Greetings BMW Motorrad,
I am a forty four year old life long motorcycle enthusiast and journalist. I have been riding BMW motorcycles since my first ride with my uncle in 1974 at five years old. I am currently on an around the world trip (a book in progress) with a friend, both riding on 2007 F650S'.
We started in Florida and are currently in Coca, Ecuador.
On our way south we dropped our bikes off at Bogota BMW to get our oil changed, new tires and new chains and sprockets.
We were greeted at the door by the Motorrad service manager Edgar Gomez. He offered us coffee and we had a chat about our mutual long rides on BMW's.
After the coffee and chat, when I asked him when I could pick up the bikes, he said tomorrow. Wow!
When we came to pick up our bikes the next day they were clean and shiny, (they were covered in mud and dirt when we dropped them off). We also noticed that long since broken items were now working again like new! We were absolutely stunned. Service like that is very hard to find these days. Edgar is our hero!
We loved our experience at Bogota BMW!

On our way south through Banos, Ecuador, my radiator (which I had replaced with a new one just six months before) was leaking profusely. I was also having an issue with a fuse blowing and disabling the gauges, brake light, and hand grips.
From Banos we had the bikes loaded into a truck and taken to Quito BMW for diagnosis and repairs.
After we unloaded the bikes, a “service representative”, came, said hi, then soon disappeared. After waiting for thirty minutes in the parking lot, finally, Gabriel Espinosa wrote up the issues I described. The next day we took a taxi back. “All is good, don't worry” he told us. We hopped on our bikes, hit the starter.....silence. Gabriel tried..... silence...nothing. On his fourth attempt it started and Gabriel said “ see! Its ok!”
I told him that starting on the fourth try was not ok! We could be stuck in the middle of the desert, miles from nowhere! This was not a joke! He said they would look into it. When I asked him about getting another radiator he said he didn't have one in stock. So I asked him if he could check BMW in Bogota, or Lima to see if they have one. He told me “impossible”. What!? BMW motorcycles are bought and sold because of their dependability and outstanding service, especially for “adventure riders”......right?
So I asked to speak to the service manger. Twenty minutes later Humberto Sandoval comes out and tells us a new radiator is “impossible. Then he suggests that we “fly to Lima BMW and see if they can help you”.
After three days they finally listened to me and found the short blowing the fuse.
Don't stop reading yet! It gets better!
For three days we are told that they will contact us the next day via email and phone. For three days......nothing...
Each day we take a taxi in the late afternoon to the dealership. Each day they say “don't worry”. Each day, another problem.
Finally a BMW Motorrad “mechanic”, I wish I remembered his name, takes my bike for a “two hour test ride” while we wait in the parking lot.
When he comes back he says “all is ok, ready to go”.
The next morning on departure, I look at my odometer, it being in sync with my partners.
My odometer reads exactly three miles more than when I dropped it off. Two hour test ride!!!!? Replacement parts “impossible”!?
We are not Ewan Mcgregor, we don't have support vehicles. BMW reps in Quito don't give a **** about their customers or their bikes!
We are now stuck, sitting here in Coca Ecuador with a bad radiator with water in the oil and major electrical problems that BMW Quito couldn't, or more to the point, wouldn't fix!
I would also like to mention that I am not your typical BMW rider. I look a lot more like a Harley rider and get many jokes about it. Riding BMW motorcycles has been my life.....but at the moment I am stuck in the jungle between Quito BMW ( which I will never take anything to again and will warn EVERYONE I know about), and Lima two thousand miles distant. BMW Ecuador needs to be looked at by the investors.
At this point my confidence in my bike, and BMW in general is lost.

Very disappointed,
Author, Motos South (in progress)

You have two options if you are going to be a RTW motorbike rider.

A. you can either learn to do your own maintenance on your bike, this is best as you said, you might just get left stranded in a desert or some other place you'd rather not walk out of.

B. have loads of money to throw at your bike's maintenance by different mechanics around the world that may or may not know what the hell they are doing and is doubtful they care about the condition of your bike as much as you do, because you will be the one walking.

It is not that hard to learn to do nearly anything on your bike if you can read. Having been a rider for over 40 years it is by far time you started, especially now that you are riding out of the land of plenty into foreign lands.

If you don't learn how to fix your bike then this is just the tip of the iceberg, help yourself and then you won't have to post up why you got screwed over by some dealership.

Goodluck with your trip!

John

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When the radiator leaked the first time, we did get it patched by one of these radiator repair shops. But he job didn't look all that great, so we wanted to order a new radiator - which is the reason why we decided to go to the BMW dealership in Quito. They sure should be able to order one for us if they don't have it in stock, so our thoughts. Not so much ...
It wasn't for the lack of mechanical aptitude that we went to BMW, we needed the damn part! Which we weren't able to get there. So we hoped the repaired radiator would hold up, and we moved on. And now we're stuck in the jungle! The radiator broke again and now there is water in the oil, suggesting that the head gasket blew. So now we're in trouble ... this isn't a quick roadside repair job. :-(

John forgot option C as a RTW rider

C) Do not use a BMW !

:-)

(From a RTW Aprilia rider)

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Having a F650, it sounds to me that it could be that your water pump impeller seals are letting go- a known weak point on the bike. The shaft of the pump impeller wears over time and a groove is formed and the seals begin to let go hence coolant in the oil.
1 casing gasket, 2 seals and one impeller are all it takes to fix that.

It is one of the main items which needs replacing before any long trip on this moto.

As is the replacement of the solid oil return line for a flexihose as it's very difficult to remove and replace without damaging it and it does need to move to open the casing.

Sounds to me that your best option is to stay put somewhere, contact motorworks to get all the parts you need.

Someone on here did a temporary bypass on the f650 using a washing machine pump rigged on the outside of the bike powered by a small inverter to convert your 12 volt to mains to power the pump. They did not have the parts to repair a ruined impeller.

Almost any small radiator will do too even if your bike starts to look like it came from a Mad Max movie.

As was said before,

• it is all about bike preparation before you go.

• Having some mechanical knowledge helps too

• If owning a bm-wobble-U (!) Having a '911 diagnostic' dongle takes all the pain of guesswork out- It is even able to send, via sms, the result of the diagnostic to your local mechanic whose mobile number you should have....
• p.m me if you need more info

All bikes break, if your not breaking yours you are not riding it hard enough Let me give it a try.

To the OP, I lost a radiator on my F650 down below the Orinoco in VZ and got it sort out, you are not the first or the last, it's all part of traveling on a bike. Go ahead and have the head decked at a machine shop to make sure you didn't warp it.

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www.throttlemeister.net

Oh, it breaks, but I have never needed to visit an Aprilia shop to fix it/them :-)

We (my wife) have broken a shock in Patagonia (fixed in Punta Arenas) and I have had dialectical failure in the US and Kazakhstan (3 times). Its always electrical with my Peg :-)

I do own a BMW (Funduro) in Chile, but as that was made by Aprilia its main issue is electrical as well :-)

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"Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has become a widely used treatment model for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and other individuals with significant emotion dysregulation problems."

Well Bruce, that is some worrying failure- Must be driven by all those negatives emotions you have about BMW's !!
I hope it's been fixed.

I blame the vodka Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' Stories - Bruce Porter and Mike Speechley :-)

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