yet another fuel strip saga

[AncientMariner]

On my old '10 CBR (Classic Black Roadster) the fuel strip failed at about 7 months. I scheduled a warrantee repair which my dealer called to cancel because there were no replacement strips available in the system. Rode all summer with black tape blocking the reminder light. As fall approached, the strip came back to life and continued to work all winter and through the following summer, right up to the trade in.

Apparently, it's a breakin issue.

Bruce

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hey! Guess what! I joined the failed fuel strip club! Do I get a prize?

Yesterday afternoon at the end of riding I filled, but only to the first stop. to that bar that the nozzle rests against. My thought is that's where "18 liters" happens, And anything above that is "overfilling," a practice the Germans disdain. So, I am doing the run from Jasper, Ark back home to New Orleans. I want to see when the low fuel light goes on, and as mentioned earlier, at 40 miles to empty it illuminates.
I had a Valero in my sights, 8 miles away.
At 37 miles to empty, I feel the dead engine feel, no rpms, lights on nobody home.
I coast to a stop on I 530 south of Little Rock. Try to turn the engine, nothing.
I shake the tank back and forth and try again and she starts!
I inch out into traffic trying to decide if it is more prudent to go slow, perhaps getting more miles out of the fumes I unleashed, or go fast and roll farther when the inevitable death comes.
I choose sort of fast, but I tuck in behind a large transport and I am nursing her in 6th and my mileage is like 68, 67, 71.
I make it the 8 miles into the valero at 180 miles on the trip meter and fill up to that first stop...the "18 liter" mark. 4.123 gallons which comes out to just under 16 liters. Then I over fill it to the bottom of the fill tube. 5.3 gallons or just over 20 liters.

So, how much does it cost to have one of these replaced? Is it a DIY project?
I think I find a reliable low fuel light and an always easily visible trip odometer, like on my 1150, preferable to an unreliable low fuel light, a misleading miles to empty readout, and an LCD trip odometer.

[Catchina]

Hey! Guess what! I joined the failed fuel strip club! Do I get a prize?

Yesterday afternoon at the end of riding I filled, but only to the first stop. to that bar that the nozzle rests against. My thought is that's where "18 liters" happens, And anything above that is "overfilling," a practice the Germans disdain. So, I am doing the run from Jasper, Ark back home to New Orleans. I want to see when the low fuel light goes on, and as mentioned earlier, at 40 miles to empty it illuminates.
I had a Valero in my sights, 8 miles away.
At 37 miles to empty, I feel the dead engine feel, no rpms, lights on nobody home.
I coast to a stop on I 530 south of Little Rock. Try to turn the engine, nothing.
I shake the tank back and forth and try again and she starts!
I inch out into traffic trying to decide if it is more prudent to go slow, perhaps getting more miles out of the fumes I unleashed, or go fast and roll farther when the inevitable death comes.
I choose sort of fast, but I tuck in behind a large transport and I am nursing her in 6th and my mileage is like 68, 67, 71.
I make it the 8 miles into the valero at 180 miles on the trip meter and fill up to that first stop...the "18 liter" mark. 4.123 gallons which comes out to just under 16 liters. Then I over fill it to the bottom of the fill tube. 5.3 gallons or just over 20 liters.

So, how much does it cost to have one of these replaced? Is it a DIY project?
I think I find a reliable low fuel light and an always easily visible trip odometer, like on my 1150, preferable to an unreliable low fuel light, a misleading miles to empty readout, and an LCD trip odometer.

Symptoms were different for me. I had about a half tank left, just riding normally and the low fuel light suddenly came on, the gas gauge went to empty. It stayed that way until he fuel strip was replaced under warenty.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The heater strip is one one side of the sensor, the level strip is on the other. Voltage is passed through the heater strip to warm the sensor up. The other side is a "varistor" type of strip - where resistance changes with temperature.. the fuel tends to cool the part of the strip that it is immersed in - so the resistance of the sensor side of the strip will change with fuel level.

So - we're not heating the low fuel lamp - and no - there is no way to keep the low fuel lamp when the strip is bypassed since the low fuel lamp is triggered (partly) by the fuel level measurement.

I found the above, from Don E.

I wonder if it's possible to install the new float system in our 12 s. Everything old is new again it seems.

[parkec]

After reading all of the multiple failures...I might just not pick up the strip I have on order.

[deilenberger]

After reading all of the multiple failures...I might just not pick up the strip I have on order.

BMW does warranty their parts for 2 years, so if you manage more then one failure every 2 years (so far I'm on strip #4).. you'll be under perpetual warranty (the warranty starts over with each new strip.) Not such a bad deal..

[Dr. Strangelove]

Got it done this past Saturday.
$296
At least now it is under warranty

[BigEasy]

Hey! Guess what! I joined the failed fuel strip club! Do I get a prize?


So, how much does it cost to have one of these replaced? Is it a DIY project?

Well I guess yue found out it's about a $300 dollar bill at the dealer. I would think that it could be a DIY process if you're pretty handy. I had mine replaced on the first day of a trip this summer and the dealer in St. Louis had me in and out in under two hours. I think it's more of a teadious process of multiple fasteners and being cautious not to scratch paint work than anything else. The only thing that might be tricky is calibrating the new one, or it may just learn on its own???

[Dr. Strangelove]

It means removing the tank
The zero calibration seems to take about 30 minutes. Then the tank goes back on.
They recd filling the tank then so it learns what Full is. And that took about 20 minutes but on the road riding home
They recd checking it to see if the math of the sensor/obc jives with the math of figuring out on your own comparing your computed mpg with what the obc says you have left. This means coming real close to filling to the exact same level on a couple of fill ups
I haven't done it yet, but will use the built in stop where the nozzle rests.
On my bike that corresponds to 4.1gallons from vapor propulsion.


Merry Christmas!