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Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 9:40 pm
by qfman
This morning my 4 year-old R12R failed to warm the right grip. When I flicked it on and off the left grip also failed.
Anyone come across this? Given the complexities of CANBUS I wouldn't know where to start tracing a fault.
Bike is bog stock standard - no electronic accessories like ABS ASC and never been tinkered with.
Any help appreciated.
Tom
Re: Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:03 pm
by dbrick
Because both grips failed, I'd guess that the fault is most likely to be in an electrical connection common to both grips. I would see about cleaning the guts of the switch, as well as the electrical connections between the switch and the bike's wiring harness, and the connections between each grip and the harness. While you have the grips disconnected, you could test each grip's circuit to make sure the grip's heating wire hasn't developed an open. The other end of the wires from the switch and from the grips are in the big electrical plug(s) to the ZFE; unplug and replug a couple of times to make sure the connectors are making a good connection.
Re: Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:06 pm
by deilenberger
Dunno for sure, but it might be something the GS-911 could give you a clue on. It sounds as if a short has caused the ZFE to turn the circuit off. It will automatically reset the circuit next time you start the bike, but if it's still shorted, it will also turn it off again. The GS-911 should show a stored fault code telling you what the issue is.
Once you do determine it's a short, troubleshooting isn't really any different from a non-CanBus bike. You look for where the short is and fix it. An Ohmmeter would probably be quite useful in doing this, and you will probably have to remove the tank to get to the connectors for the heated grips (and perhaps for the connector to the ZFE.) Given the commonality of the failure - I'd be looking for where the left and right grip wires run together.
Unfortunately - I have been unable to find a wiring diagram for the R12R - which would obviously make this a much easier thing to troubleshoot.
Perhaps someone knows where there is one?
Re: Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:27 pm
by qfman
Ok so I'll see if there's anything crudding up the switch (unsurprising given my poor washing habits) and if that doesn't fix it I'll let the service guys plug it in for an error code.
I live in Sydney - don't need the grips enough to spend hours/$$$ on a fix.
Thanks for the notes guys.
Tom
Re: Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 12:55 am
by Snapping Twig
Google bmw heated grip repair and you'll find a link to a guy that did it and wrote it up.
Apparently there's a connection to the heating element in the grips that gets a cold short and resoldering it makes them work again.
Good luck.
Re: Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 1:39 pm
by hjsbmw
Snapping Twig wrote:Google bmw heated grip repair and you'll find a link ...
If you have the link, why not post it? I Googled "bmw heated grip repair" just for interest sake, and the first hit is to a writeup with respect to snapped wires from a tip over and resulting grip damage. It doesn't sound like that's what happened to the op.
Re: Heated Handgrips failure
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 2:11 pm
by Snapping Twig
hjsbmw wrote:Snapping Twig wrote:Google bmw heated grip repair and you'll find a link ...
If you have the link, why not post it? I Googled "bmw heated grip repair" just for interest sake, and the first hit is to a writeup with respect to snapped wires from a tip over and resulting grip damage. It doesn't sound like that's what happened to the op.
Mostly because I found the link when I was looking for something else and didn't save it.
It's out there, you can find it if you look.