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

I know both of these issues have been discussed before but I was hoping for some new data or fix.

1. My R1200R is just over 2 years old, and it is going in for it's fourth fuel gauge/strip. You would think a company like BMW could make a fuel gauge. Has there been any changes or improvements? Since this is a very frequent event what does it cost outside of warranty?

2. Same bike, started fine rode about 3 miles. After stopping for about 5 minutes, the battery was completely dead. I replaces it with a Westco and all is fine, the question is, how can one tell when the battery is about to go? Or do you just replace it every year?

toomanybikes wrote:I know both of these issues have been discussed before but I was hoping for some new data or fix.

1. My R1200R is just over 2 years old, and it is going in for it's fourth fuel gauge/strip. You would think a company like BMW could make a fuel gauge. Has there been any changes or improvements? Since this is a very frequent event what does it cost outside of warranty?

same issue here, i just don't trust it. on every bike i have owned i have used the trip odo - i just went back to that method.

toomanybikes wrote: 2. Same bike, started fine rode about 3 miles. After stopping for about 5 minutes, the battery was completely dead. I replaces it with a Westco and all is fine, the question is, how can one tell when the battery is about to go? Or do you just replace it every year?

for mine, it started turning over slightly slower on start. not a lot, but i did notice it a bit. some people say it's more immediate but for me i could tell something was up. then one day a month later it was just DEAD.

wes

The AGM batteries are really bad - they just go dead. I had an old friend (gone now to where all the roads are big sweepers, no pot holes and no Cops) that never had a battery failure. As soon as the battery was three years old he trashed it and put in a new one. If you divide the cost of a new battery by 36 it comes out to about the cost of a gallon of gas a month to always have a good battery in the bike.

Yesterday while out looking for a red light on which to test my green light trigger, I stopped at the Mobil station for gas. When I started it back up, the guage read -- --. No problem I thought, I remember reading in the book something about the guage not working when the gas is topped up... you need to head out on the highway for a few miles before it can register. OK then. It's been about 80 miles and I'm still showing -- --.

Had a similar problem with the gas guage on my '94 Harley... it only worked when at the dealers.

Is there any kind of secret handshake to get the gas guage reading on the Roadster or do I have to go back to the dealers?

Bruce

Mine will show full after a fill up in a half mile or so. It's been OK since late 06. I hope you find a solution to your problem.
I spent a long weekend down in the north Ga. mountians camping. It was wonderful. Perfect temps to have your full compliment of protective clothing on. Not too much local constabulary ( more than we would have liked but that's life ). A number of old men just a gitting it around Wolf Pen Gap Road. Ahhh. Some sort of loud assed owl woke us all up Friday night. Cool also.
Lots of fun. Stayed at the T.W.O. Campground in Suches.

Mark

AncientMariner wrote:It's been about 80 miles and I'm still showing -- --.

Is there any kind of secret handshake to get the gas guage reading on the Roadster or do I have to go back to the dealers?

Bruce,

This happened to me on the third tank of gas in my '10. GS-911 reported a faulty sensor. I tried resetting to no avail. Dealer reported the same and replaced.

My battery also gave me some hints a week or two before it failed.