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Multitude of '09 F650GS Twin problems

36679

New member
The bike is now two years old and almost out of warranty. This is a list of issues I have had. Is there anyone else out there with similar issues?

4 front brake rotors
1 front wheel bearing
1 stator
1 clutch cable and clutch plates due to clutch cable length incorrect -- replacement size from BMW Germany
1 water pump seals (leaking)
chain recall
gas tank cracked -- replaced
"campaign" -- front wheel rotor bolts replaced with different washers

This is my 5th BMW and I have ridden almost 300,000 miles. This is not a "rider" issue.

BMW North America will not compensate me in any way for the downtime or the motels and other expenses associated with the above occurrences.

Many thanks to the dealers who have gone above and beyond to get me back on the road -- these breakdowns have occurred in several different states. Special thanks to Max's BMW in New Hampshire, Two Jacks in Wilkes-Barre, PA, Cross Country BMW in New Jersey, Victory BMW, Chandler, AZ, BMW Southeast Michigan.
 
Bmw na

The bad news is all that trouble on a new motorcycle. I am wondering if there isn't a lemon law recourse available in your state?

Regarding reimbursement for out of pocket expenses, BMW has a deserved reputation for not paying for warranty work if they can help it, much less for out of pocket expenses. When I had a battery warranty issue last year, reimbursement was worse than the breakdown. BMW tried not to reimburse, and they have that reputation.

But there is good news on the reimbursement front. There is something called Planet Feedback, which I was skeptical of, but which in the end worked for me. You identify the company you have issues with, document all the claims against the company and submit it in an email to the CEO of the company through Planet Feedback. http://www.planetfeedback.com/

It took me two emails through Planet Feedback to get all my reimbursed expenses, including out of pocket expenses, through this system. But the first email got their attention, and they at least started to talk to me. The second email got the check in the mail to me, though BMW NA required a general release of liability, which I was happy to sign and return.

Good luck!
 
Thanks

Thank you for the info. I contacted a lawyer who informed me Michigan does not have a lemon law or I would have persued that avenue. I documented all the issues and sent them to BMW. They pushed the issue along the chain of people and finally the "hatchet" lady called and told me they would not do a thing for me. My request was they replace the motorcycle. They would not and would not and did not ever say "we're sorry" for all the trouble.

All issues have been covered under warranty although I did have to go through hoops for one of the aforementioned dealers to cover me. They apologized and took care of me.
 
4 brake rotors is curious to me; especially when coupled with one wheel bearing and new rotor bolts.

What was the sequence of these specific fixes. I ask because I wonder if a bad wheel bearing caused rotor problems, and/or whether the bolts had anything to do with the rotor defects.
 
Hey Paul, It all started at 8K with a rotor, 10K wheel bearing, 12K rotor, then two more rotors at 8K intervals. Max BMW totally disassembled a motorcycle front end from a 2010 and specd it with mine. The only thing they found were fiber washers that were missing from mine and were on the new model. Since replacing the rotor bolts and washers there is only 5K more on the bike. It's at the dealer now for the water pump seals.
 
I have a 2009 F650GS as well (bought used with 3000 miles) and have put another 7000 miles on it since last April. Only issues I have had so far (knock on wood) are the recalls. And I got the recalls done before any problems showed up.

Sounds like you got a lemon. I would be selling it, or trading in on another at this point. Life is too short to deal with those hassels and to be wondering when the next problem is going to happen.

Or if you got good insurance. Drive it to Detroit and leave it parked overnight on a dark street, preferably one close to a bridge to Canada.
 
I've had zero issues with mine

Its also a 2009 and I got it with 250 miles on it and it now has 12000 with a year left on the warranty. Only time I've had it in is for recalls and annual maintenance. Seems like you got a lemon..
 
2009 is wonderful

My 2009 F650GS has been problem free. I have more than 26,300 miles on her and I still haven't needed to replace the chain or sprockets. :D

The dealer tells me that the Factory wants to repair / replace something or other but thankfully not anything that I found broken.

My F650GS has been wonderful, and probably has had the least amount of issues in the 14 new BMW's that I have owned. :bikes

Sorry to hear that you have had problems with your.
 
Glad you have not had the issues!! I do know a few others who have had the rotor and clutch issues. As far as the bike itself, excluding all the issues, I think it is a great all around bike. It handles well and will go almost anywhere.
 
Any time I see multiple premature failures of the same component my alarm bells go off. Sometimes replacing a damaged part only sets the stage for a repeat performance by the underlying cause. When the real cause is obscure and subtle it is often hard to detect in the first instance, but by the second time it becomes reasonable to believe that something is amiss and dig as deeply as needed to find it.
 
My wife just turned 38,000 trouble free miles on hers. We had changed the chain at 24,000 miles so missed out on the recall. She also had problems with the engine quitting riding in the rain but that was resolved. She had a couple other recalls and we put a new battery in when it turned 2 years old this past Fall. She plans to keep it for awhile.
 
Paul Glaves is right.

I had a R100 which the slines between the transmission and the clutch wore out every 6,000 to 10000 miles. It failed 5 times. My dealer and BMW did the service free over several years but it was very inconvienent. The first failure was about 1000 miles from home.

They changed everything, in the end they change the transmission case. It seems it was improperly machined so was not "square" with it's mate the engine, causing the spline shaft to occilate and wear.

Point is have them think about root/underlying causes.
 
Yes, I did root cause analysis for a living. I stressed this after the second front rotor that they needed to find the "root cause." Max's BMW in New Hampshire had the bike for two days trying to do just that. They measured everything against a 2010 model they had in the shop and swaped parts, etc., the only thing they found different or out of spec was a fiber washer missing on mine that was on the 2010. Of course now I have had the recall taken care of with the front rotor bolts changed. So far I have not experienced the pulsing in the front end associated with a warped rotor. Cross your fingers for me.
 
Yes, I did root cause analysis for a living. I stressed this after the second front rotor that they needed to find the "root cause." Max's BMW in New Hampshire had the bike for two days trying to do just that. They measured everything against a 2010 model they had in the shop and swaped parts, etc., the only thing they found different or out of spec was a fiber washer missing on mine that was on the 2010. Of course now I have had the recall taken care of with the front rotor bolts changed. So far I have not experienced the pulsing in the front end associated with a warped rotor. Cross your fingers for me.

So do you think the rotor bolts were a root cause for the disc issue and the bearing issue was a separate issue? I, too, did some root cause analysis in a past life and it was not uncommon to have multiple failures, which can really make things interesting.
 
Yes, multiple root causes are certainly a possibility!!!! I wish I knew what they were for sure. I'm hoping the rotor bolts fixed the warped rotor problem. Will let you know if it happens again.
 
No problems at all with mine, except recalls.
Great bike, ride hard on and off road.
 
1) Thanks ... $100 is the least expensive I have seen....

2) The stator temperatures have been measured in the 195C range,
so 200C insulation leaves very little margin ... likely this stator will fail over time ... but, of the other stators I have seen no one else is even advertising the temperature rating, and the industry standard is 180C.....

3) 36679:
Did you get to take a look a the failed stator?

4) My (original) front rotor has a slight warped feel to at now at about 22K miles...
I had one suggestion that it might not actually be warped but just surface finish issues (which I have seen before on other vehicles). I'm going to put my dial indicator on the disk and see what it says, but may pony up for one of these:

http://www.flexhoneblog.com/2012/01/flexible-honing-for-motorcycle-brake.html

Only problem is that to get to the back side the disk may have to be removed, and I think some of the fasteners are single-use only ... gotta check that....
 
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