BMW S1000RR Recall

Author
Discussion

Sowts

Original Poster:

13 posts

148 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Was supposed to take mine to the back to the dealer on saturday for first service
But had a phone call to say they need it for 16 hrs more for "bolt in main con rod replacement"

Any body else had any news on this ???
Few people from another forum have quoted as not been allowed to pick there new bikes up

Not sure what bikes are affected by this

willis1337

428 posts

165 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
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From BMW USA facebook profile:

"BMW has issued a delivery hold and is recalling 1,414 2012 model year BMW S1000 RR motorcycles to inspect and correct a potential problem with loosening of the connecting rod bolts. As a result of a manufacturing process error, the bolts could loosen and fall out. If this happens, the engine may fail, seize, and/or leak oil. Approximately 900 of the affected motorcycles are still in BMW or dealer inventory and will be inspected and corrected prior to customer delivery. Owners of potentially affected motorcycles will be notified by mail in May advising them to bring their motorcycles to an authorized BMW Motorcycle dealer to have the recall performed. The connecting rod bolts will be replaced and installed with a thread locking agent."

Do a google search under discussions and there's loads of info. If I had one of these bikes I'd be contacting dealer asap to see if it needs sorting.

3doorPete

9,912 posts

233 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Ooooohh - that's gonna cost them a lot of money.

I like their "May leak oil" caveat. If your conrod bolt goes at high RPM, you could end up with a piston lodged in your radiator! laugh

fergus

6,430 posts

274 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
3doorPete said:
If your conrod bolt goes at high RPM, you could end up with a piston lodged in your radiator! laugh
or your nuts, which may smart a tad more....

Battlecat

944 posts

237 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
If I recall correctly there was also a recall in the first year of the bike being released. Can't remember what it was for though.

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
As fkups go that's a biggie!

Sowts

Original Poster:

13 posts

148 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
So if it goes bang what will happen??Apart from BMW getting it back and fixing it
Would the back wheel lock up that kind of thing??
Should i be riding it?
Is it dangerous?
Do BMW have to replace it for a trip i have planned at the beiginning on June
The parts will not be in the UK until mid to end of June as i have just been told by the dealer.

Biker's Nemesis

38,536 posts

207 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Sowts said:
So if it goes bang what will happen??Apart from BMW getting it back and fixing it
Would the back wheel lock up that kind of thing??
Should i be riding it?
Is it dangerous?
Do BMW have to replace it for a trip i have planned at the beiginning on June
The parts will not be in the UK until mid to end of June as i have just been told by the dealer.
If a bolt comes out of a conrod yes it is dangours. Very!

Yes the engine/gearbox will lock and most likely put a hole in it too.

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Biker's Nemesis said:
Sowts said:
So if it goes bang what will happen??Apart from BMW getting it back and fixing it
Would the back wheel lock up that kind of thing??
Should i be riding it?
Is it dangerous?
Do BMW have to replace it for a trip i have planned at the beiginning on June
The parts will not be in the UK until mid to end of June as i have just been told by the dealer.
If a bolt comes out of a conrod yes it is dangours. Very!

Yes the engine/gearbox will lock and most likely put a hole in it too.
Wouldnt wanna go touring on it with an outstanding con rod bolt recall that's for sure.

3doorPete

9,912 posts

233 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Biker's Nemesis said:
Sowts said:
So if it goes bang what will happen??Apart from BMW getting it back and fixing it
Would the back wheel lock up that kind of thing??
Should i be riding it?
Is it dangerous?
Do BMW have to replace it for a trip i have planned at the beiginning on June
The parts will not be in the UK until mid to end of June as i have just been told by the dealer.
If a bolt comes out of a conrod yes it is dangours. Very!

Yes the engine/gearbox will lock and most likely put a hole in it too.
Not to mention the large amount of oil dumped in front of the rear tyre out of said holes in engine.

OP - it's about as catastrophic a failure as you can get in an engine.

These bolts are what hold the con rods to the crank shaft. If one fails it's likely to happen at high engine RPM as the piston is decelerating towards TDC or accelerating back down the bore. As the piston and rod are now free, in extreme cases it could punch a hole in the top of the engine towards rad/tank. the rest of the loose bits even if it doesn't punch a hole will drop into the bottom of the engine and gearbox probably mashing and bending the crankshaft as it goes. It would almost certaily lock the gearbox and as parts destroy in the bottom end could punch holes in the cases too.

As for it's likelihood and conditions it could happen under, it would be worth speaking to BMW. I doubt it's a high risk unless they are on the phone to all owners demanding immediate return to dealers and not to ride it.

I wouldn't want to tour on a bike needing that doing and if I did, I'd be keeping the revs well down.

podman

8,850 posts

239 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
I read this a week or so ago but didnt post as it seemed pure speculation at the time...

http://www.bikeland.org/story.php?storyID=66788

Also a rather disturbing pic posted in the form the link was on...





""This is not "official", but I heard from a fairly reliable source that the robotic arm that performs the assembly of the connecting rods, was discovered out of torque spec during it's scheduled calibration routine. When or how it went out of spec is not known, so how many motors affected is not known presently. Apparently it was off by -30%, which is very atypical, typical drift is +/- a couple inch pounds over the course of the calibration cycle.

So in a nutshell they're possibly numerous motors floating around with 30% less torque values on the connecting rods. Again, this is not official, but the source is very reliable. None the less, this is not a difficult fix, and it is carried out by robots, not human "specialists". There is no mechanical defects or issues with regard to the bike, per say. It appears to be a process/manufacturing issue.""

sprinter1050

11,550 posts

226 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
You've ^^ answered my immediate query- that being how the hell can a major motor manufacturer not get soemthing
as basic, yet essential, as tightening con rod bolts right in their no-doubt hi tech assembly process.

Even so you would have thought that a quality inspection regime should have picked up on it before 1400+ units were released. Do con rod bolts not have locking tabs on these days?

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Yazza54 said:
As fkups go that's a biggie!
yes yep

squeezebm

2,319 posts

204 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Now just imagine if it was a Ducati................biggrin


3doorPete

9,912 posts

233 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
squeezebm said:
Now just imagine if it was a Ducati................biggrin
It would just be classed as 'character' and not fixed. "Watcha you worry about-a few loose-a screws-a for? Just-a think-a ova de passione" hehe

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Exploding engines make a change from exploding gearboxes.

bimsb6

8,034 posts

220 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
D
podman said:
So in a nutshell they're possibly numerous motors floating around with 30% less torque values on the connecting rods. Again, this is not official, but the source is very reliable. None the less, this is not a difficult fix, and it is carried out by robots, not human "specialists". There is no mechanical defects or issues with regard to the bike, per say. It appears to be a process/manufacturing issue.""
Bmw dealers have robots now ?

Silver993tt

9,064 posts

238 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Not sure I'd want a nearly new engine dismantled by a dealer in the UK and then reassembled. I'd want a brand new bike for such a major manufacturing error or at least the engine repaired at the factory.

bass gt3

10,186 posts

232 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
Seems BMW won't be offering new motors but just a rebuild of your original engine. As said here, whilst warranties exist it hardly fills you with faith that the issues will be solved.
The primary reason i didn't look at the beemer was their shocking customer support on bikes that have gone bang. I know of over half a dozen that have had their internals make a bid for freedom. And if the bike was ever at the track they revoked the warranty immediately. Not exactly heart warming considering the product profile. Acquaintance of mine has hs bike basically forensically examined by BMW to determine if the bike had ever been on track and when it was proven they left him high and dry. Brand new bike with 2000k and he had to go buy a motor from a crashed bike as BMW wanted stupid money for a new motor.
Ardor this alone i wouldn't buy a beemer bike if my life depended on it.
So i bought an Aprilia instead. Oops!!
But at least Aprilia supplied brand new created engines when the early RSV4's had conrod issues.
As for the likelihood ive heard of aa couple of 2012's going bang, one with less than 30kilos on the clock. So yes, this is a real problem not a potential issue. Apparently a guy in the UK did four engines on the dyno in short order when running his racebike in. Not sure how true but it don't make good reading.
The real issue is how they resolve it. Honda had iffy rings. Kawasaki had iffy pistons. Aprilia had iffy rods. Errors happen but the real mark of a company is how they deal with it.

Edited by bass gt3 on Tuesday 24th April 18:57

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Tuesday 24th April 2012
quotequote all
I once saw a friend's Triumph twin (old, 1960s Thunderbird) sidecar racing outfit after a conrod had snapped.

It tore a perfect, four inch long hole in the front, lower half of the crankcases. That outfit probably revved to 7,000rpm. And the BMW revs to - I dunno - 15,000rpm? So the rod is going to be going roughly twice as fast. And with a wet sump; the oil is going to absolutely cover the rear tyre.

I'm not a scare monger type of person, but there's not a snowballs chance in hell that you'd get me out on a superbike with a potentially loose conrod cap bolt!

That is one major, major cock-up!

ETA;

podman's quote said:
""This is not "official", but I heard from a fairly reliable source that the robotic arm that performs the assembly of the connecting rods, was discovered out of torque spec during it's scheduled calibration routine. When or how it went out of spec is not known, so how many motors affected is not known presently. Apparently it was off by -30%, which is very atypical, typical drift is +/- a couple inch pounds over the course of the calibration cycle.
So, if they're recalling over 1,400 bikes they really, really should be checking their manufacturing process and calibration more often!

Edited by srob on Tuesday 24th April 19:02