Fuel Pump recall

[BMRUP]

My R1200GS would not start today. On Monday it started and just blubbered to a stop at the end of my drive way. I thought maybe I had hit the kill switch. Nope, not the problem. Fuming I started to PUSH back to the barn. Then I thought maybe I had not retracted the kick stand and that had shut things down. I made sure it was up and hit the starter. Broom.. and away I went to work. Today the starter had no effect other than its own function for
several moments, then it caught and tried to run only assisted with the starter motor. If I took my thumb off the starter or tried to open the throttle it stopped firing. It seemed like the fuel pump wasn't working and it was starving for go juice.
I called BMRGR where I bought the @#&*?" and explained the problem. Bill the service guy informed me there was a recall involving the fuel pump. He said there was a blue gasket that was failing to keep water out of the chamber under the pump where it could short circut the plug and stop the pump from functioning.
I acessed the fuel pump, took the two screws out that hold the part to the gas tank, gently pulled and it came out and there in the bottem of the cavity
I could see drops of water. I dried it all out and put it all back togeather again. Turned the key and it fired right up. Bill is out of the part till Tuesday that replaces the culprit blue "O" ring gasket. So I have to keep it dry till I can get to the dealer for the required service. It just really #!@@&* me off
that a $17,000.00 machine can be stopped by a part that probably costs a dollar. I had a 2001 R1150GS that developed fuel pump problems at 13,000 miles when a stickit sanding disc left in the gas tank , from the factory gummed it all up. What kind of engineering/manufacturing is this? :banghead

[lorazepam]

What the heck is a sanding disk doing INSIDE the tank? that sounds like sabotage to me.
As far as the Oring goes, BMW specs them to be a certain quality, and expects the vendor to comply. If the vendor makes a mistake, you have the problem.
Having worked with engineering and production with a small company for 5 years, I can say that you have to have trust in your supplier and things like this can happen.

[kenk]

What kind of engineering/manufacturing is this? :banghead

This reminds me of the $10 part that ends the race of a multi-million dollar race car. It happens all the time and is one of those things that happens on all new bikes. At least BMW has acknowledged the problem and is fixing it on a recall. That's quite an improvement compared to how they have handled the surging issue. Consider yourself lucky. You weren't in the middle of nowhere with BMW denying the problem.

[bdiver]

BMRUP - I saw your post on my shift linkage. Talking with a few of my friends about their "adventure touring" type bikes like what you are riding, they have switched over to some Suzuki SV's. One has a 1000 and the other a 650 which are very reliable, easy to get parts, good range, lightweight, tons of power, 1/3rd the price, etc.

It is quite frustrating that such an expensive machine $17K+ would have such problems. As an former engineer myself, I would have random inspections of critical vendor parts like the blue gasket to make sure they live up to the specs provided by BMW. We all run our business's different, to bad those are slipping through the cracks.

I'll probably give my RT a year and if it decides to nickel and dime me to death and leave me by the road again (3rd time in a yr), I'll probably switch back to a Honda or a FJR. In 20+ yrs my Honda has broke down once and I would hop on it tomorrow and ride it across the country no questions asked. I'm a certified aircraft mechanic and do more than the usual maintenance but I also feel I should be able to hop on an ride any ironbutt ride, anytime, anyplace and have a few documented rides and many undocumented ones under my belt.

Best of luck with your machine and I hope that "new gasket" fixes the problem - for years!

Brian in Everett, WA

[bmwmick]

I could see drops of water. I dried it all out and put it all back togeather again. Turned the key and it fired right up. Bill is out of the part till Tuesday that replaces the culprit blue "O" ring gasket. So I have to keep it dry till I can get to the dealer for the required service. It just really #!@@&* me off
that a $17,000.00 machine can be stopped by a part that probably costs a dollar. I had a 2001 R1150GS that developed fuel pump problems at 13,000 miles when a stickit sanding disc left in the gas tank , from the factory gummed it all up. What kind of engineering/manufacturing is this?


BMRUP,
Stay tuned, there is an NHTSA recall coming out soon. :thumb Blue is bad, Black is good and Tourquoise is best. :dunno

mick