BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

OK, so, I've been a long time lurker while I've been researching and looking for an R12R to buy. I saved my money and found a great bike in MN. I made arrangements with the seller--a very nice guy who's kept the bike very well maintained--to buy the bike. He met me at the airport tonight.

As he was getting off the bike at the airport (his friend following in a car to take him back home since I planned on riding back to UT), he said he wasn't doing well. He said he was coming around the corner about 1 mile from the airport--about 35mph--when the bike lost power. The driver behind thought he smelled a sulfur smell.

Here are the mechanical symptoms: once the bike gets to ~4k RPMs, the bike starts to sound like a muffled jackhammer and you can have the throttle pinned and there's very little power. I can't get the bike above 70mph and even at that it struggles. At idle, it sounds like something is misfiring or out of sync. We thought it might be bad gas so we put good stuff in there (about 2g) and still nothing.

The bad news is: I'm stuck in MN behind schedule. And it's my new bike!!

The good news is: I got a fleabag motel room 1/2 mile from the nearest BMW dealer and they're open on Mondays (not the case in UT).

But in the meantime, does anyone have any thoughts?

Oh, and here's a video of the bike--you can't see much, but you'll be able to hear the engine misstep or whatever the F it is.

http://gallery.me.com/davismfg/100312/IMG%5F1414

Thanks.

Steven

Check all of the harness connections around the engine. One of mine came loose and caused a similar problem.

If the PO was trying to be a nice guy and overfilled it with fuel prior to delivery to you it could be a charcoal cylinder issue


Ammmma nd I gotta ask - you bought it anyway even tho it was acting so badly

boxermoose wrote:
Ammmma nd I gotta ask - you bought it anyway even tho it was acting so badly

I can see why you or anyone would ask the question. The seller lives 70 miles away from the airport and I know he wouldn't have been able to ride it (or would have even if he could) the 70 miles if there was a problem like that. It happened as he was exiting to the airport.

Anyway, the good news right now is the bike is at the dealer and they'll hook it to the computer shortly and find out WTF is wrong with it.

The seller is a stand-up guy and has all the service records and has really kept it meticulous. Although the transaction is completed, we both agreed to "undo" it if the bike has a serious problem. He'll come down, get the bike at the dealer, we'll exchange money and title again and I'll hop a jumbo back to Utah. But I don't want to do that. Better to hope for the best and expect the worst.

I will hold of congrats on the new bike until its fixed, but hopefully its something simple, keep us updated

nylife wrote:I will hold of congrats on the new bike until its fixed, but hopefully its something simple, keep us updated

The "computer" says its a bad ignition coil. Don't have the part but said if I paid the ~$20 overnight charge, they'd take the part from another bike and put it in mine today. Device manager just said the job was done and they're connecting to the computer to verify it's fixed. Cross your fingers.

The bike is still jumblies up. They don't know what's wrong with it. Started as an ignition coil and now... Faulty wiring harness? Anyway, seller took me back to the airport. I gave him his title and he gave me back my check. We both hope to reconcile later...maybe do the deal if everything gets sorted. My plane doesn't leave until 7:30 local time...3 1/2 hours. Still praying for a last second hail mary.

Sorry it did not work out, but hopefully you can reconcile later.

Sounds to me like the seller is a stand up guy. I hope you two get to work things through and complete the deal. An electrical fault is in no way the fault of the seller. Should be repairable. Too bad you can't wait an extra day for the dealer to sort this out. Best of luck to you.

Bob Ain't Stoppin' wrote:Sounds to me like the seller is a stand up guy. I hope you two get to work things through and complete the deal. An electrical fault is in no way the fault of the seller. Should be repairable. Too bad you can't wait an extra day for the dealer to sort this out. Best of luck to you.

Seller said he talked to the shop when I was at the airport. Dealer thinks the ECU is bad but needs BMW auth to replace it. It's not a part they carry (can you imagine?) so it might be days until it's sorted out...at the soonest. I have business (and kids) back in UT that need attention. Seller offered to ship the bike when it's sorted. I'd still do a fly n ride if I have time (trip planned w my lady friend to NYC late next week) then we're into October.

But man, it's a sweet bike. I couldn't believe how clean it was.

Seller IS a stand up guy. Not to mention Bob (local MN 1150 member) who saw my post and came to visit me.

I almost think this is cosmic...like maybe I'd die on the way home. Who knows.






To be continued...

Can we assume the dealer replaced the plug that the bad coil was firing?

That said - with the dual plug setup - failure of one coil actually doesn't effect things a whole bunch. Not to the extent you described... meaning it is possible the ECU or wiring harness has a problem. If this had been in NJ - I have a spare set of coils...

I just bought my 2nd R12, an alpine white 09. it had a similar issue and it turned out to be a cracked plug...good luck with your new toy.

I can't believe this is my first and probably only post to the discussion forums. I am the seller in this story and I just found out what was wrong with the bike. Nothing, besides the owner. I have mice in my garage so after I ride, I would put an exhaust plug in after the bike cooled down and a sock in the air intake then cover the bike. Well, when I went to go meet Steven at the airport, I forgot to take the sock out. It took 70 miles before it plugged up the air box enough to make the bike start running funny.

Any way, I obviously feel horrible and am embarrassed of course. For the record I offered to sell the bike to Steven for $1000 off the previously agreed asking price to cover his initial expenses and some of the future costs if he has the time and wants to try again.

My question is this though, did I do any damage to the bike? The dealer said I did not except for the air cleaner which they replaced. Feel free to roast me, I deserve it.

if the bike was not ridden too much i doubt there is any damage

minn19 wrote:I can't believe this is my first and probably only post to the discussion forums. I am the seller in this story and I just found out what was wrong with the bike. Nothing, besides the owner. I have mice in my garage so after I ride, I would put an exhaust plug in after the bike cooled down and a sock in the air intake then cover the bike. Well, when I went to go meet Steven at the airport, I forgot to take the sock out. It took 70 miles before it plugged up the air box enough to make the bike start running funny.

Any way, I obviously feel horrible and am embarrassed of course. For the record I offered to sell the bike to Steven for $1000 off the previously agreed asking price to cover his initial expenses and some of the future costs if he has the time and wants to try again.

My question is this though, did I do any damage to the bike? The dealer said I did not except for the air cleaner which they replaced. Feel free to roast me, I deserve it.

Puts a whole new spin on the term "Put a sock in it!" Hope it works out.

You sound like a real stand up guy - takes a lot to own up to something like that and your offer seems more then fair

I would doubt there is any damage to the bike

minn19, that you're a lifetime site member with only a single post speaks volumes. Some of the people here have hundreds of posts but haven't given a cent to the collective.

Yours was an honest mistake, and you seem like an honest dude.

minn19 wrote: My question is this though, did I do any damage to the bike? The dealer said I did not except for the air cleaner which they replaced. Feel free to roast me, I deserve it.

There should be no damage to anything other than your pride !. The sock was acting like a choke plate mostly closed up, and since the filter intercepted the sock, nothing got into the engine that would cause damage. The rough running was caused by air starvation and the ECU trying to figure out the correct fuel/air mixture. It probably was running a very lean mixture due to the restricted airflow, thus the rough running.


BMW probably never thought of something restricting the intake like that, and the diagnostic software did a SWAG as to cause and thought the ECU was crazy! Note to BMW: Add a fault for a sock stuffed into the air intake restricting airflow

Now everybody knows why aircraft have the large red "Remove Before Flight" flags on anything covering engine intakes or other critical things.

Sounds like the story of how a local club member got the name "Corky"..

He was trying a first-time DIY tuneup on his R100GS - and when he got done he couldn't start the bike at all. Didn't even sputter. So he called me, and I rode over to his house.

I started doublechecking the work he'd done - which was good because he had forgotten to retorque the head bolts on one side of the engine (he believed BMWs story about retorqing them before adjusting).. I noticed it because there was air being pushed out around the head gasket (this should have been a BIG clue..) I fixed that, still - not a sputter.

So - I posited that an engine needs 3 things to run:

1. A source of fuel. Checked that - the plugs were getting wet, so we had fuel.
2. A source of oxygen. Checked the air filter, nothing funny there.
3. Something to ignite 1 & 2. Checked the spark - plugs were firing very very nicely.

Still woudn't run. Finally I asked him if he had any starting ether - and he did. I sprayed some into the intake of each carb and hit the start button.

Crank, crank, crank, POW!

Ended up I was wrong. I was missing one item in my things an engine needs to run:

4. Someplace for the results of 1, 2 & 3 to go.

He had washed the bike before starting his DIY, and he hated seeing water get into the semi-upturned exhaust pipe on the GS.. so he stuck a big cork in it.

The POW! was the cork flying out of the pipe, and across 2 neighbors backyards.

From that day on his club name was Corky. Saw him a month or so ago (he moved to Denver area), and we still had a good laugh over it.

Happens to the best of us.. no harm, no foul, keep on riding!

minn19 wrote:I can't believe this is my first and probably only post to the discussion forums. I am the seller in this story and I just found out what was wrong with the bike. Nothing, besides the owner. I have mice in my garage so after I ride, I would put an exhaust plug in after the bike cooled down and a sock in the air intake then cover the bike. Well, when I went to go meet Steven at the airport, I forgot to take the sock out. It took 70 miles before it plugged up the air box enough to make the bike start running funny.

Any way, I obviously feel horrible and am embarrassed of course. For the record I offered to sell the bike to Steven for $1000 off the previously agreed asking price to cover his initial expenses and some of the future costs if he has the time and wants to try again.

My question is this though, did I do any damage to the bike? The dealer said I did not except for the air cleaner which they replaced. Feel free to roast me, I deserve it.

Did you still have to pay for the ignition coil even though it wasn't the problem?