K1300GT Faults starting to appear already

[Jamie (RIP)]

Nice post.......

agree

welcome to the forum James

[lowflyer]

New to this forum and I'm finding the topics "worrisome" and Interesting. Currently a Goldwing owner and thought that I would look for something a little lighter but able to continue with my tour rides (25 to 30 thou. km per year). Getting a little older I guess!!!
Love the 1300GT looks however, the number and type of faults mentioned here for such a new model has me rethinking this bike. Was hoping to visit the local dealer and actually sit on one and DEFINITELY want to test ride it.
Rider "reviews" are one thing but ownership is the best review and forums such as this present a wealth of knowledge. Get the same info. on any Goldwing forum as well of course.

[Bernardo]

Welcome to the forum lowflyer

Thanks for join with us...

[Semper_Fi]

New to this forum and I'm finding the topics "worrisome" and Interesting. Currently a Goldwing owner and thought that I would look for something a little lighter but able to continue with my tour rides (25 to 30 thou. km per year). Getting a little older I guess!!!
Love the 1300GT looks however, the number and type of faults mentioned here for such a new model has me rethinking this bike. Was hoping to visit the local dealer and actually sit on one and DEFINITELY want to test ride it.
Rider "reviews" are one thing but ownership is the best review and forums such as this present a wealth of knowledge. Get the same info. on any Goldwing forum as well of course.

All bikes have faults - I have a new GT and it is awesome

Had the recall done for the brakes, I also had the frame welded on the Goldwing (had an 03)

Had the swithes replaced - also disabled the antidive on the Goldwing - see a pattern?

Goes like a raped ape and will outhandle the goldwing any day and I think will give an RT a run for it's money (handling wise, not speed wise, the RT does not have a chance).

I had an RT and i thought it was the most incredible bike, which it is, however the GT fits and suits me better.

I would say test ride one and bring your wallet because you will probably end up with one - i did

[MacGasking]

Update. The dealer replaced the big (and expensive) box of electronics; it made no difference of the behavour of the CANBUS accessory socket - that is it would take a few minutes to switch down but only to about 1.2 Volts. We then made the same measurement on their demo model K1300GT and it showed exactly the same behaviour. An Email to BMW requesting information remains unanswered but a Rep is due to visit next week so further comment may be forthcoming. The dealer then changed the battery and since then I have had no further problems with a flat battery - except when Autocom wired their box of ricks directly to the accessory socket which resulted in it remaining live and surprise suprise - another flat battery! I've given up with BMW wiring and CANBUS and have wired in a separate fused and switched supply to a CENTEC fuse panel under the seat. The rotary key switch is mounted in the second accessory socket place on the left hand side. I've also wired an further BMW socket in the third location and put a standard cigar lighter socket under the seat. All are wired to separate fuses on the CENTEC fuse unit. So far so good. ......... except that the indicator cancel function failed last week so it was back to the dealer for a replacement. That is the second time I have had switch failures on the LH cluster. Bike mileage so far 6K. Dealer replacements - 4.

[Flyguy]

...... diagnosed the auxilliary power not shutting down completely - hence the drain on the battery. Reprogramming and computer diagnostics failed to repair fault or shed light on cause. There was a suspicion that problem may be due to my fitting of a Garmin 660 preventing the shutdown (always seek to blame the customer) - and I may have been liable to the expense of their diagnostics.

I have exactly the same problem, the only difference is that the dealer fitted the Zumo. They didn’t have the BMW bracket when I picked up the bike so I fitted a clamp on the bar and jumped power straight from the battery terminals myself and everything worked fine. Then the bracket came in and eventually I left the bike at the dealer and they fitted and wired it all in.

Now I don’t know if the battery will be flat when I go to start it in the morning. The problem appears to be intermittent.

The dealer says they think it is the Zumo (smart guess) because they have “some poor bloke” with a 1300S with the same problem. The bike has apparently been with them several times and its “OK” when it leaves but a few days later he is let down.

I don’t believe it can be a battery problem.

I really want the dealer to fix it but I have not got a great deal of faith.

Brand new bike 2,500 miles and its let me down three times (twice with flat battery and once by running out of fuel when the gauge said there was fuel and the range said 45 miles left) it has been decades since a bike let me down and they were clapped. Not good BMW, I need a bike that is reliable so I’m glad I still have my Honda.

[Flyguy]

An update on my previous,

Following some PMing with MacGasking I took the bike to the dealer declaring it to be an intermittent battery fault. They disagreed but humoured me with a 5hr battery test, which it passed. They tried the same the next day and they found it to be flat!

A new battery and all is well.

I don’t understand how a lead acid battery can have an intermittent fault but this one did.

Now my headlamp main bean switch doesn’t work and the cruise control switch has dropped off……..

[Bernardo]

Hi Fly, welcome to the forum

I don’t understand how a lead acid battery can have an intermittent fault but this one did.

Strange.. the battery normally doesn't have intermittent faults. Probably a bad connection in some internal element.

Now my headlamp main bean switch doesn’t work and the cruise control switch has dropped off

I think this problem is independent of battery problem.. seems a fault of the left switchgear

[Flyguy]

That was of course main beam, I have little problem with my beans.


I guess that the switch problem is unrelated, now waiting for new switch to arrive at dealer. Mind you I would prefer that it was related as MacGasking has just told me that after a few months of working fine, his new battery has just gone flat!

[MacGasking]

Damn ..... thanks Guy. I thought I was through problems. You've now reminded me that I haven't had my main light switch replaced yet ( or the cruise control) ....... unless they changed it when they replaced the electric screen, computer and and indicator switches! Probably best to get them to change the whole handlebar.

[shumifan50]

To the best of my knowledge, all who had the switch gears replaced are happy campers now.

Sorry to revive this thread, but I have had the switch replaced and it failed again the next time I took it out at night; so they have not redesigned or fixed the problem. To add insult to injury the switches are now out of stock in Germany and I have to wait for it to be fixed when they come back into stock. This is indicated as being a month or so during which I have a DAY-ONLY bike... GREAT.
Greatfully I also have a super reliable Yamaha YZFR1 - the Japs can even build a reliable super sports bike LOL. However my GF does not fancy being a passenger on the R1 - I wonder why? LOL

[Jax180]

I'd argue that last post. The reason that this thread died back in 2009 is that there was a fairly definitive fix for the K1300x switchgear. I have replaced several dozen, and have only ever seen one come back for a similar issue with the switchgear.

What I tend to believe given the numbers is that you may have just gotten a 'Friday' switch. Something wrong with one unit doesn't mean that we can discount all the other thousands that have not had another issue with their new switchgear.

I hate to hear you're having a problem, even worse that they are backordered. Perhaps your dealer has a leftover bike on the floor, or can otherwise convince one of their reps to 'find' a unit that is not counted in inventory.

I am confident that your next switchgear will be a permanent fix (assuming the switchgear is the root of the problem)!

Jax

[Bernardo]

Hi fan, welcome to the forum

What model is your bike? , has warranty?

As I know the switch problem was solved, is my case for example, the new switch works fine since near 2 years...

Make a little mark on the failed switch, you can know if they change it...

[shumifan50]

Thanks for the replies and I sincerely hope that the next switch will last. My only concern is that the bike was bought after the above posts and therefore presumably after the fault was fixed, so how come it still showed on a bike bought in June 2010.

The previous time I also had to wait for the switch to be ordered from Germany, but this time Germany is out of stock. The dealer says a month, but I will be surprised if they can restock in a month.
'put a mark on the old switch' - I did that last time and it was definitely swapped.

Other than the switch I really enjoy the bike for long distance travel, although the seat could be better. My old K1200RS has seat that you can ride for several hours without a numb bum whereas the K1300GT seat numbs me after about 1 hour.

Does anybody have experience on how well the K1300GT resists rust - my K1200 is a real rust bucket, but it looks like a lot of the parts on the K1300 has gone back to being made of alloy rather than epoxy coated steel, as per the old K100RT.

[shumifan50]

Sorry to revive this thread, BUT, I have now had 3 switches in 3 years (and only 2998 miles) and now the screen switch has failed again. As the bike is out of waranty, BMW will only pay half of the cost (£323) to replace it. The last 2 switches were 'new' part numbers, so they were supposed to be the revised versions.
I am now totally miffed with BMW and won't bother to buy another BMW, car or bike.
I guess it is small claims court, here we come - we cannot let manufacturers get away with such inferior quality products.

[SHIVA]

if your switches are failing, BMW should replace them.

what year is the bike?

[shumifan50]

It was bought new in March 2010.
Switch was replaced:
31/3/2011 - mileage:1051 - no charge - invoice to bmw £75
20/10/2011 - mileage: 1590 - no charge - invoice to BMW £156.12
13/1/2012 - mileage: 2005 - no charge - invoice to BMW £184.84
24/4/2013 - mileage :2942 - cost to me £163 - invoice to BMW £95.22, cost of switch to me(50% granted by BMW) £117.50 + VAT

I comfirmed with the dealer that this is still an ongoing issue, that also affects K1600GTs, and that this switch might still fail - a crappy switch at £235 - what a ripoff.

I accept that the bike is out of waranty, but the switch is a manufacturing defect as it keeps failing, so I will go to the small claims court. It is hardly worth it for the money, but at least it will require them to try and defend the poor product.

[shumifan50]

We now have confirmed cases of 2012 K1600GT, R1200 and 1000s RR switch gear failing as well, so the problem is not sorted yet.

[shumifan50]

After further discussion with my dealer, BMW have now refunded the part payment for the last switch.