FIXED (Odd re-boots & full power outage while riding)

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Since almost a year I have those strange rebooting of the computer when I turn on the contact key...
Failure pattern remain so far unexplained.... it present itself so randomly and under so many variable versions that I can only describe the essential of it.

When I key on often it take 2, 3 or 5 seconds to boot the dashboard then all works fine...but other times it takes 3 seconds to turn on then the big "N" standing for Neutral disappear then reappear one or two seconds later while I can hear a clicking sound or two under my gas tank.

Sometimes the whole dashboard disappear for 2 seconds including speedometers light's and stuff then it reboot by itself again with those clicking sound under the gas tank.

I can't even describe it well because there might have 5 or 6 different version of how weird it is acting.

It always occur parked when keying on.
Only one time I lost complete power while riding at around 70mph but by the time I parked on road side it was already rebooted. power came back and was able to restart the engine.

There is 4 constant:
1) Booting delay of the dashboard after key on.
2) Partial or complete rebooting of the dashboard LCD's or/and LED's once it booted the first time
3) Clicking sound under the gas tank. (Electrical relay sound alike)
4) After all this weird electrical circus which take sometimes 10 to 15 seconds I am always able to start fine and ride without problems... GO FIGURE! ???

FYI: Auxiliary lights & other light stuff are wired behind a Centech fuse boxe, with relay & an adapter tapping start signal from the parking light...

My mechanic don't get it yet but he is investigating...
Any idea of what it could be?
Did you see that on your bike before?

Thanks for reading this!
Cheers!

PS: Hi Folks!
Good to be back! lost my password for almost 3 yrs...
My R1200R 2008 which I call the "fastest pick-up truck in Los Angeles"
is now 74 000 Miles and never had any major failures so far

[Bob Ain't Stoppin']

You have a poor ground connection someplace. Starting with the battery, clean all ground connections. Take them apart, clean, and reassemble. You might find one that has paint under the screw. I'd be pulling the gas tank pretty early in this process.

Good luck.

[Las]

You have a poor ground connection someplace. Starting with the battery, clean all ground connections. Take them apart, clean, and reassemble. You might find one that has paint under the screw. I'd be pulling the gas tank pretty early in this process.

Good luck.

That was my initial thought; but, if it happens only when the bike has just been started and hasn't yet started to move ( except for once), why doesn't it happen when he rides?

[Bob Ain't Stoppin']

That was my initial thought; but, if it happens only when the bike has just been started and hasn't yet started to move ( except for once), why doesn't it happen when he rides?

Well, he said it did happen once when riding. Starting a current flow is harder than maintaining one. For example you have to work at striking the ark when welding, but once started it is easy to maintain. So this is likely a poor ground that when wiggled will make contact. Look for corrosion or paint in the connection. They can be very difficult to find.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Thanks guys for the tips'n clues!
This is a mystery situation...

My mechanic don't get it either, he is going to remove the tank again next week and look at it for an hour or two.

Battery is around two years old, passed fine several time the low battery test... and I use my battery tender systematically when parked in my studio. I use my R (Peacebull3000 is her name) about 45 times more than my shoes... calculated an exact average of 50 miles per day since the day I own it. (Which has accelerated my life all year 24/7 by a little more than 2 Miles per hour since the 8th of February 2009)

If we can't find any logical cause to this weirdness my independent mechanic recommend me to stop by a dealer and ask them to run a deep computer test with their freshly updated BMW software and see if this procedure can extract some useful clues. (My meca has just the 911 and he said it is not doing as much than the proprietary BMW software)

Anyway, you right Las! it happened only once while riding... it was 3 am... a cold-ish winter-ish California night in Los Angeles and the bike was already running for 15 mns. I saw a long open safe stretch free of those annoying cops we see everywhere here... so of course! I throttled-up!...and BAM! around 65mph maybe... I lost all power then even if the 4 lane road was empty I instinctively free-wheeled to the right lane but power came back as I was still free-wheeling. I stopped then restarted fine.

let's brainstorm on that!
ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT IT WILL BE APPRECIATED!

Also...Bob? what connections would you look at in first place?
Your reference about welding is interesting because I noticed that the weird reboots mostly often happen in the morning when I start the bike after a night rest on the battery tender. then if I key-on again a few time this is likely not to happen as much... then during the day in between riding sessions it will likely happen right after I parked... less likely but it will happen.

[deilenberger]

Hi Frederick!

I'd love to see a voltmeter connected to something like the parking light in the headlight assembly when you go to start/power-up the bike. If there is a bad ground causing the issue - chances are the voltage may dip down below about 9V - and at low enough voltages the electronics on the bike shuts itself down to protect against thermal damage caused by low voltage (which can then equate to high-current, causing heating.)

The clicking you hear must be the starter relay. That's the only relay on the bike (unless you have a FuzeBlock installed that has it's own relay.) I haven't seen any hexhead wiring diagrams - but it's possible the starter relay also works as a load-shed relay (turning "unneeded" devices off when the starter is activated.) That could account for the clicking - maybe.

HTH, and best regards!

[thepeacebullgrunt]

@deilenberger Yes Don I have a Centech fuse box with a relay that came with the fuse box or the canbus adapter... I don't remember precisely. But I agree it look like a protective system is activated.

My mechanic removed the gas tank and moved everything in there but didn't anything... he then also cleaned the battery connectors. but the weird reboots still happen once in a while... maybe a bit less I could not tell... 3 days I didn't have any reboot but once I had to wait at least 8 seconds to see my dashboard firing up.

I am now waiting for a leaking seal fixing on my set of Hyperpro shocks so when they will be back I'll brief my mechanic on your 9V test among other things to perform on the bike...

I just have to brief him in a diplomatic way because if he just hear the word "FORUM" the day is over...
yeah! that's how the man is but he's still nice.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

For those who experience this problem I finally was able to isolate the cause of the issue with certainty.

It started with slow startup of the bike & specifically the dashboard who also was re-booting a few times before the bike was finally able to start. Recently the problem was getting unbearable as bike full electrical was dying on me at 90 mph on the freeway... or at best two or three time a day a low speed while stopping at a red light.

It wasn't a faulty loose ground as often suspected on our forum.
The main block of the ignition switch was the issue.

If I remember well the colors there is a red and green cable connected to the ignition switch and to verify the issue prior to order a new switch we decided to tap on this cables to run a switch up to the handlebar bypassing the ignition switch in the process.

It made the procedure to start the bike on & off a tad funky but clearly fixed the issue as bike electrical & dashboard now start in a snap... also never die as a sudden ever on freeway at fancy speeds.


I am sharing the update today
Happy Super Bowl to all!

[MTBeemer]

I recently replaced the ignition on my 08 R. My symptoms were a delay in anything happening after I'd turn the key. The delay would be as long as 10 seconds at times. It was an easy job, made easier because the mechanic who did the EWS antenna replacement did use the one time use screws that are called for when he reassembled the bike. If those are installed you will need to dril them out.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Yes same symptoms for at least two years until it completely died while riding.... had to exactly identify the issue.
But now I like the trick my mechanic did with the fancy bypass switch on my handlebar so I think I am going to wait and fix few other things first like a dead heated grip on the right.

For now it feel good to see my bike electrical starting up instantly without a single glitch...

Yes I think I understood that about the screws based on some picture my mechanic sent me the other day.

I do have an 08 too... riding everyday.
100 000 miles in few weeks and still the same gear box, same shaft with no signs of wear & never had any major mechanic issues. Bike is a little tired that's all...

I just love my R.