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Fuel strip poll

Have you had at least ONE fuel strip fail?


  • Total voters
    835
I'm on my third strip on my '09 GSA; I've just gone back to old skool: I rest the trip meter and use that for my gas gauge, assuming 40 mpg. The electronic gauges has been completely worthless and as accurate as watch bought from a back alley vendor.
From now on - they're covered as warranty items. Get it fixed.

Just a quick word on assuming 40 mpg. Don't.

My 07 RT has a habit of deciding on its own, just how many miles per gallon it thinks is appropriate for any given day. I've been rewarded with as little as 22 mpg - this on a motorcycle that has returned as much as 50.55 mpg.

For me - on a motorcycle I can't easily open the filler and actually see how much fuel I have - riding without at least some reasonable reference of what's in the tank is a non-starter. I don't ride in town much and live and ride mostly in the desert southwest. There are a number of areas I routinely ride where it's 100 miles or so between smiling faces - and further between fuels. I do run a 4 gal fuel cell to ride further and know not to pass an open station out here - in hopes one down the road will still be there [which during the IBR - the one that WAS there a year before - was now gone] - but when my fuel display isn't working - I head straight to the dealer for a fix.
 
Interesting about the fuel consumption. I have gotten a consistant 43 MPG on a '12 GS and last summer on the way out to Oregon I filled up at a "no ethanol" pump in Washington on the Columbia River and started to get around 32 MPG for that tank full. I filled up again, this time with 10% ethanol premium, thinking the "no ethanol" was old or rarely used and full of water, and started to get 43 MPG again. So I don't think it is the bike deciding...I think it's some of the gas supplies.
 
Multiple fuel strip failures on 08 R1200GS Adv. I am 2nd owner but maintenance records indicate 3 failures in 55K miles. Latest was March 2014 at 55K miles.
 
2008 1200RT.
Just had my second one fail last week. 54K miles and the first one was changed somewhere around the 12K mark.
 
New to me (July 12, 2014) 2007 R1200RT with 32K miles
Fuel strip went south first time I put 10% ethanol fuel in it back in September after 1000 miles
Will have it replaced on next service
 
Replaced three on my 2011 GSA. One didn't even make the trip home from the dealer replacing the one before it. Oh and two throttle position sensors so far too.
 
New to me (July 12, 2014) 2007 R1200RT with 32K miles
Fuel strip went south first time I put 10% ethanol fuel in it back in September after 1000 miles
Will have it replaced on next service

I wouldn't blame it on the ethanol (although there are lots of other things to blame ethanol for..) When I rented a bike in Germany, where ethanol laced gas is both rare and more expensive (hence rarely used), I asked the dealer renting me the R1200R what his experience was with fuel-strips.. his comment was "Don't go more than 300km on a tank" (roughly 190 miles or so) "They fail all the time.."
 
Replaced three on my 2011 GSA. One didn't even make the trip home from the dealer replacing the one before it. Oh and two throttle position sensors so far too.

Hopefully you've reported all 3 to NHTSA? If not - there are some instructions on how to do it in an effective manner earlier in this thread. While BMW has issued an extended warranty for the fuel strips - they have not issued a recall (which they've had to do on cars with failing fuel level indicators, and many other bike manufacturers have had to do for similar failures..) The warranty extension has a limited term. A recall is "forever" - 20 years down the road they'd have to fix the thing if it failed again.

Take a few moments to report it - it's for the good of ALL the owners of this flawed implementation.
 
2005 RT - 38k miles

fuel strip went bad shortly after purchasing used three years ago. After online research I decided to use resistors to make the ZFE think there was a good fuel strip and fuel in the tank. I took in for warranty repair to the local dealer a couple months ago. They ripped out my resistors with some bad comments about them (I didn't tell them yet I did that as they also told me they were replacing fuel pump under warranty due to cracked fpc board and I didn't want to make them mad. Eventually they came out and said the replaced the fuel strip twice and it still wasn't working, so they think it needs further troubleshooting not under warranty, and it may be bad ZFE. Well, at that point I didn't have much choice but say ok and ride home. Then last week I dig into it and pins 2 & 3 on the fuel strip connector (for the strip, not the heater), show infinite resistance instead of 2-3k like is reported for good strips... That seems a pretty clear cut indication the fuel strip is bad. Should I call the dealer service department and tell them this (even though they don't seem to have much electrical understanding of bikes), or just take it in and let them troubleshoot on "my dime" until they realize it really is another fuel stip (at which point I should not get charged). What do you guys think having dealt with BMW Motorrad far longer than me (this is my first).?
 
2005 RT - 38k miles

fuel strip went bad shortly after purchasing used three years ago. After online research I decided to use resistors to make the ZFE think there was a good fuel strip and fuel in the tank. I took in for warranty repair to the local dealer a couple months ago. They ripped out my resistors with some bad comments about them (I didn't tell them yet I did that as they also told me they were replacing fuel pump under warranty due to cracked fpc board and I didn't want to make them mad. Eventually they came out and said the replaced the fuel strip twice and it still wasn't working, so they think it needs further troubleshooting not under warranty, and it may be bad ZFE. Well, at that point I didn't have much choice but say ok and ride home. Then last week I dig into it and pins 2 & 3 on the fuel strip connector (for the strip, not the heater), show infinite resistance instead of 2-3k like is reported for good strips... That seems a pretty clear cut indication the fuel strip is bad. Should I call the dealer service department and tell them this (even though they don't seem to have much electrical understanding of bikes), or just take it in and let them troubleshoot on "my dime" until they realize it really is another fuel stip (at which point I should not get charged). What do you guys think having dealt with BMW Motorrad far longer than me (this is my first).?

Call dealer, get a new one
 
I just bought my first BMW Moto. A 2007 K1200S with 16500 miles. The strip just went bad because when I rode the bike to see if I wanted it, the fuel gage was working. Now it is not. Would BMW replace the strip if I am not the original buyer? If not, is there a float type sending unit that would work with the gauge? I heard that the 1300 uses a float type. Any truth to that?
 
I just bought my first BMW Moto. A 2007 K1200S with 16500 miles. The strip just went bad because when I rode the bike to see if I wanted it, the fuel gage was working. Now it is not. Would BMW replace the strip if I am not the original buyer? If not, is there a float type sending unit that would work with the gauge? I heard that the 1300 uses a float type. Any truth to that?

1. Yes if it uses a fuel strip. Not sure on the K1200S - likely it does. BMW doesn't like to limit blunders to just one model.
2. No.
3. Which 1300?
 
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