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S1000 Sales Halted!

Shannon

New member
What gives? My boss is also co-owner of the local BMW dealership and told me that they have been instructed to halt all sales of the s1000, any models in stock are to be removed from the floor and anyone with a deposit pending is to be told the unit has been delayed until further notice from Germany.
 
Check over on the Pelican forum, some rumor about bad connecting rods and each bike in a certain VIN range have to be pulled and inspected, so goes the rumor.
 
No Rumor

Just stopped by my dealer and it isn't a rumor. The FAQ sheet I got says app. 1414 2012 S1000rr's are affected, produced between Sep.1 2011 and April 10, 2012. Sadly, mine was built Nov. 2011 - decode your VIN to find out.
However, dealer says a lot more were produced than 1414 so it may not affect every S1000rr produced during that time window. Awaiting phone call Monday to see if mine is affected.

Bit disappointing, as I am totally not comfortable with the possibility of engine seizure and / or oil under a seized rear tire as a result. Mine'll be parked in the garage until I find out. Especially since it's made to ride "spiritedly."

I should at least have the TL back together in the next week or 2, and the GS as always is a reliable pal.
 
Was speaking with our local service manager yesterday.
Apparantly there is a robot that torques the rod bolts. At some point during the production run it malfunctioned and did not torque them tight enough. They are trying to find out when the torque changed so they will know what bikes were produced after the malfunction.

He said they seem to like to come apart at 13,000 rpm.

Ken
 
3 pts to BMW for catching this and taking immediate steps to deal with it.

I've run highly automated production plans with robotic stuff and one of the amusements of this stuff is though it is very reproducible if working well and saves human labor - when it goofs off you may not know it unless you have real time sensors for the function that are independent of the action mechanism. Apparently their device lacks this (or they ould have caught it immediately and no bad product would have been made) and they found out the hard way from field failures. At the factory, the remedy is easy but this will be a pita for them in the field so congrats for dealing with it even though its initially painful.

Its the right thing to do for both customers and the firms reputation but sometimes firms lose that perspective. Points to them for clear thinking.
 
Engine Seizure

Yes, agree on the slipper (great btw) but that's what the advisory said at dealer. I haven't seen this motor apart but I would guess it is remotely possible in the underwriting sense if a piece of metal ended up in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time...

I know they'll do a good job fixing if the problem is on my ride; however the thought of having a brand new motor apart to the cylinders removed and / or case split point does give me a slight bit of angst.

At present (though I am sure all the info hasn't come out yet), my VIN isn't on the recall list...seems good news but I'll stop sweating when all of the info is out :)
 
Yes, agree on the slipper (great btw) but that's what the advisory said at dealer.

It's also not a great comfort for me to sit here and say that if your engine locks up and is destroyed, at least the wheel won't lock up! "Gee, great, thanks for that, I feel so much better now!"

Good luck on it and keep us posted.
 
It's also not a great comfort for me to sit here and say that if your engine locks up and is destroyed, at least the wheel won't lock up! "Gee, great, thanks for that, I feel so much better now!"

Good luck on it and keep us posted.

Actually it's not about the rear wheel locking, but trying to stay up with oil pouring over the tire and road in front of the tire.
 
I'm With Him!

Just don't like the idea of it! It's brand new and shouldn't have to be apart, and also introduces the possibility of further issues. MY TL engine is currently out for a rebuild/bore/compression up treatment but is 12 years old and I paid 3500.00 for it. Obviously not a case for worry in that case.

Has anyone seen a complete list of VIN's affected yet?
 
Has anyone seen a complete list of VIN's affected yet?

Robert, I don't think there's going to be a VIN list.

Was speaking with our local service manager yesterday.
Apparantly there is a robot that torques the rod bolts. At some point during the production run it malfunctioned and did not torque them tight enough. They are trying to find out when the torque changed so they will know what bikes were produced after the malfunction.

If Ken's service manager's report is true, then there was an intermittent robot malfunction between September 2011 and April 2012. Because the fault was intermittent, only some bikes built between those dates were assembled with incorrectly-torqued rod bolts. Because it can't be determined if a particular bike built within that time period was assembled correctly or incorrectly, all bikes in that range must be torn down and reassembled.

I'd feel unhappy about having my machine torn down, but I'd be unhappier if it failed.
 
I haven't looked into it carefully, but isn't there a pan on the bottom of the engine so "tear down" seems a little strong for what it may require to torque the bod bolts.
 
I haven't looked into it carefully, but isn't there a pan on the bottom of the engine so "tear down" seems a little strong for what it may require to torque the bod bolts.

:whistle

I haven't looked into it at all, but it was sure easier to type "torn down" instead of "drop the pan, retorque the rod bolts, or remove and replace and retorque the bolts if they're one-time-use fasteners, then replace the pan." Or even more, if it's harder to do.

When someone actually has their bike in to the dealer to have the work done, we'll find out what "the work" actually entails.
 
:whistle

I haven't looked into it at all, but it was sure easier to type "torn down" instead of "drop the pan, retorque the rod bolts, or remove and replace and retorque the bolts if they're one-time-use fasteners, then replace the pan." Or even more, if it's harder to do.

When someone actually has their bike in to the dealer to have the work done, we'll find out what "the work" actually entails.

Sure.
 
"Tear down" applies to chebbies and their ilk and the mechanics that know no better.

For BMWs it's "disassemble," isn't it?
 
May Find out this weekend!

Will be finishing up the "break-in" period this weekend, hopefully w/o any clickin' or clackin' noises from the motor occurring. Got a sport ride planned and with the TLS currently down, the rr will be off the stand and in the street. Will also re-ping my shop tomorrow and see if they have any further information...

ESPECIALLY since my first track day is 27 May. The TLS won't be ready and if the S1000rr has any issues, I am out some $$$ :cry

Wish they'd put a bit of S1000rr acceleration into getting the information out, informing owners, and getting a repair procedure in place though. Feels like it has been longer than it has...
 
FWIW:

I posted the recall on the forum as soon as I became aware of it. You may find it in this thread:
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=60147

or by clicking on
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recall...earchtype=quicksearch&summary=true&refurl=rss

In addition to the recall you will reach there is a button linking you to additional documents related to the recall. You may also reach them by this link.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=12V177&docType=RCL

I do not know what dollars you have spent out of pocket related to this recall; however, one of the supplemental documents describes a reimbursement process for work done, and covered by the recall, prior to the full implementation of the recall and paid for by customers.

Hope this helps.
 
notification and action

Mika: my gripe certainly isn't with the MOA or the Forum; this is where I found out about the issue and I appreciate that. I am glad you had the information.

The gripe would be: "$16,000.00 motorcycle and not a peep, letter, email, or phone call from the mfr and no sign of a repair procedure." No personal contact.

Rapid personal contact and a fast moving campaign would have greatly improved my impressions. There's just a feeling of corporate inertia with waiting for the response and fix on this. I realize it is a "one percent" problem but like all of those in manufacturing, it is still going to require 100% checkout of all motorcycles in the suspect run. I once had to go out and rewire 650 power supplies in my company's equipment due to one of those just to make sure. It cost a bundle, too and required a ton of travel :p

I have had a wonderful and troublefree 2.5 years with my R1200GSA and great Dealer support, even with the fuel strips! I am very impressed with the performance of the 1000rr and one of the reasons I bought it was due to my overall extremely favorable impression of ownership based on my GSA. I still have that with the GSA :) and am hoping I'll keep it with the 1000rr.
 
I do understand the frustration. I have experienced it myself in the past. I did not take any offense but just wanted to make certain you were aware of the supplemental documents related to the recall. Let me offer this as an observational aside and not a defense or apology for BMW, the NHTSA or anyone.

There are several hoops a manufacturer must go through once the recall has been issued to notify its customers. Who and how to notify are issues. The owners of record as of the date of the recall are the who part. The how is a snail mail campaign required by the system. The recall notification process cuts two ways.

In the not to distant past we would receive a letter from the manufacturer about the same time as the news would hit the print. Cage recalls might make the press first because the media covering it could afford to assign someone to cover the beat. I would still be justifiably upset that my motorcycle, cage or Fly-Over-Land coffee pot had been recalled but I received the notice from the government and the company at roughly the same time. The first one to my door got the praise for warning me the second received my wrath in most cases.

With the advent of RSS feeds and the push to get government information into our hands the NHTSA has set up its website and an RSS feed to notify the public about recalls. Cool. The observational point is that now someone like me, Vince on the home page, can post the recall information within hours of the recall being issued on a site like this that is targeted at the customers of that product. We get the information on the web long before it hits print media. I check the feed every day and post the information the site as quickly as I find it. Notices come out seven days a week on the feed. The company still has the same hoops it must go through to certify it has complied such as formal written notification to dealers and customers.

The problem still sucks for the technician that screwed up the settings on the robot and started the problem that led to the recall and for the rider.
 
Break-In Completed

No clicks, clanks, or booms; no oil stains or parts on US227 - she's going to the dealer for break-in maintenance tomorrow. I didn't exceed 9K per break-in instructions but hit it a few times and did some very fast straight-road riding on the way to the North Central Kentucky twisties. Fast is redefined on this motorcycle each time you open it up.

Hopefully I am part of the 98-99% w/o a problem as track day is 27 May. May see if I can cajole the repair this week so I can hit the track without any worries about clicks, clanks, or booms; and maybe truly redline the beast :eat
 
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