Newbie question

reload · Post by **reload** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:05 am

I recently traded up to a 2004 Rockster with 2000 miles on it.I have been riding harleys and the reason I went with the bmw was the reliability factor.On another forum I visit they are bashing bmw because of the problem with rear drive failures.My question is,how much of a problem is it and what can I do to prevent it. I don't have a warranty.

Post by **dwayne** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:44 am

reload wrote:I recently traded up to a 2004 Rockster with 2000 miles on it.I have been riding harleys and the reason I went with the bmw was the reliability factor.On another forum I visit they are bashing bmw because of the problem with rear drive failures.My question is,how much of a problem is it and what can I do to prevent it. I don't have a warranty.

Not really answering your questoin, but... http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=7980

Post by **DSKYZD** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:15 am

If this board is any indication, there are more satisfied owners than unsatisfied owners.

The unsatisfied ones just seem to bark the loudest.

DSKYZD

geothepencil · Post by **geothepencil** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:38 am

Change the rear drive oil every engine oil change. You may very well have the pinion seal leak somewhere along the way, but it's not a huge deal to repair. R1150R bikes are not as prone to having the big bearing in the final drive fail as some other models so that's good news. And don't use synthetic in the rear drive if you want to minimize seepage and perhaps a leak potential. Good luck !

geo

Post by **dwayne** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:46 pm

DSKYZD wrote:If this board is any indication, there are more satisfied owners than unsatisfied owners.

The unsatisfied ones just seem to bark the loudest.

DSKYZD

The forum would not exist if there were more people complaining. The problem is that people come to a forum to get insite into what to expect from a product, in this case Beemers, only to be filled with information seen through rose coloured glasses. If someone had made a statement as I did on this forum about what to expect with this bike, I probably would not have bought it, or if I did, at least prepared for what was POSSIBLY to come.

I only seem loud becuase I see this differenly then you.

johno · Post by **johno** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:33 pm

I used to own a Harley, now on my 4th Beemer.

Enough said!!

Post by **DSKYZD** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:25 pm

It is beyond me how anyone can read this forum for any length of time and not KNOW that these engines use oil. Any problems people have had with this bike are well discussed, no secrets.

You have your own thread going about your displeasure with this bike. No problem there. What I'm uneasy with is your post in this thread. Here is a new user of this board who asks a question and gets pointed toward your very negative thread. Your thread is as legit as any, but your post here makes it look to me like you are going on a campaign against BMW.

I'll probably quit reading this board if every thread I open has a post about how bad BMW's are. It's just not the vibe I come here for.

I would like to apologize to you if my post here offended you. By your reply, I see that it did, and I am sorry. My goal wasn't to bring you down, only to try to bring some balance to the thread.

And think about this, my glasses are only rose-colored if you are looking through them.

DSKYZD

Post by **dwayne** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:30 pm

DSKYZD wrote:It is beyond me how anyone can read this forum for any length of time and not KNOW that these engines use oil. Any problems people have had with this bike are well discussed, no secrets.

You have your own thread going about your displeasure with this bike. No problem there. What I'm uneasy with is your post in this thread. Here is a new user of this board who asks a question and gets pointed toward your very negative thread. Your thread is as legit as any, but your post here makes it look to me like you are going on a campaign against BMW.

I'll probably quit reading this board if every thread I open has a post about how bad BMW's are. It's just not the vibe I come here for.

I would like to apologize to you if my post here offended you. By your reply, I see that it did, and I am sorry. My goal wasn't to bring you down, only to try to bring some balance to the thread.

And think about this, my glasses are only rose-colored if you are looking through them.

DSKYZD

Not so much offended as just wanted to give balance, as you said. I know I read that these motors burned oil, but not at this rate. Honestly, that is a lot. To new members the best I can do for them is give them the truth. These are great bikes, despite my misgivings but you know that on a brand centric site there is going to be a lot of highlighting the pluses and really low balling the problems, true of any forum. I only try to bring a little of the other equation. A person may still buy the bike, but more informed. IMHO. I wonder if this has anything to do with me being sick, and working 12 hour days?

Post by **challey** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:20 pm

Getting back to the question that reload asked -
I think you may be referring to the FD bearing failure. It appears from what I read on this and other BMW boards that the FD bearing failures are higher than expected but not exactly at epidemic proportions.

The advice that geothepencil posted is the same as was discussed at the BMW rally this year by John Glaves. The reason that the FD lube along with the crankcase oil change is recommended is so that you can see if there are metal particles, which would be a precursor to FD bearing failure. Conventional gear lube was recommended because it supposedly "sticks" better when cold and so may help prevent metal-to-metal contact that would cause bearing wear and eventually failure.

Bottom line is that premature FD bearing failures are real but not so common that you should loose sleep over them.

peterbulgar · Post by **peterbulgar** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:41 pm

reload,
I've been on this and another oilhead forum for over two years. Rear drive failures are infrequent, but they do happen occasionally. IMHO they should never happen. I see from previous replies to this topic that now we are supposed to change the rear drive oil every 6k miles and not use synthetic oil. Seems to me that if this kind of attention to the rear drive is necessary, then there is something wrong with the design.

If you continue reading this forum you will come across references to clutch spline failures. These too are infrequent but expensive and disabling when they happen.

In spite of the attention that such driveline failures get on this forum, they occur in only a small percentage of late model BMWs. I think that they should occur about as often as they do in a Ford F-150, that is to say never. (For sure someone will post that the differential on his F-150 blew up at 5k miles.)

Chances are that your oilhead will soldier on for many miles with no problems whatsoever and you will enjoy its flexible power and responsive handling for a long time. BMWs are still very reliable, but perhaps not as reliable as they used to be or should be.
Peter '73 R75/5, '04 R1150RA

Post by **TonyT607** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:07 pm

Just go and ride the snot out of it.

You'll feel better. I guaranteeeeee it.

Now, somebody please start a kill switch thread.

MIXR · Post by **MIXR** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:11 pm

80,000 kilometers, book servicings every 10,000, not a problem. You always hear about the occasional failure. You never hear about the many thousand's of ones that don't fail. I wouldn't be losing any sleep over this. If it's going to happen to your bike, it's probably a manufacturing defect or parts defect or owner abuse, and there isn't much you can do about that. If you think there is a problem, get it checked out so that you can catch it BEFORE it does major damage. Enjoy the bike.

slipknot · Post by **slipknot** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:59 pm

BMW stands for Bitch Moan and Whine. There is nothing wrong with your rear end. BMW riders look for problems like Harley riders look for t-shirts. Ride the bike and don't get caught up in the paranoia.

dragonmojo · Post by **dragonmojo** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:58 pm

My Maytag broke.

geothepencil · Post by **geothepencil** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:53 pm

challey wrote:Getting back to the question that reload asked -
I think you may be referring to the FD bearing failure. It appears from what I read on this and other BMW boards that the FD bearing failures are higher than expected but not exactly at epidemic proportions.

The advice that geothepencil posted is the same as was discussed at the BMW rally this year by John Glaves. The reason that the FD lube along with the crankcase oil change is recommended is so that you can see if there are metal particles, which would be a precursor to FD bearing failure. Conventional gear lube was recommended because it supposedly "sticks" better when cold and so may help prevent metal-to-metal contact that would cause bearing wear and eventually failure.

Bottom line is that premature FD bearing failures are real but not so common that you should loose sleep over them.

Yes, I was there and heard the same thing from Mr Glaves. He also mentioned that the French mfg bearing in use may be of a lesser quality than the German one also in service. I thought that there was a lot of guessing going on there but for the small amount of oil that it takes to change it, I thought the advice was easy enough to follow and had a lot of feel good value.

As you mention, inspecting the FD oil for metal will likely minimize any repairs should they be needed.

An unknown to me is the new BMW synthetic which is red in color. My dealer filled my wifes KRS FD with it after a pinion seal replacement recently and I think I will leave it in as it is the oil used in the new series FDs. We'll see if leaks occur. For the rest of the bikes, I'm using standard BMW gear oil and considering using some of that Dow additive for conventional oil only that I believe Mr Glaves also referred to.

The Glaves family appears to ride a standard R1150R and an R1100S so his advice is close to home.

geo

geothepencil · Post by **geothepencil** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:02 am

slipknot wrote:BMW stands for Bitch Moan and Whine. There is nothing wrong with your rear end. BMW riders look for problems like Harley riders look for t-shirts. Ride the bike and don't get caught up in the paranoia.

Oh, I don't think we're paranoid but a lot of us have seen one or two on fire which were surely not a result of any paranoid obsessions but rather failed parts. More power to you if you ride them until the wheels fall off: that happens once in a while too if you ignore tell tale signs like missing or loose wheel nuts.

I got a new Tower of Power T shirt last night at the St Louis concert. It's pretty cool.

geo

marecycling · Post by **marecycling** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:35 pm

I add oil to my 02 R1150, takes all of 2 minutes, when it needs it. If that is one of the biggest problems I am to encounter with my R, then I am a happy camper!

pjpockets · Post by **pjpockets** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:05 pm

One of the other floks had it correct. Bitch moan and wine. THESE THINGS ARE MACHINES and require attention to keep functioning. If doing so is to anoying then sell the damm thing! Stop being such a wining Liberal Dwane, and instead contribute something positive.

Post by **iowabeakster** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 12:20 pm

uuuuuh, politics in the "playhouse", remember?

but it's good to see people getting feisty! much more fun.

back to the question at hand.

change the oil, keep an eye on it, ride, ride, ride. unless you are in the tiny percentage of unlucky "lemon" owners, you will forget all about this "problem."

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