The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => General Announcements => Topic started by: Bengt_Phorqs on July 16, 2010, 05:53:15 PM
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What has caused your breakdown on the road? More than one option is acceptable. I think it will be interesting to see what issues cause the most roadside breakdowns.
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The two times my bike let me down, the first was the starter relay, second was an ignition switch had contacts broken off inside .
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Had a starter go bad on me one time and the other was a broken valve stem on a new tire. Always change your valve stems!
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My original metal-covered spark plug caps shorted out in the rain, causing me to stop.
The other was of unknown origin, but resulting in a broken connecting rod. Valves were all good.
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What breakdowns on the road? :-?
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A lose wire..that connected when sitting still. But made the cycle stumble...lose power when going down the road. Only to regain power when I slowed down. Took a whole damn day to find it...a hot day..and the help of a friend.
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What breakdowns on the road?
+ 1
For local commuting I don't even carry the tool kit (need the space for my lunch) then I forget to put it back in for longer runs which is stupid.
What I always carry is a few small things I need to convert back to points ignition on the road. I've always thought that with using tubes a puncture would be the next most likely cause of a breakdown but it's never happened.
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Thirty miles+ out in the country when the bean can harness, which I had pinched between the engine cover's interior web, finally shorted out.
I now carry a spare can but have not needed it; mainly because I pay closer attention when replacing the engine cover.
I do carry a nice tool/parts package on the bike which includes my cell phone and credit card.
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Had an ICU on the R65 go bad on the road and the tops of the carb on the R75 (where there is an inset disk) were leaking air. Intermittent problems with the electrical connections to the starter button on the R75 - ran a second set of wires to a new button on the dash to bypass it.
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Tank venting problems caused me a few unscheduled stops in the early months of owning the bike and a sticky starter relay slowed a number of starts. The only breakdown that truly stranded me was the failing hall's effects sensor in the beancan. Since then, I had a second sensor fail but that happened in the backyard so doesn't count as an on-the-road breakdown. ;)
The only other time I've had to use the cellphone accessory in the toolkit was when I ran out of gas, due to the reserve stand tube on the petcock being disconnected. Luckily, I have a teenage daughter who loves to drive and is always happy to have an excuse to take the car out, so my having to be collected from the roadside is not as bad as it might be. :-[
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My only Terminal failure on the road was a fuel blockage due to gunge in the tank blocking the petcock pipes when i first got the bike, ive had other odd problems but nothing ive not been able to sort out there and then.
Lou
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Oops! I forgot about one.
I have the flat-top carbs, and the white plastic ring that holds the diaphragm to the slide had gotten too large (ID) and would not hold the diaphragm in place.
I had to find an adhesive that would put up with the gasoline.
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbase.com%2Ftomfarr%2Fimage%2F80793265%2Fsmall.jpg&hash=89182e7608f0d25284d263662b282fd5ffa16129)
I was 300 miles from home, on my way to a Gathering of the Clans. (didn't make it)
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Oops! I forgot about one.
I have the flat-top carbs, and the white plastic ring that holds the diaphragm to the slide had gotten too large (ID) and would not hold the diaphragm in place.
I had to find an adhesive that would put up with the gasoline.
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbase.com%2Ftomfarr%2Fimage%2F80793265%2Fsmall.jpg&hash=89182e7608f0d25284d263662b282fd5ffa16129)
I was 300 miles from home, on my way to a Gathering of the Clans. (didn't make it)
Were you using a fuel adative when this happend ??.
Lou
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Whoa! Sometimes I add a tag to my posts: It's BMW and it's electrical. What possibly could go wrong?
According to the poll, looks like about 50% of the time. :D
Monte
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I have had only to break downs. First time was a throw out bearing failure. and just a couple weeks ago a ignition wire at the coil pinched and short out. Have not had flat tires on any of my BMW's but on other bikes but was able to fix them on the road.
Don
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All on the R65,
First was the coil when it saw dark clouds hoovering above, but got home on one pot.
2nd was the right hand carby overflowing when ever it felt like it, i just pulled over took off the bowl played with neddle/seat. Happened more then a few times until we gave the new fuel lines a good clean.
3rd was a broken gear linkage, i was in third wanting to shift up to fourth but nothing just nothing, pulled over & there it was. Had to ride 30kays in third gear to get to home base.
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Once the coat hanger gear shift linkage fell off one post. The wee clip got loose. Everything was still attached but there to be put back in place. Ithen had a zip-tie around that wee clip under the rubber boot for a few years before getting Justin's linkage.
Otherwise LRB has never let me down. [smiley=dankk2.gif] LRB!!!
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Crack-o-matic coil left me stranded in the middle of a Motorcycle class (BikeSafeNC). It was nice that a Highway patrolman was riding behind me (as part of the class I was taking) to fend off the cars as I pulled off on the side of the road. I'm sure it looked like I was just going too fast... ;)
Otherwise, flat tires have been my achilles heel. Graham always carried a spare tube when we first started riding together. I asked him how many times he had ever needed it - the answer was none. So I talked him out of carrying it anymore. To serve me right, I had 5 FLAT TIRES during the next year. I finally got smart and put a mudflap on the front tire to solve my flat tire problems. 8-)
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Oops! I forgot about one.
I have the flat-top carbs, and the white plastic ring that holds the diaphragm to the slide had gotten too large (ID) and would not hold the diaphragm in place.
I had to find an adhesive that would put up with the gasoline.
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbase.com%2Ftomfarr%2Fimage%2F80793265%2Fsmall.jpg&hash=89182e7608f0d25284d263662b282fd5ffa16129)
I was 300 miles from home, on my way to a Gathering of the Clans. (didn't make it)
Were you using a fuel adative when this happend ??.
Lou
No.
I had replaced the diaphragms a couple of times over the years, reusing the white rings each time. They eventually wore too much to hold.
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Broken clutch cable.
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The only BMW- breakdown on the road I've had was with the R65LS within the first year I owned it - I hadn't gotten round to checking the clutch splines and lubing them yet, and, the splines failed - fortunately within 3 miles of home.
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...need to add a choice for drivetrain other than engine. I was stranded when my tranny went out on me, and later when the clutch disk friction material stopped being stuck to the clutch disk.
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I voted for battery and tires. Mine was actually an alternator rotor opening up but I figured "Battery" was close enough to "Charging System". As far as tires I have had numerous flats, especially on my way up the AlCan Highway to Alaska...
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I put down Engine Mechanical and Other. But I forgot about the alternator rotor failure which could be "Other". That had me stuck on the side of the road for a bit.
Sucking the valve wasn't too good either. Luckily I was close to home on that one and it happened in early spring so it got a nice rebuild of the upper end before the ride to Redmond.
The other one was loosing the clutch. Luckily it was only a nut that had backed off and was an easy fix.
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Starter relay and/or the connectors to the relay got me.
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Almost incredibly in over 50 years I've only been stopped dead on the road three times (though quite a few times I've clattered home with soft tires, misfiring engine, no lights etc!).
One stop was a flat tire, quick enough to need immediate repair. Lucky it was in a small town (Langport, Somerset, England) with a car dealer close by, when motorcycle wheels-- and tires -- were easy to get off and when car shops still were happy to repair inner tubes. The other two were due to failures of aftermarket electronic ignition. My old R60/5 sweated oil everywhere and had a lot of other problems but always got me home. My R65 did too but currently has a starting problem, I'm working on it.
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Starter relay and/or the connectors to the relay got me.
I didn't really count that (it's happened to me twice and then it goes away) as I was able to push start the bike.
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My LS has really only let me down hard once in 5 years (about 8K miles). After a short ride (10 miles or so) the ignition quit cold. After fifteen minutes of troubleshooting, it fired up again, only to die in two more miles. I had a friend trailer it home, where I cleaned up the ICU and replaced the heat transfer grease. Problem solved.
Steve in VT
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Had one other combination of events, that while not strictly a breakdown, caused me to bail out of a run. It was a combination of carboration (would not idle), weak battery, heat, and traffic. The bike would not idle, so I had to manually keep the rpms a good bit above idle to avoid stalling without a battery strong enough to start. So shutting and restarting when able to move was not an option. I was stuck in traffic (i.e., no air flow), and reaching the point where I could feel and hear the bike about to overheat (just before I was due to enter the Holland Tunnel into NYC, with even more stagnant air and not place to pull over) . With discretion being the better part of valor, I bailed out of the run.
k_enn
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Four times in 5 years.
#1 Return spring on gearbox shift lever left me stuck in 3rd gear
#2 Brake clutch cable at handlebar snapped due to insufficient lubing
#3 Hall gizmo Inside Bean Can went dead suddenly, no more sparks!
#4 Intake valve guide being sucked in, lots of white smoke warning
Guess this makes me #1 on this poll so far!
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Broken forward coil mount eventually shorted out something. Its still broken (off) and I replaced the entire coil ignition system with dual output Dyna and the Omega crank fired electronic ignition.
(yesh)
Also it didn't stop me but I had a Omega Rotor go bad. Rick warranted replaced the rotor (Thank you Rick).
Also had flakes of the BMW red tank lining block the pick up port of the reserve tap. That was exciting...
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I probably should have put a vote for ignition, as my original coil failed about 300 feet from home .
I don't think that would qualify for an on road breakdown .
Now if I was 200 miles from home, that would be a different story .
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Bob, the purpose of the poll is to basically understand what the most common faults might be. With that understanding perhaps it will help most of us know where to look first in our diagnosis. Admittedly, it could have been worded much better.
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4 times in 28 years....145,000 miles.
* Clutch spline failure at 70k..35 miles from home.
* Gear shifter return spring, stuck in 5 th gear, 119 k, Sherando Lake, Va, 212 miles from home, 2 upped home on the back of Aida's R65.
* Second clutch spline failure, 3000 miles from home, Prospect, Ore., 1200 mile U Haul back to MT....approx. 139 k
* Alternator rotor failure, 20 miles from home, 142 k, again home on Aida's R65.
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This is my response to the thread in general, not to any previous poster:
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbase.com%2Ftomfarr%2Fimage%2F85728833.jpg&hash=245e893554eb8908d9d033caad94d3b85889a27a)
(in light of my recent problems)
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Hey Rob, it beats crying. I wouldn't blame you.