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Headlight Ordeal.

story

New member
I have a "13" K1600GTL with 31K miles. Last month the headlight started acting up, some times it wouldn't turn on and sometimes it would go out while riding. Then it finally went out altogether. My GS911 said it had an open circuit. The dealers computer said the same thing and went into component based trouble shooting. Checked power and ground at the light unit plug, and all checked good. The hole front of the bike has to come apart to get the light unit out. We put a new light controller in (a little over $500) but the bulb was also bad. BMW wants over $300 for a bulb. We got the identical bulb from an auto parts store for $120. The one thing that saved me some money was a service letter from BMW to reflash all the electronics on the bike and would pay up to 5 hours labor for the reflash. We were able to reassemble most of the bike while it was reflashing. $1000 later my headlight is fixed. :banghead:banghead:banghead:violin
 
Tricky head lighs

These K1600 headlights are tricky. Mine went out just after departing Milwaukee heading back to San Antonio, no where near a BMW dealer. So our group avoided riding before and after dark to get home (thanks guys). The local dealer, Alamo Power Sports, went the extra mile on this repair. Apparently, the diagnostics tools cannot distinguish between a problem with the bulb and the bulb controller. Both are expensive. They opted to change the bulb and that did not work. However, after consulting with experts closer to the motherland, they ordered a second bulb. Turns out the first bulb was defective. Total damages included the $360 bulb (63 12 8 523 990) and $200 in labor. Not an easily serviceable item. Now if they could just correct the overheating problem...
 

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