cjack
K Bikes Complex by Choice
Doug - my latest strip is (knock on oak-grain formica woodlike substance..) the longest lasting one I've had. It has the "Eilenberger modification.." (as my local dealer's mechanics call it..) On the R1200R the fuel strip runs directly below the filler hole. If you open the cap and look in with a maglite - you'll see it. The thought came to me - that in NJ we have emission collars on many gas pumps, meanig to turn the pump on one has to really push the nozzle pretty far into the opening. Doing this - it either will hit the fuel strip, or only be an inch or so away from it.. which means high-pressure fuel is directly impacting the fuel strip. That can't be a good thing.
I thought about it - and thought that adding a deflector shield above the fuel strip might help. I discussed it with a very savy mechanic at the dealership last time it was in getting a strip - and he thought it sounded good and would think about how to do it. He was quite proud that he thought of using a piece cut out of an oil bottle, with a few punched holes in it, and some tie-wraps to hold it to the top of the fuel strip. Now gasoline is deflected away from the strip when filling up.
And this strip is going on it's 3rd year - which is a real record for me (my first R1200R had 7 or 8 strips in 100,000 miles, this one had gone through 3 by about 20,000 miles). Does the deflector help? Dunno for sure - just anecdotally it seems to..
That is in line with my assumption that all the failures are in the connection of the strip to the connector at the top in that epoxy block. I measured the strip in a dozen or more strips at the dealership here and none of them had any issue with the resistance of the sensor or the heater. So no issue with the fuel on the strip itself. They all had a disconnect at the connection inside the epoxy block. Mechanical wiggling may well be the cause...vibration included as well. It is just a poor way of connecting the strip.