaning solution and just hose off the bad crud then dry with airline.

I should add that the bikes are garaged.

I'm just a bit miffed that a relatively new bike that hasn't really seen a winter should exhibit signs of corrosion so early in its life!
 
Beemerman59 said:
The tops of the headers etc look rusty to for just the nine months of age. My GSA doesn't look like this after 3 winter riding years. Could the bike have been exposed to salt and not treated whilst it was a demonstrator?
Click to expand...

Not rust, just dirt that I hadn't cleaned off at the time of taking the photos. Now all nice and bright and shiny!
 
Result! BMW Lind - Norwich have just rung to say that the covers will be replaced under warranty.

I'm, once again, a happy RT bunny.
 
I would have queried as to why they had to send photos to BMW. This is a common problem - I had both covers on my GS replaced just before the end of the 2 year warranty. They weren't as bad as yours and the dealer took just one quick look before telling me they would be replaced under warranty.
 
davedyer said:
I would have queried as to why they had to send photos to BMW. This is a common problem - I had both covers on my GS replaced just before the end of the 2 year warranty. They weren't as bad as yours and the dealer took just one quick look before telling me they would be replaced under warranty.
Click to expand...

Sometimes manufacturers insist on photographic evidence before processing a claim :type
 
Had one cylinder head cover replaced underwarranty, now need the front engine coveras well, Clarks at Birmingham also have to take photo and send off:blast, but they do get replaced:thumb2
 
A quick Q

No quite off topic, anyone know what BM do with their returned salty engine covers, do they refurbish they or bin them?
 
Normally warranty returns are sent back to the supplier so I suppose it depends on if they're cast/machined in house?
 
davedyer said:
I would have queried as to why they had to send photos to BMW. This is a common problem - I had both covers on my GS replaced just before the end of the 2 year warranty. They weren't as bad as yours and the dealer took just one quick look before telling me they would be replaced under warranty.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, the claim needs to be logged at BM HQ with photos so that a claim number can be assigned to it and then the parts assigned to that!
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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