Follow up to burned up wiring harness

[B52G]

Bike was post mortemed by Velocity Cycles on Tuesday. Info was sent to ins co ,but adjuster is out all this week and will be back in office on Monday the 17th. The bike needs an entire new wiring harness ,front and rear. $1800.00 . Plus 9.5 hrs labor. Total estimate, read, estimate, $2500.00. Shop boss said he had seen another case like mine where aftermarket lights were installed and the harness fried. I might add that the lights were installed properly.Not sure ins will cover under comprehesive.

[dwayne]

Bike was post mortemed by Velocity Cycles on Tuesday. Info was sent to ins co ,but adjuster is out all this week and will be back in office on Monday the 17th. The bike needs an entire new wiring harness ,front and rear. $1800.00 . Plus 9.5 hrs labor. Total estimate, read, estimate, $2500.00. Shop boss said he had seen another case like mine where aftermarket lights were installed and the harness fried. I might add that the lights were installed properly.Not sure ins will cover under comprehesive.

I'd be curious to know how many amps the new lights were drawing in addition to what was already on that circuit, and the guage of the wire.
I know with my sailboat that I am actuallly rewiring right now...most systems onboard only draw an amp or two but the specs call for a minimum of 16 gauge stranded and tinned wire for runs up to 10'. That is serious overkill, but then again...

[B52G]

Don't know what amp draw of lights are. Lights are not connected to bikes electrical sys . except where is taps into a 12 volt source to power the relay in the light circuit. There is no damage to any part of the lights circuit. The circuits fuze is intact. I talked to a guy at the light vendor. He is a former BMW bike mechanic 8 years exp. He said that on early 2002 R1150Rs there was a service bulletin. It called for the removal of a wire tie up in the triple clamp area. The offending clamp would chafe the wires that passed through it when the handlebars were turned from side to side. I have spent 2 hrs surfing to try to find said bulletin. If anyone knows about it or can steer me in the right direction, mucho appreciado. If the VIN of my bike is within those affected I want the dealer to check it out.

[LonestaRR]

Try:

http://faq.f650.com/GSFAQs/Documentatio ... 0Bulletins

http://bmwbmw.org/bts/2005/bmwbmw_bts_2005_aug.pdf

maybe something in one of those??

[1150rTodd]

I had the same thing but thankfully it occured under warranty. I actually went off about the issue becuase the dealer had my bike in shop for nearly a month. Seems they don't stock the wiring harnesses on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanic ended up removing a couple of devices that he said were "interestingly wired" by the previous owner of the bike. The took off a oil temp gauge and a set of Hyper-lites. Seems they replaced the harness and went to test ride it and it didn't make it out of the parking lot so they had to order another harness. At this point they took anything that would draw off the bike and added them back one by one.

[B52G]

I may be redundant but, I just cannot understand how the lights caused this meltdown. I looked at my ins policy and under exclusions,things they won't pay for' is listed, electrical devices. Gulp!!! I hope the dealer didn't sail me down the river. However a couple of weeks ago on this forum someone said their ins co payed for their harness. Interestingly enough, when I contacted adjuster about this meltdown the first thing he asked was if there was a fire. I told him I didn't see one as I was busy getting off of the bike and waas choking on the smoke that was all around me. Anyone know what the signifigance to the fire question is? Anyone wanna buy a slightly toasted R bike ,kinda cheap

[1150rTodd]

Wow. Mine never smoked. It just started freaking out electrically when I was on it and then died.

[dwayne]

I may be redundant but, I just cannot understand how the lights caused this meltdown. I looked at my ins policy and under exclusions,things they won't pay for' is listed, electrical devices. Gulp!!! I hope the dealer didn't sail me down the river. However a couple of weeks ago on this forum someone said their ins co payed for their harness. Interestingly enough, when I contacted adjuster about this meltdown the first thing he asked was if there was a fire. I told him I didn't see one as I was busy getting off of the bike and waas choking on the smoke that was all around me. Anyone know what the signifigance to the fire question is? Anyone wanna buy a slightly toasted R bike ,kinda cheap

I hope the Ins co doesn't ding ya, by not paying. That would really suck. Do you have a backup plan..just in case?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Could the too-tight ties on the harness wire bundle lead to this? There's another thread about this causing failures of the turn signal and kill switch controls. The wires get bent repeatedly and then break. Shouldn't be a great leap to break and short.

John

[Doug]

No fuse installed?

[B52G]

Fuze installed and not blown.

[Doug]

what size fuse?

[Kazushi]

I was in the shop the other day for repair work on a broken horn cable due to the cable tie problem (bike under warranty).

The cables used are really thin, I asked how they are rated and why they are so thin, and the mechanic replied "they try to keep cost down".
I didn't get an answer on the cable rating, but from experience (electronics) I would not expect this 1-1.5 mm stranded cable to stay cool with currents over 5-6 amps (continues use)!

It's really disappointing because we have a fine piece of machinery with an identified problem spot that would take maybe 5-10 euro extra in the cost of better cabling to fix ! I'm sure nobody would mind paying 10-20 euro/dollars extra for the R and have better quality cabling !