direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 My RT began to die about once a month within five minutes of starting without warning. Five minutes later, restart and no further problems the remainder of the day. After being late for work, and enduring a humiliating tendon-stretching uphill push in order to allow gravity to rectify what my impatience had done to my battery charge level, it was off to the Alternative Beemer Center for dx and repair. Many hours, much bucks, one used Hall sensor, along with some other stuff I needed to do eventually anyway (Alternator belt, fuel filter, quick connects), I was finally homeward bound. The next morning, within 25 feet of the same spot the Ice Maiden went to sleep the day before, a throaty roar suddenly turned into ...Put put put put... This time I waited five full minutes on my watch. First press of the starter, she roars to life, and gives no trouble the rest of the day. Huh? I DID beg them to check the coils while the Ice Maiden was naked, but, after all, they are the boffins who know best. If not the Hall sensor...What? Anyone have any ideas what could be happening? Link to comment
karlheinz Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 You trusted a used hall sender? Link to comment
Tony_K Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 one used Hall sensor A used hall sensor is not a reconditioned hall sensor. Contact bmwmick (user name) on this board about outfitting the unit properly. or... Maybe your bike just gets sleepy. Link to comment
direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 I trust my shop...Dave Clark's Alternative Beemer Center. He supplied/installed it Link to comment
direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 She never got sleepy before... Link to comment
direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 Is it not VERY coincidental that it would fail in EXACTLY the same way? You think it is still the Hall sensor? Link to comment
effexer1 Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 My money is on a fuel problem. Not that I have an answer, but the same amount of fuel gets burned then it quits. I know nothing about it, but if it has carbs, sounds like the bowls are empty at that distance from home. But... why it restarts and runs ok all day is a mystery. I also suspect that someone here has the answer and I'll be looking forward to hearing it. Link to comment
direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 Fuel injection. Heavy fuel smell if I crank her when she is in "sleep mode." I am sure it is ignition. Link to comment
KER Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 some more details would be helpful. Did the motor just die or did everything shut off, lights, RID, dash? If just the motor, did the RID still work ie: faulty kickstand issue maybe...... Link to comment
bmweerman Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 I trust my shop...Dave Clark's Alternative Beemer Center. He supplied/installed it I do not doubt that your dealer is trustworthy and rocks and all that, but my understanding is that it is not necessarily the Hall sensor so much as the actual wiring it is attached to that sucks. Could be that your bike is getting up to a certain temp at that particular point in your ride and that is when the wiring shorts out. Just a thought. IMHO contact bmwmick his rebuilt sensors with upgraded harnesses ROCK. I LOVE the ION cannon idea though OH yeah and don't forget to check the carbs! ROTFL Link to comment
direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 Rid active. Lights still on, just the motor, not a sidestand fault. Link to comment
direwolf Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 New sensor would have different wiring. Even if the replacement sensor was bad, what are the odds of identical failure pattern. I fear the culprit is yet undetected. Link to comment
ShovelStrokeEd Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 When you say one Hall effect sensor was it the entire assembly which is actually two sensors? If so, check the connector and harness above the sensors. Could be a pin pushed back and only making partial contact. Otherwise, I would be suspicious of a bad ground somewhere. Once a day and always in the same time frame would have me looking at the fuel system despite all the leaning towards electrical problems and strong fuel smell while cranking. A failing fuel pressure regulator could well be the cause here. If the system fails to pressurize properly the injectors will pass what fuel is there but won't spray as they should so you will fire up and run but then the regulator begins to bypass and line pressure drops. Off and then on again might just get whatever debris is in there to push out of the way and the bike will run fine again. A fairly trivial matter to tee a fuel gauge into the line between the tank and the regulator, especially with QD fittings already in place. Monitor fuel pressure while riding and see if it drops below the nominal 3 bar(42 PSI) just before failure. BTW, this STILL could be a Hall sensor problem. One provides the spark and the other sends a keep alive signal to the ECU to maintain the fuel pump running. A similar monitor of the fuel pump voltage supply might be in order as well. Link to comment
karlheinz Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Fuel injection. Heavy fuel smell if I crank her when she is in "sleep mode." I am sure it is ignition. I would look also at ignition problems.The injectors will not turn on with a bad hall sensor.Take the spark plug out ,ground it and crank the engine looking for a good spark.This might have to happen alongside the road when ever this problem shows up. Link to comment
direwolf Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 $900 in time ruling things out, and I still am having episodes of no spark. My boffin says he cannot diagnose till it happens to him, but it is so unpredictable that we can't seem to get that to happen. I know there is no spark. I know the hall sensor and coils are good. New battery. No start ...fuel smell... Then eventually restarts as if nothing wrong, if I am patient. Link to comment
T__ Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 My RT began to die about once a month within five minutes of starting without warning. Five minutes later, restart and no further problems the remainder of the day. After being late for work, and enduring a humiliating tendon-stretching uphill push in order to allow gravity to rectify what my impatience had done to my battery charge level, it was off to the Alternative Beemer Center for dx and repair. Many hours, much bucks, one used Hall sensor, along with some other stuff I needed to do eventually anyway (Alternator belt, fuel filter, quick connects), I was finally homeward bound. The next morning, within 25 feet of the same spot the Ice Maiden went to sleep the day before, a throaty roar suddenly turned into ...Put put put put... This time I waited five full minutes on my watch. First press of the starter, she roars to life, and gives no trouble the rest of the day. Huh? I DID beg them to check the coils while the Ice Maiden was naked, but, after all, they are the boffins who know best. If not the Hall sensor...What? Anyone have any ideas what could be happening? direwolf, any chance you have an aftermarket fuel controller on that bike (like the Techlusion TFI)? I had an almost identical re-occurring shutdown on my old R1100R. Only my shutdown happened at about 4 miles out (almost the same spot 3 days in a row).. Turned out to be moisture in the Techlusion fuel controller).. In talking to the Techlusion tec line they admitted they had a moisture problem on the early units.. If you do have a TFI or similar on your bike you will need to COMPLETELY disconnect it from it’s 02 & injector connection interface as just shutting it down won’t eliminate the problem.. If no fuel controller on that bike maybe pull the Motronic codes to see if you can find a smoking gun.. A failing oil temp sensor or failing TPS sensor could cause a similar problems,, maybe even try disconnecting the 02 sensor as those can cause some strange fueling problems if only a partial failure that isn’t far enough out of spec to cause the ECU to ignore it.. Twisty Link to comment
direwolf Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 Nope. Stock ecu. Next I will replace the coils and then the ecu, unless someone has a better idea? Direwolf Link to comment
NumbHands Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Not sure this will help, but if you think it is ignition, my buddy's experience might help. Bike was a single cylinder 650. Turned out the coil had an intermittent ground. It would die at cruise and would restart only after letting it sit for a while. Two BMW shops had taken a stab at it until it was finally correctly diagnosed. They were buying and replacing Motronic units, etc. Eventually, the coil was removed and re-installed and that was it. No parts replacement was needed. What this suggests it might be something simple. For the Ice Maiden, I'm guessing fuel is the issue. Water in the gas? Is the fuel level the same when the problem occurs? Michael Link to comment
direwolf Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Fuel level has tended to be full when the problem occurs, but there was no spark when I tested in sleep mode. Direwolf Link to comment
simon999 Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 you could try the following;- disconnect the battery, leave off for a few minutes, re-connect, switch on ignition ( dont start ) then wind the throttle open a few times slowly....then try and start it ( should clear any faults in the ''brain'' ) second one may sound strange but affected a bike (GS) and a car at a neighbours house in Ithaca ( Greek island )...They were both parked overnight under a high voltage distribution cable ( on a pole ) which served the village.....sent the electronics into a frenzy on the bike and the car.....just a thought regards simon Link to comment
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