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I bought a used 2009 R 1200RT. I now have the fuel strip problem

JDOCKERY132445

OldBMWMaster
I bought this last month and rode it to the BMW 100 Years celebration at Laguna Seca. This past weekend I ran out of gas with 85 miles still indicated before empty. I heard of this problem; do I was not surprised. What did surprise me was my response from Garcia Moto in Raleigh, NC



Jerry,

Jon Ross with the Garcia Moto Service Department here.

Sounds like you have the prototypical Fuel Level Sending Unit malfunction.

BMW has extended the warranty on that component to 12 years from the original date of sale, so I'm sure we can take care of that issue free of charge.

The BMW mainframe has no open service campaigns on the VIN you supplied, so it should be a quick in and out visit.

We are currently scheduling appointments for Wednesday afternoon the 28th and later dates.

Do you have a day & time in mind for next week that might work for you?

Let me know what would work best and I'll check our service schedule.

We expect to need the motorcycle for approximately 90 minutes to complete the repair.

Sincerely,

Jon Ross
Service Manager
Garcia Moto
8821 Wadford drive
Raleigh, NC 27616
 
Great service keeps selling bikes

We all expect our cars/bikes/appliances to have issues in its life. It is how the problem is addressed by the manufacturer that keeps us loyal.
 
Unfortunately you need to expect to have this done over and over and over. I am on my fourth and am quite surprised that it has lasted over 4K miles. I no longer rely on what it estimates for mileage left in the tank and instead use the trip meter to track my mileage since filling up.
 
The answer to "Will it happen again?" is...maybe. Mike (above) has had a lot of failures, some riders have had many more.

OTOH, a lot of riders have had none. My 9-year-old R is at 45K and still on its original fuel strip. Still, I also do what Mike suggests and set the trip odo each time I fill up. Having years of experience is how my bike uses fuel, and knowing how many miles since I filled, makes me feel more secure than if I'd looked at the fuel quantity indication alone.
 
The answer to "Will it happen again?" is...maybe. Mike (above) has had a lot of failures, some riders have had many more.

OTOH, a lot of riders have had none. My 9-year-old R is at 45K and still on its original fuel strip. Still, I also do what Mike suggests and set the trip odo each time I fill up. Having years of experience is how my bike uses fuel, and knowing how many miles since I filled, makes me feel more secure than if I'd looked at the fuel quantity indication alone.

Further- my first bikes only had odometer. The 2-pipe petcock was the reserve........and who wanted to "stall-out" in an intersection?
Next generation had a tach.........moving towards a trip meter. I always thought everyone knew how many miles constituted a "half-tank"".
It's easy to do with any vehicle, next time at the pump, guess how many gallons to fill. When you reset the trip meter or note the mileage, you will know when you need gas whether the gage is working or not.
OM
 
Further- my first bikes only had odometer. The 2-pipe petcock was the reserve........and who wanted to "stall-out" in an intersection?
Next generation had a tach.........moving towards a trip meter. I always thought everyone knew how many miles constituted a "half-tank"".
It's easy to do with any vehicle, next time at the pump, guess how many gallons to fill. When you reset the trip meter or note the mileage, you will know when you need gas whether the gage is working or not.
OM

That's how I started and still look at the trip ODO to confirm what my fuel gauge says.

And don't get me started on riders who insist they need a gear indicator....:dunno
 
I have a 2009 RT I just bought several months ago too

I have about 43k on it currently. Are there any other indicators other than just one day running out of gas when the display says you have many more miles to go?
 
I have about 43k on it currently. Are there any other indicators other than just one day running out of gas when the display says you have many more miles to go?

Look for gas when the trip meter you reset at the last fill-up says you've traveled 250 miles.
 
If its any consolation, you could have bought a NEW RT and had a fuel strip problem. My R uses the same strip and failed 3 miles from dealership, second strip has lasted 28k miles.
 
If its any consolation, you could have bought a NEW RT and had a fuel strip problem. My R uses the same strip and failed 3 miles from dealership, second strip has lasted 28k miles.

On RT's I believe they sacked the strip in 2010/2011 time frame and went back to a float for gas level. Did your float go bad?
 
On RT's I believe they sacked the strip in 2010/2011 time frame and went back to a float for gas level. Did your float go bad?

I think BMW switched to a float for the 2011 model year on most of the bikes. Our 2011 K1300S bikes had a float.
For some reason BMW continued with the strip on the R1200R until the new liquid cooled bike in 2015.
 
That's how I started and still look at the trip ODO to confirm what my fuel gauge says.
And don't get me started on riders who insist they need a gear indicator....:dunno


Top 5 modern inventions ....
1. Electricity
2. Automobile / Airplane
3. Motorcycle
4. Motorcycle fuel gauge
5. Motorcycle gear indicator
:)

My 05 RT is on its second fuel strip.... I sold it and now own a 2010 RT with 22K and no fuel strip problems yet.
 
And don't get me started on riders who insist they need a gear indicator....:dunno

And even if you have one, look at it, see high gear and still try to upshift to a higher gear...and more than once :doh

I used to count ALL the time from long ago , now laugh as I see a squirrel or turkey and forget anyways. It either shifts or it doesn't.

Oh...and fuel strips...have several and most have behaved with a few replacements to fuss about.
The KTM starts counting UP when you go on reserve...look down to notice low fuel light, see 2.6 miles and panic...all fun:lol
 
I don't know of many bike brands that will give you this kind of support :thumb
OM

I believe the reason BMW gave us the 12 year warranty was two fold: (1) The fuel-strip failure survey sticky at the top of this forum (2) Enough reports to NHTSA/DOT that an "investigation" was started, and rather than be ordered to actually FIX the problem and do a recall - this way was cheaper. I also believe the manufacturer of the fuel-strips is eating at least the cost of the strips. BMW may (or may not) be paying out of their pocket the labor to install them.

BTW - I still suggest that anyone experiencing a failure follow the explicit instructions in the sticky as to how to report the failure to NHTSA. It takes about 5 minutes. Someday the 12 year warranties will start expiring, and people will end up paying for the fuel strips again, if they're even available at that time.
 
I believe the reason BMW gave us the 12 year warranty was two fold: (1) The fuel-strip failure survey sticky at the top of this forum (2) Enough reports to NHTSA/DOT that an "investigation" was started, and rather than be ordered to actually FIX the problem and do a recall - this way was cheaper. I also believe the manufacturer of the fuel-strips is eating at least the cost of the strips. BMW may (or may not) be paying out of their pocket the labor to install them.

BTW - I still suggest that anyone experiencing a failure follow the explicit instructions in the sticky as to how to report the failure to NHTSA. It takes about 5 minutes. Someday the 12 year warranties will start expiring, and people will end up paying for the fuel strips again, if they're even available at that time.
I try to looks at the up-side of things. BMW is supporting the owner of their product.
I also try to realize that even if BMW was being reimbursed for the fuel-strips and related, BMW would had rather skipped the whole episode.
OM
BTW, I have heard of Honda replacing frames on 10 year old Goldwings- due to cracking.
While all/any of this is kinda a PITA, it's much better than receiving a :dunno when a problem such as this arises.
 
I try to looks at the up-side of things. BMW is supporting the owner of their product.
I also try to realize that even if BMW was being reimbursed for the fuel-strips and related, BMW would had rather skipped the whole episode.
OM
It's good they're "supporting" (even if the basic problem remains - and strips continue to fail at a somewhat predictable rate) us, but don't attribute it to altruistic motives on the part of BMW. They did it to avoid a more costly downside of having to actually fix the problem. They first and foremost remain a profit driven company.
 
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