I get the impression that you think that BMW München (or elsewhere ) stocks all the service information on their own system. I do have another experience!
My bike did have some problems in West Africa. It stopped all of a sudden and the engine stopped. After starting again it didn't have any power and turned but very very weird. After several attempts, it did run again and got back his power (!). This happened several times so I needed to go to the nearest dealer because I didn't have a GS911 tool with me. Anyways I recognized the problem: it was the 'papillon' (a French term - I don't know the English term- for an air valve in the ignition system, the part formerly called carburettor). I did have an issue with my GS of 2015 and this happened with my 2016 GSA.
The dealer in Marrakech made all the day along with many, many tests. Finally, it seemed to be the same problem I described above and I diagnosed already (without any special knowledge, only experience!).They lanced a warranty claim and the BMW warranty office in Germany agreed to change the parts. So the Marrakech dealer ordered the spare part and I had to wait four (4) weeks for it! Meanwhile, my bike did run without any problem full power, I even participated a rally in Marocco. So I came back after that period and as expected: the parts didn't arrive! I cancelled the order and had to reclaim my warranty in France as they said, and because all records were automatically transmitted to BMW Germany there didn't seem to be any problem. Just go to your French dealer, they will connect and see, find or get the records!
Several weeks later I arrived in France and visited my dealer. They connected my bike and could found a record that my bike was serviced in Marrakech (20.000 km service) and that there was later another contact concerning my bike. And that was it! So none of the information was available for my dealer!!!! All the communication with BMW Germany didn't help, there wasn't any information available! They had to do all the tests again. Luckily it seems to me that our actual GS motorbikes are delivered not only with auto diagnostics but also with auto repair qualities! So the problem didn't reappear.
From my experience, I learned that not all data will automatically be saved by BMW München.
I'm very curious about your experience concerning this subject.

Ride on .........

Edwin

May I chirp in here. As an EX-BMW full time tech and now as a contract part time BMW dealer tech.

The GS911's are a great bit of kit. They really are. But they do not free you from your dealer. They don't do anywhere near 99% of what a dealer systems can do. The amount of diagnostic tools your local BMW dealer has with probes, sensors and meters will fill 12 pannier boxes.

As far as I'm aware of from the last one I used in anger, they are fairly limited to reading codes, deleting fault memories, setting service dates, reading a limited amount of sensor data and the better ones can activate your ABS pump to bleed it etc.

Most of these things can be done using old school methods though. With some knowledge (Youtube etc)

A great deal of components that you change out on BMW's need to be calibrated or coded into the bike's vehicle order too. You can't do this on a GS911. You will need your dealer for this !

And information is NOTHING unless you know what to do with it.

BMW's bring up ghost faults all the time. And one fault can lead to another. The codes are sometimes completely misleading. Without experience and understanding of the systems, codes can really send you on a very expensive wild goose chase. You need to know which faults to ignore and which ones to take note of.

The GSS911 won't tell you WHY there is a fault. Just that there is one. And that the fault is in that circuit. Can-bus systems are not so simple !! There could be a number of components in that circuit that will give you the same fault. Faults can tell you that your £10000 ECU dead when you just have a poor earth. Unless you're going to spend hundreds of pounds changing everything, then you're still going to need a proper diagnosis.

I'm self employed now and obviously I've considered buying the expensive professional edition of the GS911. It's a great aid. But as a BMW tech, I can often know what's wrong with it before needing to plug one in. And I'd need to delete a lot of service reminders to get my money back.

I'm old school. I learnt the hard way. I see the new 'Master techs' spend hours diagnosing bikes that won't start using the computers and probes to see if it's ignition, fuelling, compression, timing etc. And I'll just give it 15 mins of old school checks and get to the same result.

Engines still work the same as they always did.

Pull your plug out and see if it sparks - No spark = Bag ignition circuit

Pull you injector out and crank the engine - No spray = Bad pump etc


I once witnessed a senior tech spend half a day diagnosing why a K1600 wouldn't start. The customer was charged £400 for his time.

I walked up to the bike, swapped the starter relay and it fired right up.

£50,000 of diagnostics didn't help him. Because he doesn't know how to work without it.


My point is...

I think you're better off having one on a long trip than not. But they are expensive, a bit bulky and what's the point in knowing fault codes if you're in no position to obtain the part you 'THINK' you might need.

It 'might' help you. It might not. It's by no means a cure for all your diagnostic woes. It's a tool that will help you get some of the answers to your questions if a problem occurs, but you will still need to know what to do with that information.

If you're a complete technical novice then I wouldn't bother with one at all. Spend your money on a tow truck to take the bike somewhere that can do it for you.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I am quite a newbie and about to embark on a 25,000km journey on my BMW Dakar 650 (2007). I have heard that these have water pump problems and am wondering if it is worth me carrying a spare with me. And if i do so how difficult is it to change them?
Any comments gratefully accepted...

100% yes. Along with a spare regulator/rectifier.

BMW sell the kit.

It's not the hardest DIY job but may challenge a complete DIY novice.

There are YouTube videos how to do it. Also there is a step by step with pictures on f650.com.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

My walk in the desert due to this awful bit of Austrian cheese-metal was 15 years ago. My advice:

1. Set fire to the bike, claim on the insurance and buy a Yamaha and a few cush drive rubbers.

2. If 1 doesn't work for you buy 2 kits and some instant gasket. Fit the first kit and get 500 miles in before your trip.

3. Pack the second kit, new instant gasket and a tool suitable for preparing a sealing surface that has porosity and has been warped by heat due to being cheap and nasty.

When you fit the kit at home pay real attention to detail, it took me days to stop in leaking.

On the road, as soon as the oil turns chocolate brown, stop and fit the kit. I had the walk in the desert, recovery from Spain after BMW Malaga kept losing the bike and having a general manyana attitude, days trying to get the kits to seal and then found running with oil and water mixing wrecked the head. I scrapped the bike.

Andy

Hi Ted,

Happen to know if the regulator/rectifier is known for failing on an XChallenge? I've not heard of failures of this component on the X series.

Thanks,

Ian.

It's such a rare bike that is hard to know. I don't know, sorry.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Thanks anyway. Maybe worth carrying a spare anyway. I doubt it's the same part on the X as on the F650GS singles and G650GS.

You never know. Cross check the part numbers.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

That reminds me:-

BMW Parts Catalog

__________________
Dave