Intermittent ignition – R850R 1999

[Grant Freeman]

#2846

Hi,Yesterday, I went out for a ride to make the most of the nice weather and prior to venturing off on a favorite road, I had a couple of jobs to do in town. Riding through town, my bike seemed to cut out on me and I thought that the throttle had jammed, but in my panick, I realised that I had my fist around the bar end stop as well  😐 anyway, I carried on and the bike cut out again which locked the back wheel and after a short slide and a gear change down, the bike bump started again and after that no further problems?I see the throttle is a "fly by wire" so I am wondering if there has ever been a problem with the throttle or ignition modules on these types of bike before?I checked the battery and it is OK and I am going to change the plugs. The last service it had was at 52000 Kms and there is 53450 on the clock now, so I amcurious why it should cut out like that? Any help appreciated. Cheers.

[Anonymous]

#11504

I would try checking the HT leads for cracks, and check the connection to the coil.Getting to the coil is a pain of course. I had a less severe problem similar to this but was able to replicate what you're getting by flexing my leads, eventually found a tiny crack in the leads, then found the coil connection had collected water somehow and this was heavily corroded too, (although this wasn't the cause of the intermittent cutout). NB: The crack was really tiny.

[Dave Ross]

#11505

Mike,It could be the wire leading to your ignition. To test it, turn the engine on and then move the handle bars from side to side. Of course, if it cut out while riding in a straight line, then that's less likely to be the cause. If it is the ignition wire, it can be repaired or replaced. I've got a spare that's waiting for the repair to fail :-).

[Grant Freeman]

#11506

Hi Kokopelli and Alex, Thanks for your advise – most appreciated. This is my first oil head bike (had an R65 before) and have never taken the tank off. Presumably you just undue the bolt on the bracket and slide the tank back? Is there a fuel connection hose that needs to be removed or is that automatic as there is no fuel cock to speak of?Presumably all the wires etc are all under the tank and of course, I do not have the maintenance manual to make reference to 😐I can inspect a reasonable amount of the HT leads, without the tank off, but then that is only half an inspection? not much point in that! My intermittent ignition happend when I was at some lights and then second time just coming up to a round about, so both times my handlebars were aimed straight, but good idea anyway to start the bike and see if movement adds to the problem.After the problem did not present itself after the bump start, I still went for my ride and did about 150Kms trouble free and enjoyable riding and hence my thought that it was an intermittent problem. Cheers 

[Anonymous]

#11507

I've got an 1150GS and removing the tank involves undoing a single bolt, undoing an electrical coupling, and then disconnecting the fuel lines, (which used to be a pain until I had quick release joints fitted – had no reason to take the tank off since I had them fitted).  Without the quick release joints it was pretty painful (literally and metaphorically).Probably worth skinned fingers if you're at risk of locking up the rear though.

[Ron McFadzien]

#11508

Hi,Yesterday, I went out for a ride to make the most of the nice weather and prior to venturing off on a favorite road, I had a couple of jobs to do in town. Riding through town, my bike seemed to cut out on me and I thought that the throttle had jammed, but in my panick, I realised that I had my fist around the bar end stop as well  😐 anyway, I carried on and the bike cut out again which locked the back wheel and after a short slide and a gear change down, the bike bump started again and after that no further problems?I see the throttle is a "fly by wire" so I am wondering if there has ever been a problem with the throttle or ignition modules on these types of bike before?I checked the battery and it is OK and I am going to change the plugs. The last service it had was at 52000 Kms and there is 53450 on the clock now, so I amcurious why it should cut out like that? Any help appreciated. Cheers.

Hi Mike have a look at these links or google 1100 / 1150 Hall sensor these are available from JayCar Electronics @ $ 25 each there are 2 of them but you will need to be mechanically minded to replace them the whole timing plate from BMW $ 650 plusThis is a common problem on oilheads if it is cutting out and has no spark.But do some diagnosis first to check out the symptons properly.http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85136&pp=16http://bmwknowledge.wordpress.com/category/r1100/http://advwisdom.hogranch.com/Wisdom/oilhead_hall_sensors.pdfhttp://www.jaycar.co.nz/productResults.asp?whichpage=2&pagesize=10&keywords=hall+sensor&CATID=&SUBCATID=&form=KEYWORD&SPECIAL=&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=Good luck boGSer

[Grant Freeman]

#11509

Hi Alex and BoGSer,Thanks for the links and the advise. I changed the plugs today and checked the HT leads out (see the new topic) and whilst they made a difference, the intermittent problem came back. The bike just cuts out when I throttle off - a couple of times only, but starts without any problems and then runs really well without a problem there on after?I will wrestle the tank off and see if there is anything loose under there or earthing, as it has got me puzzled, , but it is very intermittent.You say that it is a common problem on oilheads BoGSer? as it does cut out and seemingly cuts the spark, but then starts straight away there on after? I am hoping its water or something or a loose wire somewhere, but I will update this topic once I find it.Thanks for your help,Cheers,Mike   

[Dave Ross]

#11510

Sorry to hear it's an ongoing problem. The only other thing I can think of is to clean the battery terminals, by undoing them and then sanding the connection lightly. I hope you'll find the cause soon.

[Anonymous]

#11511

Good luck – let us know what it is when you find it.

[peter.trub]

#11512

I am with gerard on this one. My 1100 used to just give up and stop. Turn the key off, turn it on, fire her up and ride away  😕 Came right for 4 months then gave up for good a while back. I had been down the water track, in fact I pulled nearly the entire loom out and went thru with contact cleaner, reassembled everything with super expesive electrical grease, sprayed all the connections with Silicone. You name it I did it. Then I heard about and replaced the hall sensors and bingo, reliable german thing  😀

[Grant Freeman]

#11513

Hi All,Thanks for your help and advise. Good day today for working on my bike (overcast and wife went to the movies), so I set to and took the tank off and cleaned every electrical snap block, fuse, relay that I could find.What I found that may have contributed.1) Earth wire on left hand side fuel injector badly oxidised.2) -Ve connection to battery oxidiised and not as tight as it could have been.3) Left hand side HT lead as a small "mark" in it where the sheith ends and before the right angle cap on the coil end - covered with electrical insulation tape (none available in Hamilton)4) one relay in the fuse box was not firmly in its resepctive socket.5) most electrical snap connector blocks were externally dirty.6) air box top not fitted correctly.Anyway, after spending about 6 hours on the bike (it now gleams like a new one) cleaning every electrical thing in sight and cleaning the bike (again) I have just test ridden it and it does not fault at all.I started the bike up and there was a misfire on the left cylinder and I thought "oh oh" and maybe the problem was not fixed, but after that, it revs freely and ticks over well, so I took it for a ride and on a quiet back road gave it full throttle in all gears and it does not miss a beat, even attempts at pulling a wheelie in second, and throttling off going into corners, with no problem. I shall keep my fingers crossed and hope that the problem has gone and give the bike another run (for test purposes of course) tomorrow.There are a couple of electrical snap blocks under the tank that are not used and not fitted with a dust cover and even one on under the right hand side of the seat (sitting on it) - what are these for? ABS (my bike does not have ABS) I covered them with electrical insulation tape, but wonderd what they were for?Anyway, hopefully trouble free riding now and thanks all for the help and comments.Cheers,Mike           

[Anonymous]

#11514

That all sounds hopeful, fingers crossed.  If the Bike's had a 'Canisterectomy', that may account for one electrical block.

[Grant Freeman]

#11515

An update as to my ongoing problem – Going to work on Saturday morning, my bike cut out altogether whilst doing 100KMH ! Bugger. I coasted to a stop and both the oil and battery lights were on. I switched it off and on again and whilst it would turn over, it would not start! I had to get road side recovery in the end, and had my bike taken to hamilton Motorcycles, where they changed the fuel filter and had the bike running again by 3PM. I left the bike there over the weekend to let them check it out for any other contributing problems.The surprising part is that BMW show in service details that the fuel filter should be changed at 40,000Kms and the bike has 54,000KMS and a full service history from Bay motorcycles with the last recorded service done at 52,000Kms and the fuel filter was found to be the original filter, as the clamps supplied with the new filter are apparantly different from factory fitted - so much for a BMW service history!I have yet to find out if there was anything else contributing to the problem, but hopefully I will pick the bike up today and get to ride it again. The mechanic that did the fuel filter said that he has never had to change hall sensors on BMW's but is aware that some have had problems.Is there an analyser plug on these bikes so they can talk to the engine managment system to see if there other faults that have been triggered?l Cheers,Mike    

[Dave Ross]

#11516

Thanks for posting that, Mike. So you've had a clogged fuel filter. When I changed my fuel filter at 89000km (9000km past the interval) I just wiggled the hose off and replaced the filter. The original clamps where left on. Maybe that's what Bay Motorcycles did at the time.You might have picked a bad fuel, that clogged your filter. The workshop will plug in a computer called moditec to check for any fault codes, they also use it during the tune up.Let's hope your problem has been solved.Cheers,Alex

[Grant Freeman]

#11517

Hi Alex,Thanks for your email. The mechanic was quite convinced that the fuel filter was the original, as they even look slightly different from the BMW spare part. Surprisingly, he showed me the fuel filter for a Triumph, Ducati and BMW and they are all the same, made in the same place, but marked with their respective names, but there is a difference in price - Triumph $130, Ducati $89, BMW $53!I hope that the problem was bad fuel, but I can only wait to see if it faults again. They balanced my throttles, adjusted the tick over, cleaned the tank of sediment and I picked it up last night and did 70 Kms on it and it seems fine. I filled up with BP fuel this time, as I have always used Shell, as it is the most convieniant.There analyser is sick and is being dispatched to Auckland today, but they have said that I can take the bike in, in about a week and have it checked then, so I will take them up on that, as a totally blocked fuel filter seems a bit hard to swallow as being the only cause.I will let you know if the analysis shows anything.Cheers and thanks for the help.Mike     

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