Update on burned wiring harness

[B52G]

A few weeks ago I posted that the harness melted on my 02 Roadster. Bike is being fixed on this coming Monday, the 7th. Approx.$2500. $1800 for harness and the rest is labor. Insurance adjuster called today and gave me the bad news. They will not pay. Dealer claimed the Motolights that were installed were to blame. Thanks buddy. I have received info that on early 02 Rs a wire tie near steering head was tightened to tightly causing chaffing and eventually wearing through the insulation and causing a lot of grief. I have been told that there is, was a service bulletin sent to dealers instructing them to remove said tie. The manufacture is under no obligation to release any info to anyone reguarding these bulletins unless it deals with a safety issue. Apparently BMW doesn't consider the possibility of a fire a safety issue .Still haven't been able to find which VINs were affectedby this bulletin. Going to dealer tomorrow in the AM to ask some questions. Should have the bike back next week. I have been bikeless for 7 weeks now and on Momday I will be even poorer for it. The bike has only 3000mi , the light were installed 2 months prior to meltdown and had worked great. Guess I'm screwed. Happy motoring. I'm still crying in my beer.

[toner87]

Ouch... Feelin' your pain...
T.

[DJ Downunder]

What a bugger!..but hey..it's a great bike..really great...so once you're out riding again the pain will go away..this is a lesson for us all.

DJ

[CycleRob]

B52G,
I don't get it. If you used a relay to the battrery, the MotoLites do not draw their power thru that part of the harness. The lites would not make any difference. Also, any problems with the lights would blow a fuse . . . NOT melt the wires and start a fire. Get someone able to examine your MotoLites wiring schematic -and- if it was wired properly with a relay to the battery, go over the dealer's head to BMW headquarters.

I saw the ridiculously tight wire harness the 1st week I owned my bike and it freaked me out. Charter members may remember I posted a topic about the unbelievable fact fact that the factory could make such an obvious mistake. I cut the 4 offending ZIPties ASAP and let that harness hang free in a larger radius bend.

[chris]

Sorry to hear it. As Cyclerob says though, those lights shouldn't have caused the problem. When my wiring broke a few weeks back one thing the dealer said was that the ties being tight can cause a short in the starter wiring which I suspect is fairly high amperage and might cause meltdown. I had it in a car once and boy did it fill with smoke fast! Don't take it lying down. Even if you have to pay up next week you still have a chance to argue the case and get some goodwill from BM. Make sure they give you the old harness back as well so you can try to find out which wires melted first, if it's the starter circuit I'd be right on the phone to BMW.

[toolinalong]

B52G,

I too have trouble imagining how your motolights could have caused such damage if any kind of care was taken on the install. You say "were installed". By whom?

Being 4 years old, the bike is way out of warranty, and so you would have to pay for the fix no matter what, so it seems there is little motivation for the dealer to make that claim unless it were true or....we all believe in the great BMWNA conspiracy theory.

When I installed my aux lighting set-up, I purposely stayed away from connecting anything to the bike's wiring, and did everything (lights, switches, relays) as a separate system running off the battery. That way
if anything goes wrong with the bike's original electrical system components, anything I did will be the last thing to be suspected as being the source of the problem. (hee, hee, sure).

[crousos]

B52G, very sorry to hear about your troubles, 7 weeks without a bike, I feel your pain :-(





Tinos

[matejs]

On this site you can check the vehicles recals (also BMW motorcycles), is mentioned fo UK, but in mine opininon is the same for all of us.
http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp

good luck

[dwayne]

B52G,
I don't get it. If you used a relay to the battrery, the MotoLites do not draw their power thru that part of the harness. The lites would not make any difference. Also, any problems with the lights would blow a fuse . . . NOT melt the wires and start a fire. Get someone able to examine your MotoLites wiring schematic -and- if it was wired properly with a relay to the battery, go over the dealer's head to BMW headquarters.

I saw the ridiculously tight wire harness the 1st week I owned my bike and it freaked me out. Charter members may remember I posted a topic about the unbelievable fact fact that the factory could make such an obvious mistake. I cut the 4 offending ZIPties ASAP and let that harness hang free in a larger radius bend.

Which ties need to be cut?

[NHighCotton]

I don't see why the dealer would push the blame off on you, shouldn't be any money out of his pocket maybe the adjuster is screwing you?

Who installed the lights and if they weren't tied into the exsisting wiring, I believe I would also contact BWNNA.

Sorry, best of luck for a resolution in your favor.

[dwayne]

I don't see why the dealer would push the blame off on you, shouldn't be any money out of his pocket ....

I think that much like the police, dealerships have "targets" to adhere too.

[CycleRob]

dwayne,

You ask "Which ties need to be cut?"

When you turn the steering lock-to-lock there are ties that force the wiring harness to bend too sharply while under tension. Cut those restraining ties until the harness is almost unaffected by the left-right turns. It does NOT need to be restrained to the frame so tightly!! There is no danger of wire harness pinching or motion entanglement if those ties are cut. Move the steering lock-to-lock and see how it hangs after each tie cut and decide if the remaining tie is necessary to restrain it's movement. The larger the radius of the harness bend and the less the harness moves . . . . the better!

[dwayne]

dwayne,

You ask "Which ties need to be cut?"

When you turn the steering lock-to-lock there are ties that force the wiring harness to bend too sharply while under tension. Cut those restraining ties until the harness is almost unaffected by the left-right turns. It does NOT need to be restrained to the frame so tightly!! There is no danger of wire harness pinching or motion entanglement if those ties are cut. Move the steering lock-to-lock and see how it hangs after each tie cut and decide if the remaining tie is necessary to restrain it's movement. The larger the radius of the harness bend and the less the harness moves . . . . the better!

Thanks Rob, I'll go checkl right now..

[paroyboy]

I ended up just snipping the one closest to the front of the bike. Thats the one that seemed to be bending the harness basically in half when the bars were turned to the right. Other ones are tight but with no movement of the harness, I figured they should be ok