2008 R1200RT engine intermittently quits

I am troubleshooting a recent symptom where the engine will die without warning.

When this happens it has been with fully warmed engine ridden for at least an hour, in first gear just beginning to move off of a stop. It has not done it at highway speeds.
In this state the start button is inop and the only way to restart it is to recycle the key in the ignition i.e. switch ignition off, then back on and it will start right away.

There is no change in the instrument panel display when this happens.

To troubleshoot, I have bypassed the kickstand safety switch.
Tightened battery terminals.
Wiggling the key in the ignition or kill switch has no effect.
There is no EWS display.
This does not act like a faulty FPC. I have had that happen and the current symptom does not behave like fuel starvation.
This symptom is as though the kill switch has been moved to stop.

Ideas?

Regards
Kim

What is the idle speed?

As you accelerate, at what RPM does it die.

I would try key off, key on, roll throttle fully 3 times, key off, key on and start bike.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm not sure of the idle rpm but it does seem to die right off of an idle. That is one consistent factor. I have also noticed what feels like an engine stall/hickup during shifting when the throttle is rolled completely off.

What does the procedure you recommend do? Do you think the BMW Dealer will be able to read a code or would it be a waste of time (and shop rates) to take it to them?

Whole lot of things that could do this throw no codes. Answer is a big maybe and relying on traditional troubleshooting
That R motor hates air leaks- its already way lean from factor - any chance you've got one?
And dead or flakey sticks have been known to cause odd problems
Probably just going to have to slog through the troubleshooting drill

Thanks,

I have a Booster Plug installed, so I'm guessing that would address the extreme lean. I'll go around the motor and check for air leaks. BTW does anyone know what function the small spacer between the retaining clip and the connector on the TPS connector plug serves? I was inspecting a 2007 GS TPS connector(don't ask me why this caught my attention) and noticed that my RT does not have this spacer installed.

I have pulled all connectors (including fuel pump and spark plugs) and cleaned and coated with dielectric grease. Anyway to check the spark plug coils for correct output?

Kim

kcravens said:

What does the procedure you recommend do? Do you think the BMW Dealer will be able to read a code or would it be a waste of time (and shop rates) to take it to them?

Click to expand...

It is a procedure to reset the "learning" of the throttle position by the Engine Control computer that controls the fuel injection.

I'd suggest:

1. Adjust valves. Too tight valves can cause this.

2. Remove "di-electric" grease from terminals. The terminals are well sealed against environmental intrusion on BMW motorcycles - di-electric grease is non-conductive, and unneeded unless you're playing submarine with your RT. "De-Oxit" would be a better choice if you are concerned about corrosion.

3. Find someone with a GS-911. Beg them to let you take up one of their 10 VIN#'s. Have them reset the "0" position on your throttle-body(TB) stepper motors. This should happen every time you start the bike IF you let the speedo/tach dance complete. Most people don't - so doing a manual reset is a good thing once in a while.

4. Check the operation of your O2 sensors with the GS-911. You can plot the output of the sensors - they should start showing a sawtooth pattern with about a 1 second interval, within 10-15 seconds of startup (heated O2 sensors are a good thing!) If one doesn't behave correctly the ECU uses the remaining one to set engine fuel mixture. Failure of one has been known to give the symptom you describe. If both fail - the ECU defaults to a "map" of mixture vs RPM - and again - the symptom you describe could be a result of this.

5. As others suggested - check for any vacuum leaks. Make certain the vacuum port on the starboard (right) side throttle body has a cap on it, and that the charcoal canister is correctly hooked up to the port (left) side TB. If the charcoal canister has been removed (for test purposes I'm sure..) make sure that side's vacuum port is plugged up.

6. Remove the booster plug. It's not actually doing anything anyway (the ECU self-adjusts it out of circuit over time..)

7. Use the GS-911 to reset "adaptations" - then teach the ECU the throttle position (one full twist of the throttle with the ignition on will do that) and the gear indicator (go for a ride and use all 6 gears.) That will also help the ECU forget that there was ever a "booster plug" trying to confuse it.

Let us know how that works out.

What won't work: throttle-body-balance will not effect idle speed or quality unless you've totally borked up the adjustment. The throttle bodies are closed at idle and all air passes around the butterfly via the stepper-motor controlled idle-bypass valves.

Thanks for the advice.

When I get back in town from work next week I will go through that to-do list and let you know what I find.

Electrical fire

Update on original post and man am I pi**ed off.

After pulling into the Office Max parking lot last week, the bike suddenly quit and electrical smoke began to billow out from between the forks. This was a full blown electrical fire.

I finally got time this weekend to pull the Tupperware and fuel tank. Somehow a short developed in the ignition wire harness and melted a red wire all the way down into the main harness assembly. This is gonna take a lot of work on wiring and who knows what it did to the ECU. I am surprised at the lack of circuit protection. This short appears to have started in the area between the forks where some wear occurred on the harness wrap. I have not found any scorch marks on metal yet.

I am lucky this didn't happen on I-10. This could very well have resulted in a fatality.

First contact is to BMW Motorrad USA.
Next is to the NHTSA

Any thoughts?

My thought would be checking with some recyclers about the availability of a replacement harness. Thing is - without unwrapping the entire harness, you can't be certain what damage was done and where. That is doable - but it is easier to replace the entire thing. Problem being - new cost on the harness is a considerable percentage of the bike's value. I managed to snag a complete R1200R harness years ago off ebay for very small $$ - it's been on my shelf in the garage preventing this sort of thing ever happening to one of my R1200R's.

That's the route I'd take. Lots of stuff has to be removed to replace the harness - but the same stuff would have to be removed to inspect the old harness correctly. My WAG - it failed where BMW put a tie-wrap too tightly around the harness. First thing I've done with my recent BMW's is go through them and replace almost all the factory installed tie-wraps with ones that aren't crushing the wiring. Their auto-tensioner/snipper tiewrap tool pulls them way too tight. They've been doing that since K75 days actually.

As far as the lack of fusing - BMW has done that also - since way before K75's. The main engine power is unfused and unprotected (the ZFE doesn't have the ability to shut it down), I think their philosophy (agree with it or not) is - better that it starts burning up and you can pull off the road with the remaining time before the engine shuts down rather than instant shutdown. At least that's the only logic I can think of accounting for the unfused circuit.

Good luck with it - please let us know how it works out for you.

elecrical fire

Thanks for the suggestions.

I was shocked but not surprised when I checked the prices for a new harness on the MaxBmw parts fiche and found it to be in the neighborhood of $2000.00 I will check Beemer Boneyard and see what I find.

This was a factory harness routing and tie-wrap. No mods had been done, nor had the wiring been disturbed in that area. I think they routed it through the fork area with no friction protection and the fork movement over time wore through the fabric wrap. I am still surprised at the lack of insulation/protection in this critical area of the forks. I have already removed the tank and exposed the complete harness. That wire is fried all the way to the ECU.

Kim

found this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2008-BMW-R1...ash=item5d6eb0b9d1:g:2e0AAOSwsW9Ywxf5&vxp=mtr

and this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/B238-2008-0...e8b42b5&pid=100005&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=401289034193

Wiring harness

wyman.winn said:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2008-BMW-R1...ash=item5d6eb0b9d1:g:2e0AAOSwsW9Ywxf5&vxp=mtr

and this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/B238-2008-0...e8b42b5&pid=100005&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=401289034193

Click to expand...

Thanks,

kcravens said:

Thanks,

Are the wiring harnesses for a particular year built to accept all options regardless of what the bike is sold with?

Click to expand...

not a clue...

why don't you try to repair your damaged harness....replace or insulate the offending wire/wires and give i try....what can you loose but a bit of time...

Realoem.com shows six different part numbers for the main wiring harness, depending on various combinations of factory options. I'd suggest entering the last seven characters of your VIN to see which one applies to your particular bike.

Unless you have more than a half dozen damaged wires, I'd probably attempt to fix the harness you have.