• Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

    We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides. Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?

    Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

  • NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

2013 k1600 14,500 miles Cracked Piston!

I had the (dis)pleasure of working with a German engineer once. The attitude of German superiority was strong in him. The idea that one of his designs might have a flaw could not make it thru his thick skull. It was our fault for using it wrong. Even when it broke for him, then it was inferior American parts. Which he specified since there are not many German made electronic components anymore.

I have heard this exists on a wider scale, and is possibly what is going on here.

Rod
 
I had the (dis)pleasure of working with a German engineer once. The attitude of German superiority was strong in him. The idea that one of his designs might have a flaw could not make it thru his thick skull. It was our fault for using it wrong. Even when it broke for him, then it was inferior American parts. Which he specified since there are not many German made electronic components anymore.

I have heard this exists on a wider scale, and is possibly what is going on here.

Rod

I worked in the automotive industry and had to deal with VW & BMW and can't tell you that their attitude is they CAN DO NO WRONG and HAVE DONE KNOW WRONG. It is never their fault and they very reluctantly will take care of an issue but will NEVER admit to fault at any point. Stupid proud bastards.
 
the cheap fix is, grab a complete engine off the assembly line, crate it, ship,it to the dealer with complete warranty, put the busted engine in same crate and ship it back to BMW engineers. The expensive way is to piece meal the fix. Public relations in a company's favor are way more expensive than an engine.

Just looking at the heavy paper bag with an s type bike leaned over in which a T-shirt was packaged at a dealer. Way over designed obviously for PR and customer satisfaction, probably costing into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A shopping bag which likely will be tossed into the recycle bin? Or a happy bike purchasing return customer, costing maybe ten grand? seems like a no-brainier, two sense.
 
the cheap fix is, grab a complete engine off the assembly line, crate it, ship,it to the dealer with complete warranty, put the busted engine in same crate and ship it back to BMW engineers. The expensive way is to piece meal the fix. Public relations in a company's favor are way more expensive than an engine.

Just looking at the heavy paper bag with an s type bike leaned over in which a T-shirt was packaged at a dealer. Way over designed obviously for PR and customer satisfaction, probably costing into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A shopping bag which likely will be tossed into the recycle bin? Or a happy bike purchasing return customer, costing maybe ten grand? seems like a no-brainier, two sense.

It's only expensive for the OP as they want to get the bike beyond the warranty period. After that, it's on the OP's dime.

When I worked for an Apple Authorized Repair shop, Apple trained and encouraged techs to use the cheapest repair possible as the first repair done on a computer. After getting more experienced and using our own common sense, we could and would skip Apple's recommendations and fix what needed to be fixed right. The difference is that in 99.9% of the cases I didn't need Apple's permission to do X repair a certain way as it seems with BMW. In either case though, the cheap way out is the primary driver in both cases and couple that with arrogance and it's not the best situation for the bike owner.
 
the cheap fix is, grab a complete engine off the assembly line, crate it, ship,it to the dealer with complete warranty, put the busted engine in same crate and ship it back to BMW engineers. The expensive way is to piece meal the fix. Public relations in a company's favor are way more expensive than an engine.

Just looking at the heavy paper bag with an s type bike leaned over in which a T-shirt was packaged at a dealer. Way over designed obviousllow. y for PR and customer satisfaction, probably costing into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A shopping bag which likely will be tossed into the recycle bin? Or a happy bike purchasing return customer, costing maybe ten grand? seems like a no-brainier, two sense.

In today's world of business as taught in business school, you use just in time inventory. This means NO SPARES so when, not if, when, something goes wrong there are NO SPARES. If you grab a spare engine off the line, everything goes to hell very quickly. So that will not happen. I am sure that there were meetings, to determine the correct level of spares, this engine was so good of course the spares level was low or zero. So to get a spare engine, it needs to be planned and produced, while the OP sits without a bike. BMW is not the only mfg to have this problem.

Then the complete engine does not get shipped back for failure analysis. A possible problem is not detected etc.

Rod
 
In today's world of business as taught in business school, you use just in time inventory. This means NO SPARES so when, not if, when, something goes wrong there are NO SPARES. If you grab a spare engine off the line, everything goes to hell very quickly. So that will not happen. I am sure that there were meetings, to determine the correct level of spares, this engine was so good of course the spares level was low or zero. So to get a spare engine, it needs to be planned and produced, while the OP sits without a bike. BMW is not the only mfg to have this problem.

Then the complete engine does not get shipped back for failure analysis. A possible problem is not detected etc.

Rod

I remember when the Northstar engine came out, Cadillac didn't allow R&R of the original engine, but would put a new one in and send the old one back for examination. This was before JIT, but I guess they cared more about reputation and quality than some others.
 
I remember when the Northstar engine came out, Cadillac didn't allow R&R of the original engine, but would put a new one in and send the old one back for examination. This was before JIT, but I guess they cared more about reputation and quality than some others.

BMW did exactly the same thing with the early Oilhead transmissions.
 
Poor shifting (grinding + rejections) plus false neutrals; and it got worse with mileage. My shop was able to duplicate the issue every time, so zero hassle with the warranty exchange.
 
Poor shifting (grinding + rejections) plus false neutrals; and it got worse with mileage. My shop was able to duplicate the issue every time, so zero hassle with the warranty exchange.

Yup, I think we all got new trannys back then. However, BMW appeared to be a bit looser with their warranty $'s back then. They even replaced failed Showa shocks early on, then stopped that.
 
Major problems in sunny south florida

I have also had all the major components in my bike fail and am so unhappy with BMW. switches,(not major but on the list)ft shock, trans, now the engine is out for massive blow by filling up air filter box with oil. many quarts of oil in 200 miles that's how much. I have been with out a bike also for 5 weeks and am starting to get very upset ,with no clear answer from BMW corp. I am quickly loosing faith with the product. As a ASE master tech in the automotive industry for 35 years I take very good car of my machines. oil changes every 3,500 mile with full synthetic amsoil, bmw filters. service final drive every 10 k also with synthetic. air filters.ect. I would think at this point I deserve a new bike without all problems...would love to hear some comments for all of you. I really thought I had a great machine here , but no, I guess not..so sad 27,000 dollars for this really?
 
I have also had all the major components in my bike fail and am so unhappy with BMW. switches,(not major but on the list)ft shock, trans, now the engine is out for massive blow by filling up air filter box with oil. many quarts of oil in 200 miles that's how much. I have been with out a bike also for 5 weeks and am starting to get very upset ,with no clear answer from BMW corp. I am quickly loosing faith with the product. As a ASE master tech in the automotive industry for 35 years I take very good car of my machines. oil changes every 3,500 mile with full synthetic amsoil, bmw filters. service final drive every 10 k also with synthetic. air filters.ect. I would think at this point I deserve a new bike without all problems...would love to hear some comments for all of you. I really thought I had a great machine here , but no, I guess not..so sad 27,000 dollars for this really?

You're blowing "many" quarts in 200 miles and you rode it that 200 miles? Wow, I think I would have parked it after the first quart in less than 200 miles. How many miles on this thing? With what sounds like more than one 10,000 mile rear fluid change...you must have a few miles on it. Out of warranty by miles?
 
As mentioned, this is not right and I would pursue the Lemon Law act like right now.

Keep us up to date on this pls!

-KJ
 
Where Is Original Poster?

Hey Roadkill, what is going on with your bike? Something like this warrants followup information. Did Motorrad buy you out to shut you up, or is perhaps something more sinister afoot? We the people need answers please. Best wishes always.:scratch
 
I am sure bmw would make that right again


Sent from my iPhone, inspected and certified by the NSA
 
Roadkill - Can you give us an update?

Sorry everyone for the long delay.

As most suspected and even myself..... less than 1000 miles later.... same issue... only worse... this time like last, Bike got me home, I was absolutely flogging it at that point cause I was less than happy.

Back on the tow truck...(quick side note. Never use Ed towing in NE pa... dropped my old bike while unloading it)

That was enough for me.

And my ultimate dealer Hermy's Port Clinton.

BMW replaced the engine. But to me... I did not want a bike that was not factory fresh. Its why I bought new to begin with. Now I was going to have new engine with existing drive line.

And Dick head dropped it a damaged the fairings...

So.. I traded it. Herman really worked with me. I paid a little... but its worth it to me.


For what you ask... Another new K1600 GT of course!

What can I say I love the way the bike rides.

So see how long this one lasts.
 
Sorry everyone for the long delay.

As most suspected and even myself..... less than 1000 miles later.... same issue... only worse... this time like last, Bike got me home, I was absolutely flogging it at that point cause I was less than happy.

Back on the tow truck...(quick side note. Never use Ed towing in NE pa... dropped my old bike while unloading it)

That was enough for me.

And my ultimate dealer Hermy's Port Clinton.

BMW replaced the engine. But to me... I did not want a bike that was not factory fresh. Its why I bought new to begin with. Now I was going to have new engine with existing drive line.

And Dick head dropped it a damaged the fairings...

So.. I traded it. Herman really worked with me. I paid a little... but its worth it to me.


For what you ask... Another new K1600 GT of course!

What can I say I love the way the bike rides.

So see how long this one lasts.


A new engine is over $14K. That's a chunk of change.
 
Are you then saying that bike is on its third engine? Sounds like that bike is packing some "bad mogombo" for sure. Better that you start over fresh and best of luck to you.
 
Back
Top