Here's my experience with a dead fuel pump controller. Bike is a 2005 R1200RT with 53K. Went out to start bike for the 27 mile commute to work. Hit the starter button, bike cranked as normal and made one cough and no start. Thought to myself that's odd. Hit the starter button again, bike cranked for about 3 seconds and then stopped cranking. Thought this must be the computer cutting out the starter. Hit the starter again and same thing, stopped cranking after about 3 seconds. Tried this again about 3 more times, still no start.
So I give up and move all my gear to the Harley and head off for work not really knowing what could be the problem. I thought maybe my 4 year old battery might not have enough voltage. I check the battery voltage and cranking voltage regularly and it had tested good up till then. So I put the battery on charge and let it sit for a day. Checked voltage standing and it was 12.7. Hit the starter button and again, cranked for 3 seconds and stopped. Checked cranking voltage and it was around 11 which is acceptable I believe. Tried starting 3 more times and still no start.
After seaching these forums I came across threads about bad fuel pump controllers. Lot of threads talked about corroison being the problem at the electrical connector. Pulled off the left fairing panel. Absoultely no corroison on mine, clean as can be. No standing water in the well where the controller sits.
So I pull out the controller and with an ohm meter checked it for conductivity. With the meter set at 200 I get a reading of 112. Thinking that's good I reconnect it and decided to try listening for the fuel pump when I turn on the key. Turn the key on and hear some clicks and whirling sounds like always, but could not hear the fuel pump. On one of the threads someone mentioned that BMW fuel pumps are pretty reliable and rarely fail. I may take some heat for this but, guessing the controller was bad I head to the dealer. Of course the computer said they had one in stock, which they didn't. Ordered it on Monday and it came in Friday. Part #16 14 7 720 777 cost was $177. Since there have been so many reports of these controllers failing I thought that at least it would be good insurance to have one on hand. And, it's only a 10 minute job at most.
Got the new controller back home and checked it with the ohm meter and got a reading of 115. I don't have a laptop or GS911 so I had no way of checking if a code for the controller had been set so I was just guessing and hoping this was the problem. Silicone grease on the connector and o-ring gasket put it back togehter. With my head right up to the fuel pump area I turn the key on listening for the fuel pump and all I hear are the usual whirls and clicks. Hit the starter button and it fires right up. What a relief. If this hadn't worked my only other alternative was to take the bike to the dealer.
Someone sells a jumper cable that will connect from the battery to the contoller but I'll just make my own now that I have a spare connector. Most of the threads I read about the fuel pump controller going bad seemed to happen around the 50K mark.
Hope this helps someone. These forums are a great source of information. I was lucky that it failed in my garage.
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Originally Posted by David13
