F800GS - More Problems with mine, lets hear about yours....

JoelWisman · Apr 17, 2012

Adv Grifter, Thanks.

Yeah there was a recall on early chains but it is old news.

There have been excessive chain failures since, but I personally attribute it to life long BMW riders who aren't used to chains.

I can't count the number of people who brought their F800GS in for 6000 mile service with chains that looked like hell. When I enquired when they last lubed it and what they used I would get the response "you guys lubed it at the 600, I get all of my service here".

It was perhaps a tightly held secret, but I didn't even know BMW made motorcycles till about 3 years ago
I know a lot about BMW because I learn fast and truth be known, motorcycles and cars have far more in common between brands then differences.

Been riding year round for 24 years now, and admittedly I push bikes hard, but I have broken at least a half dozen chains, oe, DID, regina, you name it.

Good catch, I am referring to the highest end EK chain, haven't found anything to match it, and I am referring to EK not RK which many mistake for them.

Honestly, I have seen a whole lot of chains break on every make of motorcycle that runs them. At least 1 out of 4 long off road rides i've been on someone has broken a chain, KTM as often as BMW or Triumph, but yes, with the little asian dirt bikes it is perhaps less common

Dave92029 · Apr 17, 2012

I have a 2009 F650GS, that has been ridden on the street 99% of time.

The current mileage is 31,688 miles and I'm still using the Original OEM chain! I bought a replacement DID chain and sprockets two years ago but the Original chain and sprockets (never recalled or replaced) still look and act fine.

The bike doesn't burn any oil and generally get 55-60 mpg with 87 octane regular gas.

I'm using Conti Trail Attack tires and I get 12K on the rear and 14K on the frt. (inflation 36/40 psi)

My F650GS has never stalled at stop lights, and has been a joy to own and ride especially coming up Montezuma Grade out of Borrego Springs, CA.

I weigh about 275 so maybe the bike just likes to carry alot of weight around. :eek1

Sorry to hear that others have not had similar wonderful experiences.

M N B · Apr 17, 2012

Dave92029 said: ↑

F650GS, that has been ridden on the street 99% of time.

The bike doesn't burn any oil and generally get 55-60 mpg with 87 octane regular gas.

I'm using Conti Trail Attack tires and I get 12K on the rear and 14K on the frt. (inflation 36/40 psi)
Click to expand...

Dude, live a little. Twist the wrist from time to time!

Dave92029 · Apr 18, 2012

M N B said: ↑

Dude, live a little. Twist the wrist from time to time!
Click to expand...

After riding more than 1,050,000 motorcycle miles, maybe I have learned how to Smoothly twist my wrist without braking either myself, or the bike, and still have Fun. Thanks for the advice.

LukasM · Apr 18, 2012

Dave92029 said: ↑

After riding more than 1,050,000 motorcycle miles, maybe I have learned how to Smoothly twist my wrist without braking either myself, or the bike, and still have Fun. Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...

That may be the case but your bike still only has 798ccs.

veloleo · Apr 29, 2012

Hey Guys, I am a motoref for bicycle races and use my moto to officiate. These races are 40-80 miles chasing a bunch of bicyclists who are pedaling at 10 to 40 miles per hour. That means that I am in 1st or 2nd gear for over two hours, meaning that my RPMs rarely go over 2000. In the last two weeks after finishing a race for about 2 hours @ 20 mph, RPMs no greater than 2K, my battery was so low that I could not start and I had to jump start the bike. Could this be the infamous alternator problem that has been discussed in this forum? If so what can be done to fix the problem?

Dave92029 · Apr 29, 2012

veloleo said: ↑

Hey Guys, I am a motoref for bicycle races and use my moto to officiate. These races are 40-80 miles chasing a bunch of bicyclists who are pedaling at 10 to 40 miles per hour. That means that I am in 1st or 2nd gear for over two hours, meaning that my RPMs rarely go over 2000. In the last two weeks after finishing a race for about 2 hours @ 20 mph, RPMs no greater than 2K, my battery was so low that I could not start and I had to jump start the bike. Could this be the infamous alternator problem that has been discussed in this forum? If so what can be done to fix the problem?
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What was your temperature gauge indicating? Was your fan on all the time? :eek1

JRWooden · Apr 29, 2012

Not to jump to conclusions or anything, but it may be the case that the system is fine,
and you are just doing things it was not designed to handle.

I'd get one of the several voltage monitoring devices that are out there and install it,
and see what information you get back.

I did this one, and have been happy ... there are other good options.
http://f800riders.org/forum/showthr...g-Battery-Voltage-Monitor-amp-amp-GPS-adapter
Another thing to consider (if legal) would be disconnecting your headlamp bulb.... saving on current draw..........

Indy Unlimited · Apr 30, 2012

Sounds like you got the alternator burning up to a slow death. How many miles/km on your motorcycle?

ebrabaek · Apr 30, 2012

You might also just have a toast battery... They have been known to just fail... Mine did...was replaced under warranty. Bottom line you need to measure.. the R/R out put. should be above 13.8 volt dc. if it is NOT measure the stator out put. Ie. ac voltage between the 3 yellow wires.....and then ohm said three wires and chassis ground...... if the ac volts are more than 60 vac....and ohm value is more than 5 ohms...... your stator is ok.. When my battery failed....charging system was ok.

Erling

M N B · Apr 30, 2012

ebrabaek said: ↑

You might also just have a toast battery... They have been known to just fail... Mine did...was replaced under warranty. Bottom line you need to measure.. the R/R out put. should be above 13.8 volt dc. if it is NOT measure the stator out put. Ie. ac voltage between the 3 yellow wires.....and then ohm said three wires and chassis ground...... if the ac volts are more than 60 vac....and ohm value is more than 5 ohms...... your stator is ok.. When my battery failed....charging system was ok.

Erling
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Pretty much the same thing happened to me. On a 2 year old bike. Got a free battery under warranty! I was stunned. I expected to have to pay after that long. The mechanic said there were some bad batteries that were failing early.

ebrabaek · Apr 30, 2012

M N B said: ↑

Pretty much the same thing happened to me. On a 2 year old bike. Got a free battery under warranty! I was stunned. I expected to have to pay after that long. The mechanic said there were some bad batteries that were failing early.
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Yeppers....... I'm sure this was not helped with a low voltage charging r/r.....

Erling

veloleo · May 1, 2012

Thanks for all the replies, guys. It isTuesday and BMW Motorrad was open for service. I took the bike in to them and they kindly troubleshot the charging problem. They said that one of the stator windings was open and the fix was to buy a new "Generator" (the cost is $800) for the part, plus a couple hours to install it. In answer to a few of the replies, the bike has 32000+ miles since I bought it in late 2009. It is the parallel twin 800cc engine de-tuned to "650cc" power ha ha. Apparently, all the F650 and F800 midsized Bimmers use the same stator and voltage rectifier. I have been keeping the battery on the Yuasa Sure Shot battery tender ever since I bought the new battery a few months ago. The battery voltage at full charge was 13.2 v, when starting the motor I noted the voltage dropping to 11.5 v and then coming back up to 12.9. volts. When I increase the throttle to 4000 RPM the voltage was still at 12.9 volts. After 4 hours of riding with that starting voltage, the voltage had dropped to 12.5 volts and the bike was difficult to start. Note: at 12.4v the battery does not have enough juice to start. I am looking for a salvage bike to take the stator off. That should fix the problem. I may take the voltage rectifier too. Then I found a company that rewinds stators in Birmingham, AL called Custom Rewind. I will send my broken stator to them to rewind. Stay tuned. Thanks again for the replies. Keep the rubber side down.

veloleo · May 1, 2012

Dave92029 said: ↑

What was your temperature gauge indicating? Was your fan on all the time? :eek1
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No problem with the temperature. Middle of the temp gauge the whole time and the weather was in the 70's, very temperate.

JRWooden · May 1, 2012

Veleo:

Here's a long thread on the problem:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=706033

What follows is my opinion of where it stands:

BMW screwed up; in the current design the stator overheats and kills its self.
BMW has apparently known of this short-coming for a while and has designed a fix.
The P/N for the redesigned generator kit is: [FONT=&quot]12 31 8 524 422
We understand the new design keeps the stator cooler and thus happy.

My advise:
1) I would try REALLY HARD to NOT spend $800 to have them install another set of the OLD design,
it is likely to fail again in 30K - 50K miles. This redesigned part is not yet available in the USA.
If it were me I would buy one of the after-market stators for ~$125
(even though it may not last even as long as the OEM unit) and wait for the dust to settle on this little rodeo.

2) If you want more details, read the thread posted ... but crack open a cold one first...

[/FONT]

veloleo · May 1, 2012

Thanks JR, I am trying to get my stator rewound and make due until the recall, if ever. Thanks for the update and heads up.

LukasM · May 2, 2012

veloleo said: ↑

Thanks JR, I am trying to get my stator rewound and make due until the recall, if ever. Thanks for the update and heads up.
Click to expand...

Read that thread JR linked to, and then give the rewinder the specs of high temp wire to make sure that he can actually do a proper job.

veloleo · May 2, 2012

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I will keep everyone informed on progress.

SoDak · May 10, 2012

I've had the sticky injector issues. In October the dealer replaced them (under warranty). I had to be away since and two days ago went for a 70 mile ride. No issues. Today, no start. I followed the recommendations posted earlier. Charged the battery. Lightly tapped the injectors with a rubber topped screwdriver. Throttle wide open when starting. And it worked!

I added techron fuel systems cleaner to the fuel and let it run for a while. Time will tell it it works. Sad issue is that I really don't have too many options for fuel sources that are not 10% ethanol. And running it all the time is not a possibility with my job. Rotax and Bosch really need to re-design this issue. I do think that there is two issues leading to the culminating event of not starting. Battery charge (stator, R/R) and the injectors. I think either issue on its own would be more managable. But like so many things (in medicine at least), there is always a chain of events.

Thanks for all who have posted that led to the procedure that I used.

JRWooden · May 10, 2012

As others have said (Gary?) the new injectors use a finer spray pattern to help emissions ....
and might make some difference in power output as well not sure how much?

Anyway ... my thought is: I wonder if any of the older "less atomized" injectors are "plug compatible" with our bikes?
For better reliability I might be willing to give up a small bit of emissions & HP?

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