Fix for Outside Temperture Guage - Warranty?

[Pictou]

The outside temperature reading on my bike has always been wacky. I had the notion that BMW had a fix or partial fix for it and that this fix was covered under warranty. I asked my dealer about it recently and they tell me there is a fix but its not covered under warranty. They are telling me its a 1.5 to 2 hour job (which would likely cost me close to $200 by the time it was all done).

 

I am not inclined to pay for the fix as it is not worth that much to me but I might try to take a run at BMW if others got this done under warranty. So if any one had the fix applied under warranty I would like to know about it. I am not trying to martial a legal assault on BMW but just would like to have a bit of information before I approach them.

[IanW]

Andrew

I have a 05 R1200RT and had my sensor re-located to the front under warranty, I do not know if they done any upgrade to the computer. The temp used to read high, now it is accurate.

Ian

[FrankBrown]

Unless you have more than 36,000 miles on it, they will cover it.

[HandyAndy]

Andrew.

I also have an 05 RT that has had a lot of problems with the acuracy of the temp indication.

I had the "fix" done under warranty (bullitin 6200106(006)) but it still was way off.

They tried to fix it a second time and the result is that it reads 10 deg F too cold! They even replaced the temp sensor but it did not help! As the system does not show any faults they say that it is operating as per design!

Hope you have better luck with yours, but it should be covered under warranty.

The attachment is a scan of the two invoices when they attempted to fix mine. You can see that everything was covered under warranty.

Andy

[marcopolo]

Unless you have more than 36,000 miles on it, they will cover it.

 

He's from Canada. His warranty is three years/unlimited kilometres.

[drzep]

I had the fix done under warranty. The BC went from reading ~8 F too low to 5-8 F too high. Just run a few trials with a stand-alone thermometer and figure out what your on-board discrepancy is, then just mentally adjust what your BC reads to the actual outside temp.

[SteveMc]

I had the warranty fix. It was reading 10 degrees to high before the fix and now reads about 6 degrees to high after the fix. I decided to accept that it is flawed and do the math.

[jwurbel]

I have an 05 RT. Temp was off by 8-10 degrees too high, and in Phoenix, that can cause a literal melt down. With the repositioning of the sensor and reprograming, the read out matches the signs on banks, etc. However, the reading on the local stations is usually different. Who knows? Bottom line is that if the bike is under warranty the correction is covered. If your dealer is jamming you, find another.

[gordiet]

I had the same problem on my 05 RT and it was fixed under warrenty. No questions or any other BS!Find a new dealer. GT

[kenzst]

Both the sofware upgrade and relocating the sensor completed under warranty by BMW Louisville during my 18K check. Works much better now.

[Pictou]

Thanks for the atttachment. That should help me with BMW. Also thanks to all that responded it'll help me with my discussion with BMW.

[Pictou]

Looks like this is a snooze you loose situation. I talked to the dealer and the read me the BMW bulletin on the issue. The deal is that BMW would only consider this a warranty item if the fix was done by December 31, 2006. The dealer won't get paid if the fix it under warranty. I will call BMW and plead my case. My bike is still in warranty and it seems odd that I can't have something fixed which has already been acknowledged as a warranty item.

[Dick_at_Lake_Tahoe_NV]

Before I had the temp gauge on my R12RT fixed under warantee, move probe and install new software, it always read 10-degrees low. Now it only reads 9 1/2 degrees low, so they're homing in on it. You may ask how I know down to this level of accuracy--because I bought one of these of $1.95 + shipping--and it's dead-nuts on.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-Fish-Terrar...1QQcmdZViewItem

[AdventurePoser]

I have an 05 R12RT which I bought used in November 2006. One of the first things I noticed was that my thermometer reads 8 degrees too high. I didn't know there was a service bulletin for a fix! I have just been doing the math myself!

 

Steve

[Pictou]

I have been doing the math since I got the bike so I guess if they won't fix it I can live with it. Just kind of bugs me that they won't do this even though the bike is still in warranty.

[HandyAndy]

Looks like this is a snooze you loose situation. I talked to the dealer and the read me the BMW bulletin on the issue. The deal is that BMW would only consider this a warranty item if the fix was done by December 31, 2006.

 

Andrew,

I looked back to see what date mine was done.

The original "fix" that relocated the sensor to the front has an invoce date of Aug 28 2006.

The second invoice when they replaced the sensor is dated March 28 2007.

Seems odd to me that they have this qualifying date, since if it isn't reading the right temp it must be defective!

The reason they changed the sensor on my bike was that they found a code in the computer that indicated a bad connection, of course I had the sensor unplugged and that was the reason for the code!

Every time I take the bike in I complain about how inacurate the temp guage is so they are probably sick of hearing it.

From the replys you have gotten it seems that there really is no fix, either you have one that is close or not, and you just have to live with it!

[Pictou]

Just a quick update. The dealer had told me that it was out of his hands I would need to deal with BMW directly on the issue. I had agreed with the dealer that I would call BMW and let them know if I got any where. Despite this the dealer took the initiative to talk to BMW anyway and see if the issue could be resolved. BMW did agree to make the repair under warranty. I never did get around to calling BMW.

 

He did warn me that it may not be a perfect fix but it should be better than it was.

 

Although not related to this they also responded to my complaint that the bags were loose and approved the installation of updated inner bags and bags mounts.

 

I have to say that so far both my dealer (Budds in Oakville) and BMW have been very good on the issues that I have had.