Getting ready to leave for work this evening, I backed the bike out of the garage and started it up. Upon startup, for about 2 seconds, the bike made a horrible rattling noise and then stopped and sounded perfectly normal. In a confused WTF state, I let it idle a bit longer and it continued sounding perfect. I shrugged thinking it was a fluke and reluctantly pulled out of the driveway and off to work. At the end of the subdivision, about 1/2 mile from my house, curiosity got the best of me. I figured I'd shut the bike off and restart it. Upon hitting the starter button, the starter just free wheeled. I'm thinking something in the starter let go. The bike has about 220 miles on it. In the end, I turned around and pushed the damn thing back to my house (it was already 10pm and I had to be at work and waiting for road side service would have taken much longer). Tomorrow morning, I'll call to have the bike towed to the dealer. :huh
Well at least you didn't get stranded. I'm sure the shop will repair it and you'll be riding soon. Goog luck.
What a buzzkill on a brand new bike. Hopefully nothing major, but unfortunately I think you'll be in for a wait for parts.
This is what im concerned about too. I cant imagine there is a stockpile of parts around yet. Lets hope we are wrong.
That sounds like your starter Bendix (a sprague clutch) is defective. The dealer will likely replace the starter with new.
I'm going to guess that it doesn't use a bendix style starter since it has a wet clutch. It appears to have the same type of starter as the water cooled K series. The starter is geared to a one way clutch and it all runs in oil. Perhaps the starter drive did come apart, though. It's all internal to the engine most likely.
If the starter is similar to the one on the K16, check out this thread on the K16 board where they have had a few failures and one poster provides a temporary solution to starting the bike....rock it back and forth a little bit in gear. http://www.k1600forum.com/forum/bmw-k1600-general-discussions/3078-starter-dies-5000-miles.html
Please keep us well updated, this is super important. It'll be interesting to see why this happened on a brand new bike. Also how difficult (or not) it is to get at the starter. Stuff happens, but one would assume you could just jump on this bike and ride to Mongolia, that's how it's sold.
Looking at it further today while loading it on the flatbed, I did notice it has an external starter so it may have the sprag set up. It looks easy enough to pull thw starter off but with only 200 miles ill let the dealer mess with it. They will contact me when they know something. As for the rocking back and forth, I tried that. It will not engage the engine no mater what I did. Regarding a loaner, I just got home with this... I just traded in an oiler for a waterhead and im back on an oil cooled anyway. Lol
https://rllemke.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/New-GS/i-pQhP96m/0/L/P90104995-L.jpg Per this image, starter gear engages four more gears to rotate sprag clutch on crankshaft next to alternator. Any one of these gears could have lost a tooth to cause this condition. In any case engine has to be removed and possibly disassembled in part to fix the problem.
Are you saying the engine has to be disassembled to remove starter, or only if the sprag clutch is broken... please elaborate? Are you a tech?
He is saying that if there is a choice between simple and complicated engineering, BMW will chose complicated every time.
The starter bolts onto the right rear of the engine. It's that black thing in this image: But... the one-way clutch sits on the end of the crank. It is not part of the starter. Look at http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=0A11&mospid=55471&btnr=11_5167&hg=11&fg=26 if the next image doesn't show up.
He's saying quite simply if it's not the starter gear and one of the internal gears it engages the engine has to be taken apart to fix it. What gets me is when you buy a new vehicle and it breaks....you are still making payments for that vehicle....you should get a loaner of exactly the same vehicle or better. I'd keep a keen eye on the timeline for this in case it goes to Lemon Law.
Oh good. You are full of good news. Ugh. Lets hooe its just in the starter... Yup ive been thinking this too. I certainly hooe it doesnt come to that but with only 200 miles I dont intend to let this go easily. As for the loaner, they originally wanted to give me an 800s. I politely made it clear that wasnt acceptable and ended up with the GSA which im content with.
Good for you because you will probably be living with it for a long time! If you're in Fenton, did you go to Canton or Sterling Heights? (Hopefully Canton, those guys are great but either way it's a long ways away.) Good luck and let us know what happens. :huh
Loaner?!?!??! :huh I wish my dealership offered a loaner It's the first time I've ever heard of this! Here in Dallas they would give me a weird look, a smirk and a laugh if I ever "suggested" 4 a loaner. Cheers