2007 RT Fuel Strip Went South

Ran some mountain routes through western Colorado last week/weekend - to the IBA National Meet in Denver. Slabbed it to Springer, NM where I headed to some back road.

On the way to Colorado Springs, I noticed the fuel gauge said I was out of fuel - but had 179 miles until empty. I thought - That Ain't Right. I'd fueled in Frisco, CO on the way to Denver and planned to refuel in Raton, NM - under 300 miles easy and I've done it on this bike once already without any problems. The indicator showed I was swallowing fuel big time. I stopped on my way into the Springs and fueled at 2.64 gallons and 138.9 miles - a comfortable 52 + mpg.

Refueling and zeroing the trip meter reset everything and it appeared to be working correctly again.

Whoa there little buddy - not so fast.!!.

As I got near Trinidad, CO the gauge was reading close to half full - wrong again. Not 15 miles south of Trinidad, CO - it now said I only had 182 miles to empty and the display indicated no fuel level.

Gassing in Springer, NM - same thing close to half a tank. Springer is 191.6 miles from my house in Clovis so I just rode on home. Switch on now - I'm out of gas.

Considering the events of the total ride, I may have discovered something that does affect this failure. I VERY RARELY park on the side stand - more than a minute or so to get off the bike and pop it up on the centerstand. In Ouray, CO when I parked at the hotel around 10:30 pm [electrical storms, downpours and wildlife got me off the road early], I parked on the sidestand. Same thing in Denver from Thursday to Sunday. All of those times, the bike had more than 3/4 full in the tank, with Denver being 65 miles from Frisco to the hotel being about 5/8 a tankfull.

It's under warranty but I either find a dealer or Iron Horse in Tucson mails me the parts. Bummer....

Steve - the response of the fuel reading isn't instantaneous. I've seen it take several minutes for it to register a full tank. I've also seen empty readings when I parked on the sidestand with a partial tank - and typically it has corrected itself within 5 minutes of riding. Since the strip isn't in the center of the tank, this behavior is understandable given the slow response of the electronic display.

Mine has always been fairly slow to display after a fuel up Don. However, these failures are occuring while under way and the fuel level actually is between half and three quarters of a tank of fuel. The remaining fuel bar on the far left simply goes away and the remaining miles to empty shows up with very high remaining miles, which decreases far faster than I'm traveling.

For example, when I left Springer, NM I indicated full [which was correct]. Traveling on NM 39, about 20 miles south of Mosquero, NM the display once again went off and the Remaining Miles displayed something like 170 or so. That's about 80 miles the display was accurate before it shut down. I had about 100 more miles to get home and knew that was no problem so I just continued on. Bike's in the garage now and I didn't fuel yet so I have no idea how much fuel was in the tank when it said I was empty but I can tell you that it had well over 4 gallons in it at the time it went out.

I'll ring up Iron Horse and see what they think. I was considering just telling them to send the strip but thinking better of it, I'll just run over and let them fix it - or maybe ride up to visit Sandia BMW in Albuquerque. I'm still under warranty.

Steve and others,
Reminder- the fuel strip replacement procedure requires the dealership computer for calibration. Isn't a DIY, even if you own a GS-911.

Warranty replacement is fine but be dubious about it being a real fix. Allegedly there may be a new part number later this year (unsubstantiated rumor). If I had to pay for a replacement, I'd just use the odometer until it becomes clear whether a decent new part is going to be available. Note that the true reason for these failures has NOT been definitively stated- whether its the strip itself, a connection, some oddity in the computer software as a contributor, etc is likely known at the factory but they're not saying anything, as usual.

If you pay for one you'll get the usual 2 yr coverage on the part but I would strongly suggest quizzing your dealer assertively about how a replacement is done and examining the old strip (and the connection while its open)yourself to see if you learn anything. The factory procedure is time consuming and tempts the dealer techs to take shortcuts that may or may not impact the result. Some have reported having 3 or more strips in bikes only a couple years old.

Grr. Well, that's good to know even if it isn't what I wanted to hear. I wasn't aware the GS-911 wasn't programmed to handle the strip.

If I have this done in Albuquerque, I don't know that I can get back in the shop. I've never done business with them so there are a lot of unknowns there. I would be able to get there at Iron Horse in Tucson but there's a 750 miles round trip difference in the repair there or here in NM. Right now, time is an issue. Here, I can ride up, get it repaired and ride home. Obviously, Tucson is a different situation. We have a place in Tucson and I'd get to see "The Woman's" Mom [The Woman is going to be in Utah this week and next] and some friends but like I said - time isn't on my side.

I'm leaning toward Albq. I'll let you know what I decided - after it's done.

Thanks racer7

FYI----2008 R1200RT----on my 5th fuel strip now!

Jack

almost forgot---2nd one on 2009 F650GS also! BMW--BROKEN MOTORCYCLE WORKS ??????????

Both repaired at Iron Horse here in Tucson AZ.

JACK

Off Topic Springer NM

If you like home made green chili sauce, stop at Maria's Mexican Kitchen (I know Maria is in the name) the food is fantastic there. She is on the main strip through Springer.

I bought some and drove it back to Greenville, SC a few years ago on my way home.

'07GSA here, #3

I'm on #3 strip. A CA(Modesto) replaced one and a VA replaced one at Morton's(Fredricksburg)road trip, both were done quite quickly. About 2 hours max. No warning on the failures, just quit reading the gas. 2 years per BMW fix is right, as I've been told. I suspect more of these on mine to fail. 58000m on mine now. The strips seem to last about 20000+ miles on mine, before failure. & year warantee here too and glad I have it. Randy

1 week left on warranty, fuel gauge went south. Lucky me. So, here's a question. Is there some way to jumper the system so the gauge always reads full? I've been riding bikes for years using the trip odometer to tell me when it's time to fuel up. It's just annoying to stare at that caution alert. I know a piece of masking tape will cover that, but I'd rather just disable the fuel quantity system and allow the alert system to tell me when something else might be going wrong.

Me too...

Add my 2009 R1200RT with 14K miles to the list.

South Dakota proved that the gauge was dead accurate a month ago when I rolled into a filling station in Faith, SD with miles remaining showing "--" and the tank taking 5.92 gallons of gas. (Oh, I was happy to be pumping that gas!)

I was bombing along the Interstate yesterday at a brisk 75+ miles per hour when it felt like someone flipped a switch. I immediately thought electrical because it had been so abrupt but there wasn't a single warning light. After trying to restart and getting a slight cough, realized I was out of gas. How could it be? I showed 1/4 tank of gas. Then it hit me. After all the riding I had done, I shouldn't have 1/4 tank left.

Waiting to claim a warranty repair 'til I know that the part has been revised. Plan on using the trip meter in the mean time.

It's a minor failure that became a major PITA. Come on, BMW! You can do better for 20 large.

This is such a widespread and well known problem, I think some entity (dealerships?) ought to let people know that they shouldn't ever rely on the gas gauge on recent/current BMW motorcycles. A small article in the ON might help get the word out.

I don't think it's such a big deal. Most of the bikes I've owned didn't have gas gauges at all, and the BMW has 2 trip odometers. Even the few bikes I had that had gauges, they were so imprecise I didn't really use them anyway.

Mine failed at 1500 miles. I had it fixed. Next time it fails, I doubt I'll take the trouble. If it fails false empty, I'll cover the warning light and fuel gauge readout. If it fails false full, I'll just ignore it.

Unless, of course, BMW comes up with a real fix. But when have they ever done that?

The decision is Albq. I have an appointment for Friday morning, first thing. From there, I'm headed to Prescott, AZ. I'll post how it went when I get back.

Service in Albq was very good. Fuel display is now properly calibrated and works fine.

301.5 GPS miles [312.4 ODO miles] with just a sliver showing in the display, 6.146 gallons. Should be approx. .4 usable fuel remaining. Works for me.

Service at Sandia BMW was good, everyone very knowledgable and friendly. Professional staff, good work, only downfall is the coffee. BMW riders prefer espresso - 2 to 1.

My 07 R12RT ran out of gas with the gauge showing half a tank. I brought it to the dealer. They had a broken strip on the parts counter to show me what it looked like. They ran out of ones that worked however. This is a good dealership. That's how many they went through that week.

I bought a new Hyundai for my daughter when I bought this bike. I paid 2/3 as much for the car what I paid for my bike. She has twice as many miles on the nasty little Hyundai as I have on my bike. Everything works on her car, including the gas gage.

Yes, I too am using the odometer, but why should I have to? Why would I buy another BMW?

jpgilmore said:

I bought a new Hyundai for my daughter when I bought this bike. I paid 2/3 as much for the car what I paid for my bike. She has twice as many miles on the nasty little Hyundai as I have on my bike. Everything works on her car, including the gas gage.

Yes, I too am using the odometer, but why should I have to? Why would I buy another BMW?

Click to expand...

If you can honestly make a comparision between a BMW motorcycle and Hyundai automobile - or any automobile for that matter - and question why you would want another BMW - you would not be well advised to consider another BMW.

I mean no offense but sincerely believe this:

.............................> You Sir - are a car guy<...........................

Personally,


EDIT: WOW - Fastest post deletion I've ever seen!!

EDIT2: Post is back.

Four years old with close to twenty thousand miles on it and my fuel gauge works flawlessly but I still zero the trip odometer and start looking for gas at 275 miles or so. Computer says I get right at fifty miles to a gallon and my pocket calculator agrees with it. Speedometer is optimistic according to Garmin by four miles per hour at seventy mph. This is my second late (since 2004) model BMW and neither of them had any problems to speak of other than tickets

As I have been riding longer than there have been gas gauges on bikes, I always reset the trip meter, and if there is a gas gauge on the bike I'm riding, I'm always comparing what it says to what the trip meter says.

So, a week ago I take the R60/2 to out on a group ride. As I'm rolling it out of the garage, I notice that the trip meter says 184. Hmm, better get gas before starting out on the ride. Fortunately, it meets at a gas station.

(Like a lot of things on the /2, the trip meter is a bit different. You actually have to wind it all the way back to zero, no reset push button or knob.)

So, I start filling it up. I get the pump ready, and remove the cap on the tank. Whoa, there's a lot of gas in here. ??? I can only put 3/4s of a gallon into the 6 gallon tank, right up to the tippy top.

Oh, right, I had a friend over a few weeks back and we went for a vintage putt. He filled the tank near the end of the ride, but didn't reset the meter...

I guess you just can't win.

Sure you can.

Sell me the /2....

SteveAikens said:

Sure you can.

Sell me the /2....

Click to expand...

That doesn't sound like "winning" to me, Steve.