EWS Immobilizer antenna threadfest

A buch of us were down in mexico for the '05 Baja 500 and to see the only
HP2's in North America (two race bikes and two stock pre-running bikes
with 0 miles on them). Jimmy's race bike has the the antenna fritz and
they have to take a grinder and cut-off wheel to one of the brand new
pre-runner bikes.... :eek1

i pay insurance on it, i always lock it with cable/chain. it's not a collectable bike i bought it to ride it.


change of the antenna requare special tools.

don't belive there is a tool short of a drill bit that will extract the security bolts on there....








...at least I couldn't find one.

one thing for sure - i'm not going to carry a hand-drill for that thing in my tool set

I thought this was ridiculous too, when I first heard it. Chip an ignition for a bike in the middle of nowhere...smart. Somebody's gotta come up with a gerry-rig to trick it into always detecting the chip.

this happened to my '05 1200GS about 2 months ago. 1st one key started to go bizzaro, (had to flip the key to get past EWS) then the other. called the dealer & made an appointment to bring it in on a Saturday morning. out of the garage & EWS!!!
BMW roadside assist sent out the biggest flatbed tow truck I'd ever seen. nothing like a flatbed to make the grrl look tiny. she looked like a marble strapped to a section of interstate!!
fast forward to the following THURSDAY:huh. after 3 days of being stripped naked the problem was the antenae. it was replaced & the good news is everything was free!!!!!! including the embarrasing tow!!!!!

Hey!
welcome aboard!

I think it's my antenna too. well it was dead before my second key started to go bizzaro...

how long was the towing distance?

how is it working now? any problems since then?

BMW roadside assist send some idiot to pick the bike, the guy didn't had a clue how to strap it to the truck.

But that's not the worst part. i had to pay $266 out of pocket - thanks BMW NA!!! they didn't want to tell me what is going to be the price on transportation of the bike, they just said the they will cover $100. when i asked what would be my part they said that operator will tell me at the place. it turns out that if i would rent pickup truck it would be $35 a day....


but they assured me that next time it hapenneds they with send the service again. i wanted to tell that lady:"fuck you!", but something told me that i shouldn't....

fuck, i'm so pissed off

BMW roadside has always been the biggest joke, better off having AAA.

Please keep us informed on BMW's findings and excuses and or if they offer any alternatives to something like this happening again.

sure , i will do it. as soon as i know more i will keep posting here until the problem is resolved.


boejangles,
what is the best way to get in touch with you? i tryed the office phone but i guess you are not there. my seat build date is getting closer , and i would hate to miss it. just wanted to talk to you about the options.
Thanks!

I also own a 05 BMW530i. The dealer told me to take the key out of the ignition when shut down due to the computer will continue to draw and drain the battery............I wonder ?

It has been mentioned elsewhere that large antennae near the location can causealarm systems to not reset.

Another idea was that there can be mobile phone blocking signals in gas stations which have the same effect.

Seems some guys have had to push the bike away from the problem location a few yards to get it going.

YMMV.

http://www.koakampgrounds.com/rvroadhelp/

Well worth the annual fee. They will tow you with no mileage limit at no charge!

I would bitch to your dealer. That is bullshit you had to pay the tow. I would understand if you layed the bike down, but this was out of your control. I've had 2 warranty issues and my dealer has been great. 1 time they had my bike for a week and was provided a loaner for the whole week. If you can't get any cash out of them, maybe you can get your money back in store credit.

Good Luck!

not only that, i will have to find someone of my friends to drive me there when the beast is ready for the pick up....

who is your dealer? a contact info? i just colecting as much info as possible...

Thanks!

Talked yesterday with my dealer,
they are REALLY nice people over there.

They hocked the beast to the computer and there was NO fault signals

they think that their software package might not be the latest. from a computer stand point i think that the antenna wouldn't give a bad signal unless it's really damaged(physicly) which is not the case....

i think: antenna has a stored value which is being compared to the value stored in the key. something messed up the value stored in antenna. it's working , but when it compares two values instead of "1" the comparison returns "0", which is basicly is the quite point of the start up sequence.


i will follow up with updates

Problem:
it was antenna.

Resolving:
the old one was drilled out on a drill press, and the new one was installed. it's NOT a road side repair.

Dealer:
the guys at GrassRoots BMW were really nice to me, always kept me in the loop what is going on with the bike and parts. that turn around time was really fast too.
They also picked up my bill that i paied to the towing company.

So far 800 miles later no problems!


Now , when everything is good i'm back to riding

Until the rear blows.....also a non-roadside repair

if you have s spear FD you can change it with the tool kit. to change the antenna you need a drill press.