Last June I was taking my daughter for a Sunday afternoon ride on my '02 R when the engine died 2 miles from home. Walking the bike home was a great advertisement for BMW reliability. My initial diagnosis of fuel pump failure proved correct and it was replaced under the warranty. At the same time, the dealership fixed an unnoticed oil leak in the rear drive shaft boot.
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced either of these problems with their R.
RonBomb
Warranty Work
Moderator: Moderators
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leno
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FGanger
Ron,
My clutch went out last Summer at 38,000 miles. I'm sure its early demise was due to my pulling a pop-up camper. While replacing the clutch the dealership found a lot of problems in the drive system. The drive shaft boot was one of the places leaking. But just about every seal/gasket and one bearing was bad.
Of course at 38,000 miles I was off warranty. Chicago BMW did the work; they are good guys and ate much of the labor cost. However, my take on it was that with the optimistic BMW speedometers, I was under the 36,000 miles. The Service Manager's words were, "Don't even go there." Apparently BMW does not acknowledge any error in their speedometers.
I have just under 50,000 miles on my ‘03 R bike and the above items were
the only problems I’ve had with the bike. By the way, I replaced my original clutch plate with one of the ceramic ones. They are guaranteed forever.
Frank
My clutch went out last Summer at 38,000 miles. I'm sure its early demise was due to my pulling a pop-up camper. While replacing the clutch the dealership found a lot of problems in the drive system. The drive shaft boot was one of the places leaking. But just about every seal/gasket and one bearing was bad.
Of course at 38,000 miles I was off warranty. Chicago BMW did the work; they are good guys and ate much of the labor cost. However, my take on it was that with the optimistic BMW speedometers, I was under the 36,000 miles. The Service Manager's words were, "Don't even go there." Apparently BMW does not acknowledge any error in their speedometers.
I have just under 50,000 miles on my ‘03 R bike and the above items were
the only problems I’ve had with the bike. By the way, I replaced my original clutch plate with one of the ceramic ones. They are guaranteed forever.
Frank
The fuel pump in my '02 R is still going strong, but I did indeed have that oil leak from the final drive boot. A friend with an '02 RS had it too, shortly before his final drive failed, so I called it to the dealer's attention at 6,000 miles, but they weren't terribly interested. They did note it in the service records, and when I came in later for a new tire, they saw it was still leaking, said "we've gotta fix that," and did.
I lost two batteries in the first 18 months, though, which didn't leave me feeling warm & fuzzy. The third has outlasted either of the first two and is still going strong, so it may have been just a bad run of batteries on the dealer shelf.
- Martin
I lost two batteries in the first 18 months, though, which didn't leave me feeling warm & fuzzy. The third has outlasted either of the first two and is still going strong, so it may have been just a bad run of batteries on the dealer shelf.
- Martin
FGanger-
Several years ago on another web site I read that the Speedometer error on the R is 10% plus 1 1/2 mph. That seems to be accurate from my experience. Several weeks after I got the bike I was testing out a new Parabellum windshield on an interstate at an indicated 91mph. The cop who stopped me said he clocked me at 82mph. For the record, I ended up with just a warning and haven't been stopped since.
RonBomb
Several years ago on another web site I read that the Speedometer error on the R is 10% plus 1 1/2 mph. That seems to be accurate from my experience. Several weeks after I got the bike I was testing out a new Parabellum windshield on an interstate at an indicated 91mph. The cop who stopped me said he clocked me at 82mph. For the record, I ended up with just a warning and haven't been stopped since.
RonBomb
Motorcycling is like flying on the ground
speedo/odo error
That's probably about right but the issue here is the odometer error. These are typically pretty darn close. Mine is about 2% off. It is easy to check if you want.RonBomb wrote:FGanger-
Several years ago on another web site I read that the Speedometer error on the R is 10% plus 1 1/2 mph. That seems to be accurate from my experience. Several weeks after I got the bike I was testing out a new Parabellum windshield on an interstate at an indicated 91mph. The cop who stopped me said he clocked me at 82mph. For the record, I ended up with just a warning and haven't been stopped since.
RonBomb
Mark