Exhausted ST Exhaust

[CraigT]

Lastnight, when doing my ritual winter monthly fire bike up for a few minutes, I noted that there is a hairline crack at the weld of the can to the connecting pipe to the cat. The crack is enough for me to feel the blast from the exhaust when running (engine, not me !).

 

Naturally, it'll be put to the dealer for a replacement, but this may mean a discounted Remus earlier than I thought!

 

Question:- Anyone else's ST exhaust broken/cracked? (and... how many times have you dropped it !)

[tallman]

Craig,

good luck with the replacement.

Just my .02, but firing up a bike for a short time w/out running it up to warm up temperatures and riding it may not be a good thing.

Can lead to condensation, rust, battery drain.

May be better to put away for winter keep battery charged, start riding it again when weather permits.

YMMV

[marcopolo]

Craig,

good luck with the replacement.

Just my .02, but firing up a bike for a short time w/out running it up to warm up temperatures and riding it may not be a good thing.

Can lead to condensation, rust, battery drain.

May be better to put away for winter keep battery charged, start riding it again when weather permits.

YMMV

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

[JayW]

I agree. It is possible that this ritual even contributed to formation of the crack, though it still should not have happened so early in its life. The warranty should cover it.

 

Jay

[George]

Craig, I hope you get it sorted soon!!

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Betcha' the crack is adjacent to the weld and not at the weld itself. It is an indicator of a poor quality weld and the dealer should give you no problems in re warranty. I'd be looking to get a deal on an after market can but, BMW, who is paying the warranty bill, will never go for it.

[CraigT]

You are right. I first noticed a tiny hole which was void of any metal, assumed it would be the slag from the weld, but as noted above, the complete weld looks like it will give way at some stage as the crack runs along the lower edge of the weld is about half way round the pipe now.

 

I'm not holding out for BMW giving me anything other than a new can, but I may use it as a bargaining tool for the Remus. i.e. heavily discounted

[CraigT]

On the warm up matter, I run the machine maybe once a month when in winter hideaway, with the garage doors & windows open to cool the bike, I normally let it run up until I've got a few bars reading on the oil temp and all water vapour from the exhaust has ceased. When it gets switched off the whole bike is warm including the can.

 

I've always done this on my bikes. It's got the battery tender on continual too.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Not to belabor the point, but, the dealer does not pay the warranty claim, it is payed by BMW corporate. Therefore, you won't have any bargaining power with the dealer when it comes to getting an after market exhaust. He still has to buy that from Rhemus.

 

One faint hope would be that he accepts your warranty canister from BMW and puts it into his stock with the hope of a later sale and then applies his cost towards a discount on the Rhemus pipe.

 

Another option would be to just bring the can to a competent welder equipped to do GTAW (gas tungsten arc welding, commonly called TIG). Shouldn't cost more than 20 Euro or so to run a seal bead over the crack. Caution, do not have this done with the cannister on the bike, too much potential for damage to the electronics.