We are trying to obtain as much info as possible from 1200 GS/GSA riders all over the World, but more specifically in the Southern Hemisphere countries.

Our 2009 GSA's have been found to run incredibly lean with an Air/Fuel ratio of 14.7:1, which together with our poor fuel in South Africa and high temperatures are causing the bikes to constantly "ping" and the overheating to the point where we have to switch the bikes off.

A group of 20 GS/GSA/HP2's and one RT were tested in a controlled environment on a Dyno and at 24deg C, we found that the worse of the lot was the RT with a 15:1 ratio.

We have been told by BMW that these are the settings to comply with the EU Regulations, but Germany and Europe specifically might as well be another world... we have temperatures up to 47 degrees.
Planning a trip through Africa is going to be near impossible due to the poor fuel.

There have been a couple of Boxer engines self-destructing due to the high heat caused by excessively hot running conditions, helped along by extreme temps in the engines with lean mixtures.

We have a huge lot of research behind the belt and want to present our findings to BMW to get them to allow the mixture mapping to be changed on our bikes to the idea of 13.5:1, which would not only allow a better and more responsive engine use, but would also prevent damage and melting of pistons and valves.

Anyone interested can please check our thread and findings as well as comments that are now rolling in from all over as to the "pinging" condition of these wonderful machines!

Any and all advice, help and info would be gratefully received to assist in resolving the issue!

BMW R1200GS/GSA - Boxer Engine - DYNO TESTING DONE - SHOCKING RESULTS !!! (Technical info on the thread from page 10 onwards)

Safe riding!

I wouldn't expect them to be terribly responsive. Witness the engine surging in earlier oilheads, which got the comment that this is "current state of technology".

However, an engine that is pinging and overheating in any climate has a fault. As long as the bike is under warranty you have legal possibilities of redress. Also, I cannot see BMW wanting to replace engines under warranty in great numbers.

Perhaps in the first instance bikes under warranty should go back to the dealer for repair. It's the dealer's and BMW's problem, don't let them make it yours.

The other thing you can do, if BMW don't want to play ball, is to go to the bike magazines and let them publicise that. Loss of sales will make them move.

Good luck.

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

I think it's a warranty-issue.


Yesterday I read through all the 14 (?) pages on wilddog but couldn't find any compilation of data or dyno-graphs. Will it be available?
Edit: Found the data.

They were posted in PDF format for the bikes tested... attached ~!

Notice however the lack of power on the one HP2

Attached Files

Boxer Dyno-2010-05-28.pdf (272.6 KB, 589 views)

The other HP2 doesn't look good either, and they are both modified...

Don't these bikes have "knock" sensors to overcome this very problem?
Or am I missing something?

Tough time there, but I'm glad it sounds like you are getting close to the end. It's a mess when more and more issues like this make me want to keep the Bonneville (R80GS substitute) for even longer.

The 2011 bike will have none of these problems with EU fuel that I'm aware of. The BMW testers club does seem to have run it's course with the 1200's, they seem to be working on the 800/650 and waiting for the watercooled version (bets on what'll leak or fail on the first years production model now been taken).

BMW customer service in the UK however is probably the model they used to train the South Africans. Hopefully you don't get to meet them though (although if you do and it happens to be in a dark alley late at night, give 'em something from me).

Andy

Three friends and I just rode London - Beijing on nearly identical 2007 BMW 1200 Adventures. On returning to England the bikes were turned over to a BMW garage for maintenance. All of them turned out to have significant carbon deposits on the cylinder heads - "where the piston comes towards the exhaust valve".
They getting stuck in with a wire brush and hope this will do the job. But I thought I'd search the net for similar problems and came across this string, so am adding this info for anyone collecting such data.
None of the bikes had mods to make them run leaner. We ran in very hot conditions across deserts and used low octane fuel where that was the only stuff available. However, on such occasions we usually added octane booster.
Hope that's useful extra input.
If it takes more than a wire brush, I'll let you all know.
In the meantime, it's fun to discover such knowledgable new friends.