Wilma flooded my bike! BMW's answer

[BocaMike]

Wilma flooded my garage in Key Largo and my 02 R1150RT was 4 feet under (salt)water. Flood level was above the cylinder head for two days. BMW Daytona told me they lost 20 some bikes last year through flooding and that the bike is not salavageable. At least not at reasonable cost. Tranny, gearbox, brakes, engine, axles, exhaust, catalyst etc. My mechanic told it, he could rebuild, but mid-term failures were unpredictable.

The insurance claim is filed. The adjuster was not here yet.

 

I sent an e-mail to BMW and this is their "competent" response:

 

Dear Mr. Mayer:

 

Thank you for contacting BMW Motorrad USA regarding your R 1150 RT. We are very sorry to learn your BMW suffered flood damage from Hurricane Wilma.

 

Unfortunately, we at this location are not trained in a technical capacity concerning our motorcycles. We are sorry that we are not able to resolve this issue for you immediately. However, we stand behind the technical advice from the service team at your authorized BMW Retailer as they are best equipped to address this concern and offer you technical feedback.

 

If you have any further questions, please respond to this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at 1-800-831-1117. Our office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time.

 

Regards,

BMW Motorrad USA

 

What is your opinion?

[KDeline]

I don't agree, I would clean it up, flush and change fluids and try to fire it up.

[Paul Mihalka]

IMHO, if you can get a reasonable total loss adjustment from your insurance, take it.

[TMH]

IMHO, if you can get a reasonable total loss adjustment from your insurance, take it.

Agree with this. Fluid flushing is the easiest thing to deal with. Electrical is probably the most difficult. You won't be able to reasonably get the salt out of the electrical connections and components, so it will be continuously corroding from this point forward. Even if you get it running again, every time it rains and some of the hardened salt gets mobile again, you will be in for some sort of failure. And then there will be the cosmetic corrosion issues...

 

Sorry you got smacked by Wilma, but I think that you want your bike to be totalled by your insurance company.

 

Tom

[upflying]

The water line looks to be right at the throttle bodies and below the computer. Pull the plugs and turn it over to see if there is water in the cylinders. Take the total loss offer from the insurance company and then ask for a salvage retention so you can use it as a parts bike for your new bike. On the other hand if it fires up, there is no need to tell the insurance company about that.

[Steve_Witmer]

ask for a salvage retention so you can use it as a parts bike for your new bike.

 

Then disassemble the whole thing and clean all parts to remove salt residue and any corrosion that may already be present before storage.

[USAF1]

You say that the bike was 4' under?? But the waterline is just above the cylinder heads............what am I missing here? I do wish you the best though. Think I'd take the money, and move somewhere else.

 

Pat

[Marty Hill]

Salt water/it's toast!

[Calvin (no socks)]

In the auto industry I see some salvage attempts gone bad....When I see a water line that high I think "Anchor".... Don't waste your time... Unless its un-insured....

[tallman]

Salt water/it's toast!

 

What Marty said...

it's wet toast.

Take the money.

[Big D]

Having seen client's experiences with saltwater flooding of vehicles from storms in our area over the years, my advise is to take the money. The bike will begin to rust seriously in a year or less no matter how much you take it apart and clean the parts.

 

D

[Parrothead]

Take the $$$$. I lived in Key West for 2 years. While there, I was spending my party $$$$ fixing motorcycle and automobile parts corroded by the sea air, and purchasing WD-40 by the crateload. Don't even want to think about what would happen in a flood. I am sorry for your loss. In any event, got tired of the rain (60 inches annual rainfall in Florida) and moved to Vegas (5 inches annual rainfall). Temps can be brutal during the summer, but I'll take it over being soaked every afternoon.

[AviP]

Salt sucks. I would not even bother with the parts as salvage. With the time, effort and space required for all that junk, it's not worth it. Just take the insurance money.

[RFW]

As others have suggested, a good flush and refill of all oils should do the trick. Remember that oil is coating all internal surfaces, which ought to protect against short term corrosion.

 

If you drain the engine, tranny and rear end oils, and essentially all that comes out is oil (with only a little water), then you are almost certainly OK. If 4 quarts of water comes out too, or if when removing the spark plugs, you get a cylinder-full of water, then maybe the insurance is the way to go.

 

Electrically, a very thorough hose down with fresh water then a long drying period, will wash away all the salt. Electrical contacts are usually tin-plated and not subject to short term salt water corrosion problems.

 

The good news is that the water line is low enough that none of the electronic stuff should have been immersed.

 

Bob.

[Marty Hill]

WRONG!!! The bike is ruined. Getting rid of the salt within 1 hour might have worked but I doubt it. What you have is a time bomb which will explode in the future...that's if you get it running.

 

The end!

[Ken H.]

If you drain the engine, tranny and rear end oils, and essentially all that comes out is oil (with only a little water), then you are almost certainly OK.

 

Electrically, a very thorough hose down with fresh water then a long drying period, will wash away all the salt.

 

Yeah right. I want to see how someone is going to "hose down" a bike that's been sitting in 4' of salt water and get all the salt out of the tiny ports in the throttle bodies, the valve train, brake calipers, bearings, hidden electrical connectors, O2 sensors, TPS, emission devices, and a myriad of other places too many to list, to the point of having a reliable bike. If you think you can, "BocaMike" has got one I bet he'll make you a heck of a deal on!

[russell_bynum]

Electrically, a very thorough hose down with fresh water then a long drying period, will wash away all the salt. Electrical contacts are usually tin-plated and not subject to short term salt water corrosion problems.

 

Wrong.

 

Our SeaDoo trailer was submerged in Salt Water for a few minutes at every launch and every retrieval.

 

Within 3 hours of retrieval, we would be home and I would spend about 2 hours with the hose rinsing everything. I especially focused on the electrical connections for the trailer lights. Then I'd hose down anything important (electrical connections, lug nuts, etc) with WD-40.

 

The trailer was stored inside in the garage when not in use.

 

Even with those precautions, I was ALWAYS fighting corrosion, particularly around the electrical connections.

[AviP]

As others have suggested, a good flush and refill of all oils should do the trick. Remember that oil is coating all internal surfaces, which ought to protect against short term corrosion.

 

If you drain the engine, tranny and rear end oils, and essentially all that comes out is oil (with only a little water), then you are almost certainly OK. If 4 quarts of water comes out too, or if when removing the spark plugs, you get a cylinder-full of water, then maybe the insurance is the way to go.

 

Electrically, a very thorough hose down with fresh water then a long drying period, will wash away all the salt. Electrical contacts are usually tin-plated and not subject to short term salt water corrosion problems.

 

The good news is that the water line is low enough that none of the electronic stuff should have been immersed.

 

Bob.

ROTFLMAO! I didn't realize our bikes were seaworthy, ye ole salt!

[RFW]

If you drain the engine, tranny and rear end oils, and essentially all that comes out is oil (with only a little water), then you are almost certainly OK.

 

Electrically, a very thorough hose down with fresh water then a long drying period, will wash away all the salt.

 

Yeah right. I want to see how someone is going to "hose down" a bike that's been sitting in 4' of salt water and get all the salt out of the tiny ports in the throttle bodies, the valve train, brake calipers, bearings, hidden electrical connectors, O2 sensors, TPS, emission devices, and a myriad of other places too many to list, to the point of having a reliable bike. If you think you can, "BocaMike" has got one I bet he'll make you a heck of a deal on!

 

Betcha dollars to donuts I could get it running just fine, too!

 

In the past I have done it with other equipment that sat under salt water for a time, including an electronic 35mm camera that has worked great since its underwater "adventure" 20 years ago.

 

The thing that would, in fact, be a serious problem is electrical contacts that are still DC-live; the voltage drives corrosion almost right away. The result of this is usually electrical connectors filled with green copper salts. Yuck!

 

Bob.

[SWB]

My background includes the US Navy, SEABEE's, Ships, and other units where salt-water exposure to engineering components is an issue. Metal can be fresh-water washed, oiled, and restored. This includes the frame, engine, transmission, and many of the "mechanical" components on the bike. Obviously, the rubber, plastic, and sealed components are easily restorable. To use the previous example: The problem with "freshwater washing" a jet ski and trailer is that the sea salts (various caustic minerals in addition to sodium chloride) are microscopically tiny - you'll never successfully get them out of every tiny nook, cranny, and void by casual washing. However, immersing the jet ski and trailer in fresh water might do it, as would a soay water bath (some chemicals in sea water are sticky). Disassembling, immersing, and oiling mechanical parts should restore them to servicability.

 

Electronic parts are another thing entirely. Many were probably damaged or ruined as soon as the bike was immersed, because they still had an electrical charge (e.g. from the battery). Plus, salt corrodes circuit boards on contact. We lost an entire parts storeroom of SEALED electrical weapons components and spare parts during a flooding casualty onboard my first ship. Everything had to be surveyed (i.e. scrapped). NOTHING was salvageable.

 

Bottom line is YES, the bike can be repaired, but NO, not cost effectively by a repair shop. Every single piece of electronics and wiring must be scrapped and replaced, not just cleaned! From the bike's main harnass, plug wires, & coil, to the Motronic unit, all must go. The alternator is probably 'gone'. Every cable (clutch, brake, etc.) must be replaced. The bike would have to be stripped down to the frame, any interior voids in the frame flushed and oiled, every single mechanical component would have to be disassembled and reassembled. If you just think of the bike in terms of major components, and "mentally" disassemble them and lay them out on your garage floor, you can imagine how large this task would be. (I've completely restored two bikes before which were a lot less complex than an RT, from repairing and powdercoating the frame to rebuilding the engine and transmission, and it took me about a year per bike. UUuuggg... never again. The project goes on forever.)

 

If this were a newer RT (2003 or newer) I'd (a) take the insurance settlement, (b) buy the bike back at up to 1/4 of the settlement value (max $3000), and © restore it or sell it "as is" on Ebay. Since you appear to have a '99 RT, sorry, it's truly totaled. It might be good for parting out (plastics, frame, maybe the engine and tranny with some clean up work, stuff like that), but it'd cost $3-4K to replace all the OEM components ruined by the salt water, and probably $2-3K in labor.

 

=================================================================================================================================

 

(Man, guys, this really scares me. Can you guys imagine how many bikes, and bike parts are going to end up on Ebay and "boneyard" sites that once soaked in salt water? Guaranteed this will happen. Unless the insurance companies require the bikes to be scrapped - crushed into little metal squares, unscrupulous parts suppliers will tear them down and sell them piece by piece. We aren't going to be able to rely on any used parts (Beemer, motorcycle, auto, etc.) for about 10 years.

[DaveC]

I only saw a water line up to the cylinder heads. If it did not rise any farther than this, I would try to save the bike.

I would soak the bike in fresh water up to the cylinder heads, change all of the fluids, and give it a try.

I tend to get emotionally attached to my bikes, and do not like to give up on them that easily.

[BocaMike]

Thank you all for giving me really good advice!

I really appreciate your input.

I went from Key Largo to Daytona last Saturday and found the cure: A New R1200RT in RED. With the two bikes sitting next to each other I still believe that the 1150 is way prettier, but the 1200 is better. It will take me a while to live with the Hunday dashboard and the "Burgman Feeling" looking over that V-shaped wind screen. And my Rick Mayer leather seat on my 1150 was so much more comfy, than the torture bench on the 1200.

Time to start some serious improvements!