Defective Kill Switch

[Brad Moores]

Good Morning: On three occasions I have tried to start my 2011 R1200RT with no response from starter. I am then able to start it several minutes later after many tries. The service manager of the dealer has said it might be a defective kill switch and has sent me a new one to install (I live 150 miles from dealer). Anyone had this problem before? Is the new switch simply a plug and play issue. Thanks, Brad Moores

[krussell]

Many K1600 owners have reported issues with engine cut off and other switches. Often heat related. I don't know if it's a similar setup or vendor.

[Brad Moores]

Thanks Kevin. I failed to mention that the problem with the motor not starting occurs after the Bike has been sitting in the sun so I'm thinking you're correct it's heat related. Anyone else experience this problem? Brad Moores

[HeliMark]

An unfortunate issue with the newer 1200RT. Seems to even be a bigger problem with the left side switches. A lot of people are having problems. The dealers know about it and are changing them without any arguments.

[Brad Moores]

Yes. My dealer, Magic city Cycle in Orlando, FL has been very helpful through their service manager, Cory. He actually walked me through getting the motor started by pouring ice water on the switch housing.

[RichardSpag]

Yup, same happening here in the UK. This problem has left me stranded twice this year - not very amused

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[bikebits]

My 2011 RT had the starter button fail this past weekend. My dealer said this is a known issue and the contacts in the switch are small foil strips. Direct sunlight in high temperatures can cause enough of a dimensional change that the foil contacts won't meet.

 

He said as an emergency measure, put an ice pack on the switch and it will start in a few minutes!

 

As a quick fix he replaced the switch with one from a bike on the showroom floor. I got an e-mail today saying the original part number has recently been replaced with a new model and to bring the bike in for the new part when I get a chance.

 

This has been a well-documented problem, so hopefully the new part addresses the issue.

[mneblett]

Add me to the club. A couple interesting tidbits from my starter/kill switch replacement today:

 

I thought the issue was just the contacts on the starter portion of the switch failing, as I was having to push harder and harder to make contact and get the starter to turn over.

 

Turns out there is more than one circuit (microcircuit?) in the switch body, and I had two failures going on.

 

With the machine on the MOSS diagnostic machine, the switch was showing failure of both the starter portion AND the kill portion - apparently a second circuit which must report "enabled" to the computer to turn over the engine. Apparently BMW has been seeing some of these switch failures with the starter portion reporting a correct "start" signal, but not agreement from the kill portion to allow operation.

 

My dealers service manager did an absolutely top-flight job at getting my problem addressed. There is a new (superseding) part number of the right switch cluster, suggesting to me that BMW finally has a new part to address the problem -- much like the infamous EWS ignition security ring failures. That's the good news.

 

The bad news is there is zero stock in the US, and I believe none currently available from der fatherland. My service manager requested a VOR delivery of one of the few old-style switches left in the US to get my on the road, and worked me in the next day without an appointment. Yet another reason I've been dealing with this dealer since ~1980.

[RAINEY]

Does anyone know if they fixed these known problems on the 2012?

 

Thanks,

Jason

[mneblett]

Does anyone know if they fixed these known problems on the 2012?

My RT is a 2012.

[RichardSpag]

Mine is also a 2012