'98 K12RS will idle then dies

[cruisin]

Good morning all,

A K--RS owner tracked me down through a friend from our local club and asked some questions about K bikes that I do not have answers for. His bike is a 1998 K1200RS with 17K on the clock. He just got it in April and is his first BMW. I would like to be able to help him with some advice to make the BMW experience a good one.

Here are the symptoms of his problem:

bike was sputtering and bucking on hiway then died when he managed to get it off to the shoulder.

it now will start and idle at about 800rpm but if he throttles up, it dies at around 1100rpm. it also will only idle at 800 for about 10 to 15 seconds then dies.

he has drained the tank down to about 1 gallon and added carb/fuel injector cleaner and let sit over night, but still has same symptoms.

I just visited with this person this morning on the phone for about 15 minutes, but have not yet actually met him nor seen the bike. He is currently at work and I told him I would get online and try to find some suggestions/answers today. My line of thinking is fuel filter problems, possibly from sludge that could have accumulated in a bike that is 10 years old with only 17K on the odometer. Now that it is being ridden the sludge has been stirred up and has clogged the filter. :scratch

thanks

[Roc-Roc]

Yes it does sound like the fuel problem. I would change the fuel filter 1st, and see if that will correct the problem.



Roc

Makin it Fun!

[cruisin]

OK, next question.

We are pretty isolated from the world here in the Texas Panhandle (the BMW world anyway). Is there an acceptable automotive substitute for the fuel filter? I have the A & S parts fisch open and it doesn't look like it will be all that difficult. Also, if we pull the bottom plate to get to the filter, will we need to replace an O-ring or gasket there? Or can the old be reused?

thanks again.

[GregFeeler]

I'll second the fuel filter suggestion. BMW fuel injection fuel filters are designed to block all water and I've seen them plug up and create symptoms like these after just one tank of bad gas.

I don't know of a replacement or alternative filter. Could be - but I've not heard of anything. Likely you can use the o-ring again if needed, but if you have to order the filter anyway... After all, if it leaks you have fuel going places you really don't want it.

Let us know how this goes.

[cruisin]

OH, absolutely on the O-ring replacement. Looking at the drawing on the A & S site though, it appears to be a gasket rather than an O-ring. Do you have first hand knowledge one way or the other? We have a few industrial gasket dealers here that can match any size and material of gaskets and O-rings. If we can acquire a suitable filter locally, that should allow us to get the bike back in service without having to wait on a parts order.

[cjack]

It's a gasket. 16 11 2 347 604. You can probably reuse the old one, at least when the bikes were new, they weren't routinely replaced.
You might just get a fuel filter at Autozone or somewhere that is about the same size and tubing ends and try it. Take it with you to the store. It's just a fuel filter. Be careful of the green sock on the end of the pickup...that is a water separator and it is something like $25 or so if you tear it. You shouldn't have to remove it if just changing the filter. You also may need two 13mm fuel injection hose clamps if the original clamps are the crimp kind...get the kind with the solid metal all around the hose instead of the ones where the hose smashes through the clamp holes.

[cruisin]

alrighty then! I just spoke with the owner again and ran all previous ideas by him. He is a service advisor at a Honda car dealership in Amarillo and he says this all makes good sense to him, but he wanted some advice from folks with more motorcycle knowledge. He will make a trip to Autozone or O'Reilly's when he can get away from work. I will advise him to take the current filter out and on taking care with the filter "sock" and go from there.

thanks again