2008 r1200rt Fuel gauge malfunction on my way to work.

I have riden my rt everyday since the 1st of march this year with no trouble until this morning. Went out started my rt to let it warm up since it is a warm 23 degrees F this morning. I went to take off soon as I got a mile down the road the caution indicator came on telling me I am low on fuel. I know that is not the case I have still over 3/4 of a tank of fuel in the tank. The problem did not affect the fuel delivery to the bike as I finished the ride to work and had no sensation of running out of fuel. Has any one had this problem? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Kneedragger
Northern Indiana
2008 R1200RT

If I were presumptuous, I'd shout "you have a bad fuel strip!!" But I am no such character so I'll just say quietly "you have a bad fuel strip".

see:

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=38643

also:

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=47757&highlight=fuel+strip

The good: It's a straight forward fix. The not so good: It more than likely will occur again.

Happy to report my 2011 RT with 103 miles on it has not been affected yet!!

Widowmaker2011 said:

Happy to report my 2011 RT with 103 miles on it has not been affected yet!!

Click to expand...

The '11s have the new and improved strip with the miracle "X37" coating...

Your fuel strip 'puked.'

Chronic problem with the R1200RT's.

A short-lived rumor that BMW would return to the float-style proved to be just that - a rumor.

They have been failing since the '05 models hit the market.

Welcome to the FFSC - "Failed Fuel Strip Club"

Get it replaced at your dealer, but always zero one of your tripmeters when filling up, and decide what range you can rely on (for me, that's a conservative 35 mpg x 7 gallons = 245+ miles), since it may 'puke' again, and you'll have to use the tripmeter for knwoing when to seek out a gas station when touring.

Good Luck!

thank you to all. I will get a call in to my local BMW dealer.

The parts fiche now shows a float for production after 08-2010.

March 31st, I'm riding from Toronto to home, about 150 klix, the fuel indicator was showing about 4/10 left with a range of about 200 klix. Highway 401, busy road, just east of Oshawa and she died on me. My new 1200 RT was dead at the side of the road with traffic whizzing by at 120 kph. No cell phone. It was supposed to be a short ride.
So I wait. Before long the police stopped and the officer, also a rider, called for assistance. $45 for a sloppy 4 liters and I was following the pickup to the gas station for a fill up. The word from the dealer is that the fuel strip doesn't like ethanol! Seems to me that BMW ought to know that North American fuels use ethanol. Sounds like BS to me. I've been using trip meter "B" to monitor the fuel consumption since, resetting it at each fill up. I imagine that the strip will be replaced, on warranty, next time she's in for service. I doubt that I'll stop re-setting trip meter "B" each time I fill up.

Yes they ought to know about ethanol. Apparently they or one of their suppliers don't. Don't rely on it. Use your trip meter, or as Voni does sometimes - ride with somebody else who will run out first so uses a trip meter to know when to fill up.

The ethenol talk from the dealer is more "dealer babble" (the need to sound expert even when talking straight out of their as*es..)

If ethanol was the problem it would be hard to understand the failures occuring on bikes not in the US in countries that don't lace their fuel with corn squeezings..