04 r1150r fuel pump wire pass through failure.

[wbrakman]

Hello,
I have an r1150r that quit running abruptly. Trouble shooting revealed it wasn't getting fuel. When I removed the fuel pump plate from the tank I found that the pump wires had corroded off of the black plastic passthrough. Does anyone know a way to replace the passthrough? BMW only sells the pump plate as a complete unit.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hank

 

[cajunrider]

I managed to file the plastic down enough to reach bare metal on the electrical connectors inside that passthrough, then soldered new wires onto those tabs.

After that, a good portion of JB Weld to seal the passthrough. Obviously, grinding on that plastic WILL cause it to leak fuel... and use the liquid epoxy type JB Weld that comes in a tube so that it's easily spreadable.

It's not ideal... it's not pretty... but it has held up perfectly fine for at least two multi-week trips now.

 

[gsaddict]

The pass thru material is nylon. There is no known adhesive that will bond to it reliably.
Keep a good eye on it for leakage.
Euromoto electrics carry fuel pump plates but they just carry the OE at the same price.

 

[pauls1150]

Just a thought... how about encapsulating the entire connection area with the JB? Have the edges bond to the surrounding metal... It would still leak inside, but would it eventually migrate to outside of the bondempucky?

My amber "Low Fuel" light quit a while ago, and quick troubleshooting at the 4-pin Molex showed my issue to be inside the tank too (grounding pin 4 lights it up), so maybe I'm looking at a similar job...

And somebody will probably demean Cajun's hose clamps...

 

[wbrakman]

How about this?

Thanks to all for the advice. An email to a friend who races cars gave me this idea for a passthrough. Any idea if this would work well?

https://www.racetronix.biz/p/universal-bulkhead-wiring-system-4-way/bcws-001

 

[wbrakman]

BTW Pauls1150, love the BOC avatar!

 

[pauls1150]

Racetronics - you'd still have to have a way of guaranteeing a perfect and permanent seal...

and an older thread for your dining and dancing pleasure -
https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?47015-Just-a-test

 

[senseamidmadness]

From what I understand of those bulkhead fittings, they have a limited use life as they use rubber to seal the hole they go through. Would probably work great but would require regular replacement as the rubber breaks down from exposure to gasoline.

One of the first problems I had to pay to fix on my R850R was a dead ground wire that went in/through the fuel sender. Neither the fuel light switch nor the fuel pump had any power. I ended up buying a complete used sending unit off Ebay for close to $300. It's a guess as to whether sitting in ethanol gasoline (the previous owner's years of neglect) killed the wire just like it rusted half the sender plate, or it simply broke from time. I'd lean towards the former. I was looking into drilling through the thing to make a new ground wire, or using those bulkhead fittings, and decided it wasn't worth putting any time into the very rusty sender I had.

I wish BMW had made ours like the classic K-bikes where the whole fuel pump and sender assembly went into the tank from the filler hole.

 

[cajunrider]

And somebody will probably demean Cajun's hose clamps...

It only gets worse when you look at the REST of my bike...

 

[pauls1150]

Cool - ride proud!

 

[davidk]

I had a similar problem on my friends Ducati. Rather than using JB weld to seal it, I used is a similar product designed for gas tank repairs. Again a 2 part epoxy but much more viscous. That repair is going on 3 years old now with no signs of leakage. Good luck on your repair.

 

[eastbay]

I wish BMW had made ours like the classic K-bikes where the whole fuel pump and sender assembly went into the tank from the filler hole.

Just rehabbed a K75 and used a chicom scooter fuel level sender to seal the tank as the previous owner threw away the corroded sending unit. It bolts up and seals perfectly. you have to remove the sender and solder new wired, but about $40 [the fuel resistant wire is half the cost] Yea, too bad it won't work for our oilheads.