Recall is on- fuel pump flange/fuel pump

Well the recall is on. Supposedly the letters will go out in February.
I know my bike has no sign, no issue, no crack, nothing. So there is not much for me.
There is some measurement idea. They measure the flange?
I suppose it won't measure more unless there are cracks, so I don't see why they would do that.
It really doesn't sound like they are going to do much.
dc

Wonder what they will do for bikes that leaked and the owner paid for the complete repair? Will BMW reimburse them for the expense. They had fuel leaking out of the tank so I would guess the flange failed.

Certain model year 2005-2011 model year R-model motorcycles,
model year 2005-2012 K-model motorcycles,
model year 2010-2011 S 1000 model motorcycles,
and model year 2006-2010 HP2 motorcycles. In the affected motorcycles, the fuel pump flange (and the auxiliary fuel pump flange if equipped) could develop cracks and leak fuel.

CONSEQUENCE:
A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source may result in a fire.

REMEDY:
BMW will notify owners, and dealers will either reinforce the fuel pump flange or replace the pump, as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in February 2014. Owners may contact BMW customer relations at 1-800-525-7417 or email BMW at CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com.

^^^^I'll add a little something to the title.^^^^
OM

sibud said:

Wonder what they will do for bikes that leaked and the owner paid for the complete repair? Will BMW reimburse them for the expense. They had fuel leaking out of the tank so I would guess the flange failed.

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Last year there was a Technical Campaign on the Slant Four bikes to install a Cam Chain Jump Guard. Owners that installed the jump guard at their own expense before the Campaign was announced were reimbursed by BMW.
It could be BMW will do the same on this recall.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM447639/RCDNN-13V617-4608P.pdf
That is the link. It seems to be working slow, or not at all.
This is an NHTSA recall. It concerns BMW motorcycles. There was a recent one in Canada. This is basically the same on for the USA.
This is an issue that has plagued these bikes for years. Yes, it is the fuel pump flange.
In fact for a year or more BeemerBoneyard has been selling the 'fix' that was designed to take care of this problem, as after years, it appeared BMW was only going to ignore the matter.
As far as I know, there are no other recalls on these bikes on the horizon, nor have any others been called for.
I suppose the other issues, failing cruise control switches and fuel strips are another plague. But as far as I know, since that poses no possible safety risk, there was never talk of a recall there, nor any report to NHTSA.
dc

So modification was done after MY 2011 for R1200RT? What is different on MY '12 and '13?

My hat's off.

I love any excuse to go to Austin. Now, if I can just keep my eyes away from the new RT.

E.

I thought they started putting the reinforcing ring on in 2009.
But the recall says it was more like the first half of 2011.
I think they are talking about the reinforcing ring, akin to 10ovrs which is sold thru' BeemerBoneyard.
So the way I guess is look at the top of the fuel pump. Does the flange have the reinforcing ring or not.

We will see if BMW reimburses anyone. There were some expensive problems with it.
dc

David13 said:

I thought they started putting the reinforcing ring on in 2009.
But the recall says it was more like the first half of 2011.
I think they are talking about the reinforcing ring, akin to 10ovrs which is sold thru' BeemerBoneyard.
So the way I guess is look at the top of the fuel pump. Does the flange have the reinforcing ring or not.

We will see if BMW reimburses anyone. There were some expensive problems with it.
dc

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My guess is that either that fix did not work, or they want to make sure it is still working i.e., the plastic being reinforced does not have any cracks.

And by the way, I want to thank everyone for being constructive and proper. Let's keep this thread open. This information is very important to some of us.

Thanks!

Lee said:

Last year there was a Technical Campaign on the Slant Four bikes to install a Cam Chain Jump Guard. Owners that installed the jump guard at their own expense before the Campaign was announced were reimbursed by BMW.
It could be BMW will do the same on this recall.

Click to expand...

I hope so. He rode into Gateway BMW with fuel running down the side of the bike! The replaced the whole assembly at a cost of >$500

Motodan said:

So modification was done after MY 2011 for R1200RT? What is different on MY '12 and '13?

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This picture shows the updated part with a metal ring on a K1200S.

David13 said:

I thought they started putting the reinforcing ring on in 2009.
But the recall says it was more like the first half of 2011.

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Our 2011 K1300Ss were made in September of 2010 and do not have the updated part. I believe it was sometime in 2011 that the updated part was installed at the factory.

David13 said:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM447639/RCDNN-13V617-4608P.pdf
That is the link. It seems to be working slow, or not at all.
This is an NHTSA recall.

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Actually it's a BMW voluntary recall. NHTSA just assigned a number. It appears that BMW is trying to head off the Engineering Evaluation (EA) that NHTSA is conducting on this issue (EA13006). NHTSA can accept BMW's solution as described in the Defect Notice, or they can continue their EA and decide that something more needs to be done, like a complete redesign. I hope NHTSA does the latter. The solution described by BMW puts the entire burden on the technician who examines the fuel pump. Does he decide it's good enough for the simple reinforcing ring fix, or does he decide the entire assembly needs to be replaced? And how will his decisions effect his employment status?

True that.
Now we are seeing some debate on the other forum whether this is a true fix, or a side step, or double sidestep.
I suppose some people would be happy to fix it with chewing gum and coat hanger wire.
dc

Locate the long thread on this subject on bmwst for the best education.

BMW recall has the dealer installing a ring on certain intact (not yet cracked) fittings. Not clear on what they will do with owner-repaired stuff which includes epoxy repairs of cracks as well as possible reimbursement if owner paid for a new pump.

Personally, I hope NHTSA goes for the EA action because although the ring has been well proven as an effective work around, IMO it does not address the root cause of the cracking failures.

The root cause is the use of a wrong plastic for the pipe thread fitting used in the flange. It is a wrong material and too thin to resist the spreading wedge forces created by pipe threads IMO. So over time the weak plastic gets cracked. BMW has already implied they know this is the case because they intend to measure the parts without metal rings to see how much they've been wedged/spread open. Also, the factory lowered its install torque so they obviously know the problem there.

Correctly chosen pipe thread material (like the old cast iron water pipe we all know about) is strong enough to resist the wedging forces necessary to seal them. If BMW had used any common metal or a proper engineered plastic (or even the ring as it does now, though that is a work around rather than a proper design IMO), this recall would not have occurred.

If BMW did proper engineering design review this recall also would not have happened. One does not need to be a genius to see the obvious flaws in the fuel containment system that uses this fitting.
BMW notes that parts of the system can be damaged by handling stresses (eg during service work requiring fuel tank removal). That raises a question about who is really responsible for that- BMW by providing weak parts, mechanics who don't do repairs by the book, dealers who don't hire competent wrenches or the owner?

There is a lot of excellent engineering, materials and construction in BMW bikes (eg std stainless brake lines and ABS and a long list of similar) so it would be nice to see the firm employ better review and correction processes so long running lapses like this one don't repeat.

It's a part designed and furnished by a supplier and I doubt BMW had much input other than specifying size, pressure, etc.; surely not type of plastic, for example. Not saying they're not responsible in the long run, but it was a "team" failure. Pretty similar to Bridgestone BT21s on R1200RTs, i.e., worst tire ever, but not really a BMW engineering failure.

racer7 said:

If BMW did proper engineering design review this recall also would not have happened.

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While I do not doubt any of your contentions, can the same not be said of every single recall for every single vehicle of any manufacturer? "If Brand X had done this, then they wouldn't have had to do that."