Newbie with a sad tale

[Stiller]

I am sorry that after owning my R1200rt for three years, three months, that it is only now I found this forum. Unfortunately, I found this site while trying to do some research on a catastrophic transmission failure. And since I have not been able to find instances of similar problems, I thought I would post my malady and see if any of you have heard of this happening.

 

I was on a 900 mile ride through California to Oregon. I was traveling I-5 near Williams, Ca. at about 70 MPH with the cruise control on. Suddenly the engine began to race faster and I popped the cruise control off. As I disengaged the clutch, I could hear a banging and popping sound from the area of the transmission. I was unable to stop immediately due to traffic, but was able to slow and pull to the side of the road after about 500 feet or so. The entire time, the banging and popping sound continued. I was unable to move the shifter to get it out of gear, or change gears. The bike was dead. I had to have it towed to Williams. The bike sat overnight until I had a friend drive my truck down to load it up and take it home. There was nothing leaking from the bike over night.

 

I am not a mechanic, but I would go out on a limb and say it sounds like I have mulched the transmission.

 

The history of the bike is that 6 months ago my dealer found a leak from the transmission and replaced it under warranty. It has 31k miles on it right now, and naturally, it is out of warranty by 3 months.

 

Anyone have any thoughts or similar instances? I absolutely love this bike.

 

Thanks,

 

Rich

[Jeepster]

The history of the bike is that 6 months ago my dealer found a leak from the transmission and replaced it under warranty. It has 31k miles on it right now, and naturally, it is out of warranty by 3 months.

I would definitely talk to the dealer that replaced the seal. While your bike may be out of warranty,

having the dealer on your side will go a long way towards getting "good will" repairs from BMW.

Good luck and hope your back on the road soon.

BTW, welcome to the forum, it's a great place to find out about your bike.

And talk with some really great folks.

[T__]

Rich, difficult to really tell what happened until you determine if the failure was really the transmission.. (With the shifting problem it sort of sounds transmission though)..

 

Not many transmission problems on the 1200 hexhead.. There have been some drive shaft or U-joint failures reported & a couple of trans input shaft/clutch disk spline problems.. (you would think that wouldn’t have jammed up your shifter though)

 

You say: “The history of the bike is that 6 months ago my dealer found a leak from the transmission and replaced it under warranty. It has 31k miles on it right now, and naturally, it is out of warranty by 3 months.”

 

If that was an actual transmission replacement then there should be a 1 year warranty on that as that is usually the BMW warranty on parts.. If just a seal then that part might be the only thing covered.. With the trans being worked on under warranty maybe some hope on BMW help due to that in it’s history..

 

In any case get it checked out so you/we know exactly what failed then go from there..

 

 

Twisty

 

[bmurphypdx]

Twisty1 is correct. Bike warranty aside, a replaced part should have a separate one year warranty. Good luck.

[Stiller]

I just dropped it off at the dealer. It has them pretty puzzled at this point. The bike will not even roll free with the clutch disengaged. It appears it is transmission related, but they are going to have to break it open to know for sure.

 

The dealership is pretty confident the BMW will honor the repair on good will. I have been very faithful on having the inspections done on the prescribed intervals.

 

Thanks for all your input. I will post again when the problem is diagnosed, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a happy ending,

[RodB]

Stiller, I'm very interested in the diagnosis for your problem. Please update us with the outcome.

By the way you described the failure, it sounds very much like what happened to me earlier this summer, which I described in this post: here.

I was fortunate to find all the parts I needed for repairs on Ebay and did all the repairs myself as BMW decided to not offer any assistance.

[Stiller]

I received a call from the dealership Tuesday. They hadn't taken the bike apart completely as of yet, but they did tell me they had discovered what likely went wrong. Apparently the seal between the transmission and the swing arm failed. The swing arm was fill with oil, and the transmission, not so much. When they looked into the tranny through an inspection port, what they could see was debris. lots of pieces.

 

Again the history on the bike, right now it has 31k miles on it, and 3 months out of warranty. It has been serviced by the dealership at every interval. About 5 months ago, they found a leak from the transmission, and fixed that under warranty, The seal that failed was also replaced at the same time.

 

Got a call from the dealership today saying that BMW will cover the repair on a 100% good will warranty. This includes a new gear box, rather than a rebuilt one. Yes, I am happy. The only bad news is it has to come from Germany, with about a 2 week wait.

 

What I am concerned about is a future catastrophic failure of these seals. Any thoughts?

 

And if anybody is interested in photos, I plan on taking some of the damage once they get the bike split open.

[Nice n Easy Rider]

Rich,

Glad to hear that the dealer and BMW have agreed to do the right thing. Hope you're back on the road soon.

[rglassma]

It sure is nice to see BMW is coming to your aid in this case. But, I wouldn't call it a "Good Will" warranty. The parts and labor should be covered by the actual warranty on the service that was performed under manufacturer's warranty. Of course the end result is the same. I have been told by BMW of Denver that that work performed under warranty should be covered by a 2 year (not 1 year) warranty on the work itself. So, you are well within that timeframe.

 

As it relates to future issues, whether it is with that particular repair or other possible failures: the current repair for the same problem should be covered under the warranty again that should be refreshed by the new work. Since other seals were replaced, those seals should also be covered as well, so you are covered there for at least the time being. Beyond that, all you can do is to do the following:

 

1) Once the bike is fixed, sell it or trade it in for another

- you will then have a new warranty and can purchase an all inclusive extended warranty for potential repairs on the new bike. The MOA has a deal going for a reasonable price for an extended warranty if you are a member. Or, if not, it may be worth it to join!

 

 

2) Fly by the seat of your pants and keep your fingers crossed that nothing happens

and deal with it if it does.

 

 

 

3) Buy an extended warranty on your current bike (not all inclusive since it is out of warranty) and that will give you some coverage.

 

 

I personally own an '05 and have been very pleased with the reliability so far. Mine has 35K. But, there is nothing saying that it will be trouble free forever just like any other mechanical item. I purchased an extended warranty to address that. But, it isn't fool proof either. It gives me piece of mind and is the best solution in my opinion for an expensive BMW motorcycle. I have had to use it a number of times on my older '03 LT. It saved me 4-5K, but I still ended up paying big money for the last repair and I then traded it.

 

4) Buy a different brand - but they fail also.

 

 

Whatever you decide, good luck.

[Ken H.]

This is a pretty rare failure, so personally once fixed correctly, and it sounds like it will be, I’d say, forget about it, ride, enjoy.

 

 

[Stiller]

This is a pretty rare failure, so personally once fixed correctly, and it sounds like it will be, I’d say, forget about it, ride, enjoy.

 

 

I agree, but my concern is two seal failures. The first one was found and repaired on warranty, but would have been about $2,600 out of pocket had I paid for it. With the most recent seal failure that also took out the gear box, a $3,500 part by itself, I am guessing would run over $6k by the time I was back on the road. Pretty rare, but they got my attention!

 

Don't get me wrong, I love that bike, and I am very much a BMW "fan boy." I am just a bit gun shy with the seal issues right now. If I do decide to leave this bike, I will replace it with another BMW.

 

[Jim VonBaden]

This is a pretty rare failure, so personally once fixed correctly, and it sounds like it will be, I’d say, forget about it, ride, enjoy.

 

 

Ken is correct, this is pretty rare. I wouldn't get too worried about future failures!

 

Jim

 

PS Good on BMW for covering it!