weird R1200RT manual statement

[dyvking]

Check this out. This is on page 26 of the manual that came with my new '06 RT:

"Do not drive until the fuel tank is completely empty". Hmm... I knew my mileage with this bike was going to be good, but not that good !

[Satguy]

Not that wierd... Electric fuel pumps are cooled/lubricated by the fuel they pump. When you run the tank dry, might do some damage to the fuel pump located in the tank.

[JayW]

The humor here is that this statement could be interpreted as instructions to not start up and ride the bike unless the tank is empty. That WOULD be a neat trick if it worked.

 

Jay

[dyvking]

Not that wierd... Electric fuel pumps are cooled/lubricated by the fuel they pump. When you run the tank dry, might do some damage to the fuel pump located in the tank.

Read the highlighted section again. It says "don't drive until the tank is completely empty", not 'don't drive on an empty tank".

I don't know about your bike, but if I wait until my tank is completely empty, I CAN'T drive it

[tom collins]

It is a mistranslation I think, one word is missing, "it". Do not drive it until the gastank is empty. Do not run your motorcycle out of fuel would make more sense to Americans.

 

tom collins

[Satguy]

Ya, ya.... I think the spirit of the message is there to warn of damaging the fuel pump by running it dry.

 

You can bend the words all ya want.

[dyvking]

It is a mistranslation I think, one word is missing, "it". Do not drive it until the gastank is empty. Do not run your motorcycle out of fuel would make more sense to Americans.

 

tom collins

Yep... the meaning is understood, but the way the sentence is written it could mean (don't try to keep driving until you run out of gas" or "wait until you run out, then go ahead and drive off"

 

Oh well.. just a late night observation. My brain was probably too fried when I read it the first time.

[Kiku]

My 2005 manual(1st edition GB/RF) says "Do not run the fuel tank dry". I own a non-US spec bake, so this might not be the case.... but I think what they're trying to say is "DO NOT RUN OUT OF GAS"(while driving).

 

IMHO, some German word got mis-translated to a English word of "Until"

 

Kiku

[sideways]

And who said Germans don't have a sense of humor?

 

Now allow me to hijack your thread to ask this:

Does the 06 manual say anything at all about the operating parameters of the self-cancelling feature of the turn signals? The 05 manual says nothing, which has always irritated me.

[Kiku]

Brad,

 

Did your 05 come with a rear splash guard? (Not sure if it's country specific or not)

 

Well, mine didn't although the manual says it's the standard equipment. My dealer repeatedly states that the splash guard became "optinonal" after the May productions, but I didn't buy that poor excuse.

 

After a couple of calls to BMW customer service, I finally got it for free. I was also told the splash guard really is option for late 05 models, and the documentaion is BEING revised.

 

BMW makes quality bikes and I'm one of the loyal riders, I'm hoping their documentation will improve.

 

BTW, 05 K12LT manual does cover the auto cancelling feature of the turn signals, not sure why it's missing in the 12RT manual....

 

 

[PaulW42]

My dealer also said it is optional and none of their bikes had been delivered with one and they had had complaints about it. I probably could have got it foc but it was only £11 so I bought one.

 

I doubt if the manual has been updated for the self-cancelling indicators. It wasn't mentioned in the 1200GS manual so they've already missed at least one opportunity to update it. Is there anything in the ST manual?

 

Paul

[rideLD]

I think the funny thing is that they have to put it in the manual at all. Commen sense tells you that running your bike out of gas will cause it to lean way out possibly damaging your engine, not to mention over heating your fuel pump. If anyone does not know this, they must have lived in a cave since the invention of fuel ingection.

[sideways]

Funny you should mention the splash guard thing. I was just out in the garage cleaning the bike after a long trip (largely in the rain), and was thinking about the splash guard while getting the grunge off the back end. This last trip was the first time I realized that the splash guard might really be worth the trouble to obtain. I had forgotten about it for quite a while. My bike did not come with one (purchased May 10). I'd asked my dealer about it after first reading the manual. He said that it BMW would probably come out with a service bulletin for them in a few months when the discrepancy became known, so I could probably expect to get one. I forgot about it after that until the handle of my top case became smeared with grungy spray on this trip.

[Green RT]

I think the funny thing is that they have to put it in the manual at all. Commen sense tells you that running your bike out of gas will cause it to lean way out possibly damaging your engine, not to mention over heating your fuel pump. If anyone does not know this, they must have lived in a cave since the invention of fuel ingection.

 

I have a nice cave. My RT is the first vehicle I have owned with fuel injection. If I hadn't read about it on this board, it never would have occurred to me that running an engine dry was a bad thing. I used to carry a spare gas can and have run til the engine quit more than once in various cars and on an R60/5.