BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Hi, In march this year I traded my `14 RT LC ( never had a problem with it really), for a 69 reg 1250. Not done very many miles since march. Out for a ride about 6 weeks ago and the amber warning triangle on the upper dash kept flashing on and off and so did the SOS warning in the lower dash. But after a while they stayed out. A week later went out, this time both lights came on and stayed on. Arranged visit to BMW dealer, after looking at the bike they couldn`t find anything wrong with it, 5 days later the bike wouldn`t start. Called out BMW breakdown. Apparently, the battery was flat (I`d only ridden it 5 days previously?). Got it started and off I went, warning lights came on again. 5 days later I just rode to the dealership, they found the battery terminals loose. Hooray, sorted. Riding home, lights on again. Getting fed up now, Its booked in again.
    Anyone had a similar problem? Or can shed any light on what might be the cause. Cheers Bob   

Yes is the answer. I had the sos and warning light on, on my  2019 1250. Went in to the dealer for a solfware update, didn't fix it. It then sat with the dealer for 6 weeks, whilst they tried to get Germany Tech to respond, the sos telemetric module is made by a third party. Next got a call to say it was fixed. Went away on a trip of around 800 miles and had 45 SOS warnings with the amber semi circle. Eventually took the bike back and Germany allegedly did a direct update of software, that was supposed to be released in October. Then the dealer changed the telemetric unit, did the update and fingers crossed mine seems to be fixed. I've only done two, two hours rides, but no warnings,

Casbar, thank you, I was getting pretty wound up with it. Hopefully I`ll get the same fix.
                            Cheers,
                                        Bob

I had the same thing (2020 RT). SOS light and warning triangle indicating the sos system was not working. Next day bike would not start. I put the battery on charge. The following morning the voltage was 5.3 volts.
I called the BMW emergency number (from home) as the bike was still under guarantee. The gent came out and connected his computer. 10 faults all related to the battery. The battery terminals were loose. He fixed this & cleared the faults. Bike was fine  Until.... sos light & warning triangle. (about a week later ) I called the emergency number (again from home) and the same gent came out. Same trouble - loose battery terminals. He could not believe it. Anyway the bike was booked in to our local dealer for a software upgrade. This is not just for the SOS system - its for the whole bike and takes ~ 4 hours. Since then no problem. Incidentally while he was sorting out the bike (engine running ) The sos system annunciated in big purple letters and we found ourselves talking to Munich and reassuring them that all was well.
An interesting point: If you call out the BMW emergency team and they cannot fix things, they will take the bike to a dealer. Because it is the emergency folks who have brought in the machine, the dealer is required to fix the bike within 2 days.
No bits were changed on the bike, just the software refresh.
All the Best,Peter

Two software updates which didn’t fix mine. The third with a new telemetry so module hopefully has

Thanks fellas, bike is booked in for the 28th hopefully the dealer will get it sorted, to be fair they have been pretty helpful up to now. Doing the Ride to the Wall on the Saturday, so don`t want any hiccups. Cheers Bob.

Its these little niggly electronic faults that makes you think are they all worth the money and technology ?  aye the good old distributor and points the good old days .!!!!!!

Has anybody had to use the SOS system in an emergency or otherwise.? Just wondering how effective it is.

MikeS wrote: Has anybody had to use the SOS system in an emergency or otherwise.? Just wondering how effective it is.

I did a test call on mine, just push the button and they will answer. There is a blogger on You Tube who dumped his bike in a ditch whilst he was on his own and he was very impressed that the call centre was on the horn immediately.


Even with the glitches messing around with points was not a fond memory and a complete pain on some bikes

Same here, '20 R1250RT. From the beginning yellow triangle/SOS icon permanently on. 2 Software updates didn't work, but after replacing the SOS module underneath fueltank everything worked again, even after 7000km no yellow triangle/SOS icon light.


If you have that SOS icon constantly on it will continue to search for a satellite, even after shutting the bike down, and therefore it will drain your battery after couple of days, so loose battery terminals is just bollocks.


The only remedy is to change the SOS module (unfortunately placed underneath the fueltank).

MikeS wrote: Has anybody had to use the SOS system in an emergency or otherwise.? Just wondering how effective it is.

Yes. I'm afraid I had that "pleasure". The SOS is a feature you really wish to never use.
Anyway. I've been hit in the rear, bike went down, as well myself. SOS center connected to my bike almost immediately. I had to explain multiple time that I'm OK. And my bike is still OK to ride for a short distance, etc.
Very professional, very polite, and looks like this operator had experience with this kind of stuff. Or great training. As she repeated questions few times. Which is in my opinion great as you can be in shock after an accident.
Overall really good experience with SOS center. Not good with accident

Distributor and points? - pah.  Joe Lucas (the Prince of Darkness) Competition Magneto.  No worries about flat batteries then.

Hi,
    Took my bike into the dealer I bought it from and explained the SOS problems. After having it for a day they called to say that they were contacting BMW to send a new Telemetry part, which would take about 5 days to arrive (just like Casbar). They gave me a new 1250rt as the loan bike. Just picked my bike up today from North Oxford Motoraad. All fixed and running without any problems. Apparently the fault lies with a part produced by Bosch and bmw have replaced it. They also have another 2 guys waiting to have theirs sorted too. Hopefully that`s the end of the story. Cheers

Good result, mine took 6 weeks to sort  8)  But its fine now

I know this thread is a little outdated. I would like to add my penithworth. My wife owns a Mini and as we know this is a BMW series 1 with a different body. The car is set up with the same SOS system as the BMW cars and bikes. We had the same problem with the system with lights flashing and false calls to the BMW/ Mini emergency call center. After updates that didn't work, the module was replaced. Now ten thousand miles later the fault hasn't recurred. The module is the exact same part that's on the bikes but with a different part number.