Unobtainable starter relay for '03 K1200GT

[indygt]

My 2003 K1200GT has been languishing at Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles in Cape Girardeau for more than seven weeks while they try to get BMW Motorrad in Germany to come up with a fully functional starter relay.
My bike began having intermittent starter issues - pressing the starter button multiple times before the starter engaged - five years ago. We replaced the right control cluster at a cost of about $450, but the problem persisted. Finally, when I was unable to start the bike after 150 button pushes, I hauled it 150 miles up to Cape Girardeau. The guys there tested the starter relay and found it was faulty. And, apparently, so are all of the starter relays for that bike in the U.S. because BMW has put an embargo on them.
The Grass Roots guys managed to get a new one out of BMW in Germany a couple of weeks ago. They installed it and the bike started perfectly. But none of the lights would work. So they're trying to either get BMW to cough up a fully functional relay (best solution) or get permission from BMW to put in a jumper that would make the faulty one turn on the lights (sketchy solution).
The problem seems to be that the K1200GTs, or at least the '03 models, used a unique starter relay not found on other bikes.
Has anyone else had a problem like this?

 

[pglaves]

Several somebodies must have wrecked some of those bikes - and some of the dismantlers - Boneyard, Re-psycle, etc must have a relay box with that relay in it. And it must have been working or how else to ride and wreck the bike?

 

[indygt]

Several somebodies must have wrecked some of those bikes - and some of the dismantlers - Boneyard, Re-psycle, etc must have a relay box with that relay in it. And it must have been working or how else to ride and wreck the bike?

I'm about ready to give up on the dealer network and try that approach.

 

[jpdicarlo]

I'm surprised to read that the starter relay is unique to the 03 K12GT. Please note I have no first-hand experience with your problem. But the various on-line microfiches list the starter relay on your bike also being used on the 02-04 K12RS, as well as the 04 K12GT.

https://www.ascycles.com/2/MicroList?id=51580&catID=61&catname=61 General Electrical System

Have you tried approaching these guys about availability?

 

[58058D]

I shop at the link above a lot. Max and Bob's are also good places. When I go to the A&S site, if something is not sold for whatever reason, it has not been available when I hit the CART button to add it in. This item: STARTER RELAY - 61357663945 - appears available $203. It is the 'retrofit kit' for those of us that have the earlier version that 'could' leave us stranded if we fry the relay trying to start with a low battery. This kit, according to the service bulletin, makes it so a low voltage does not cause a problem. For your bike, this is the standard already, so, you may only need: RELAY - 61357655540 at $129, also indicated as available. This relay is common to all Brick's '01-'06 internationally, '02-06 USA, as I understand, RS/GT/LT.

No indication on the site that there is an embargo. But......maybe you can make a call to one of these major online sources and find out. If they are 'embargoed', that would indicate a bad batch and folks that got them would likely be letting us know?

Beemerboneyard often has them, but are currently out of stock: http://www.beemerboneyard.com/61357655540.html

Item# BB61357655540

$55.00

CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK

Product Description

Good working starter relay for all K1200RS, K1200GT (before 2006), and all K1200LT bikes. This is the newer 8-pin relay. If your bike currently has a starter relay with a different number of pins then you would need to buy a retro-fit relay kit from BMW to use this relay. New these are $111, save here!