Scary moment today on my 2012 RT SE

[UKDucatiman]

Joining the M4 from Reading, London bound and in the outside lane, I'd just set the cruise control for the 50 mph restricted section when bike just shut down as if it had run out of fuel. One second it was fine the next it wasn't, after a scary couple of minutes I manged to get to the inside lane, but will no recovery lane I had to dodge through some cones before coming to a stop.


I switched the bike back on and the petrol gauge showed zero fuel, but there had been no warning of low fuel and before I set out showed 185 miles remaining. At this point I sought sanctuary on the embankment and called the RAC for recovery. They were most concerned about my situation and made me priority call and even though very busy were hopeful to get a recovery vehicle to me within 30 minutes. Anyway, after waiting for 10 minutes I decide to go back to the bike for one last try. I turned it on, the fuel gauge was back showing half a tank of petrol. I hit the start button and the bike fired up straight away. I let it run for about 5 minutes and decide to try my luck. I cancelled the RAC call and made my way home via a really busy M4 & M25, with no issues at all. When I got home I stated and stopped the bike a number of times without incident.


Lady luck was with me today but this could have been a very serious incident. I'm most interested to hear if anybody else has experienced this horrible situation and any course of action I could take to further investigate.

[milleplod]

Crikey, bit of a heart-stopping moment there!  :wonder: Glad you're OK, and I have to say that you've got more bottle than I would've had in continuing to ride it! Obscure electrical glitch somewhere then? If the gauge was showing zero, does the bike's ECU then decide to kill the engine?! Or I wonder if everything else was 'off' at the same time, but you only noticed the gauge - had the bike immobilised itself? Is the bike under warranty? I'd get it on a GS-911 to see if any codes have been stored - I'd be very wary about riding it (especially on a motorway!) till you've found out what went wrong!
Pete

[UKDucatiman]

I tried to start the bike again on Sunday morning. With ignition turned to on, the fuel gauge was again missing, but the remaining range displayed 147 miles (see attached image). On pressing the start button nothing happened, no attempt to turn over at all. Exactly the same situation as when I broke down on the M4.

In the afternoon I decided to add more fuel, around 9 liters. With the ignition key turned to on the fuel gauge was back and the range increased. The bike fired up first time and after settling down the range increased to 230 miles. Since then I've started the bike about 10 times and every time the bike has fired up. Interestingly when I stop the bike I can hear a gurgling noise from the tank as if the fuel is draining to a lower part of the tank, never noticed this before, is this normal?

So I’m guessing something has to be going wrong with whatever controls the fuel sensing. Googling around seems there was some reported issues with the twin cam model so interesting to see what BMW has to say tomorrow.

[bighopper]

Fuel Pump, or hose issue!

[UKDucatiman]

Fuel Pump, or hose issue!

Could be, need to get it plugged into BMW diagnostics to see what error codes have been logged.

[UKDucatiman]

Quick update, a faulty (intermittent) kill switch was the culprit here. Currently being replaced by my local dealer. 

[gogs01]

Switchgear problems were widespread on the twin cams. I had several replacements on my 2010 model, although they seemed to have got it sorted on my 2013 model.

[slowvet]

Glad to hear you got it sorted.

[garr2]

I had a similar problem on my 2012 RT when it was still under warranty. After filling up with fuel it wouldn't restart - ie pressed the start button but nothing happened. Bike was carted off on a tow truck and the starter RHS switch block replaced. Both the LH & RHS switch blocks have been known to fail. I later read that some of the switches in the switch blocks can fail if they overheat. A proposed temporary fix to get back on the road was to put a cold damp cloth over the switch to cool it down. My replacement starter switch never failed so I didn't get to see if this fix worked. I wished I had known about it at the time it did fail though because my wife and I were left stranded 800 km from home.
While I can't speak very highly of BMW switches I can about their warranty. When the bike was carted off to the nearest BMW dealer (200km away) to be repaired under warranty we were given a nights accommodation, a hire car to get us home, and the bike was delivered to our doorstep 2 weeks later.



Ian