Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

Category: Motorcycle maintenance

  • Delayed departure and lesson learned

    After almost 4 weeks I was able to get my motorcycle back yesterday from the dealer doing extended warranty repairs to the water pump and radiator fan.  I thought though the warranty was supposed to be extended. I wish someone would have told me that means the repairs will be extended. That is an entire saga in itself that will be covered in another post once I cool off.

    Printing on board reads "BMW Approved"

    I rode the motorcycle straight from the dealer to Brad Miller’s to get a new Ohlin shock put on before leaving on the trip. Brad is an incredibly nice guy who is so knowledgeable about motorcycles and so happy to share that knowledge that it was a really enjoyable afternoon.I asked lots of questions and which Brad cheerfully answered.

    It was much more difficult to access the shock than either of us initially thought. After looking at it and wondering if the under the seat fuel tank had to come out (and I have no idea how one would do this) Brad decided pulling the muffler, loosening the sub-frame bolts and lifting the entire tail section might be the path of least resistance. This required removing the mounts for my Jesse cases and side plastic pieces before the muffler could be pulled off. Then the tail lifted right up.

    Brad kind of laughed at me since I was clearly not comfortable with dismantling the motorcycle right before a trip, but he said we would make sure everything was tightened properly and the motorcycle might very well be in better shape after than it was before. I believe he was right since none of these bolts had been checked in a while.

    Brad discovered one odd and disconcerting thing when he got down to the OEM shock. The bolt that holds the shock to the mount had no nut put on it (see picture below). I checked the BMW microfiche and they don’t show a nut for the strut bolt, but I realize that doesn’t mean a whole lot since the fiche aren’t all that accurate. Brad and I went to Ace Hardware and found a 10mm nut and washer and both are now on the motorcycle securing that bolt.

    Brad got the shock installed and the motorcycle back together in no time. There was just one teeny little problem. The first sign of this was when Brad realized that both wheels were now firmly on the concrete when the motorcycle was on the center stand. He took it off the center stand and the angle of the motorcycle on the side stand was frightening. I explained to Brad that when I’m fully loaded for a trip I have to be careful where I park because if the side stand is slightly downhill I can’t get the motorcycle off the side stand. Jean-Francois has had to give me a boost on more than one occasion so I guess I don’t have a whole lot of leverage since I’m short enough that my feet are barely flat on the ground. When I got on the motorcycle I could barely get my toes on the ground. I believe the shock is the standard GS shock. Ohlin doesn’t make a shock specifically for the GSL (lowered).

    No way tippy toe is a good idea when I’m traveling by myself. Brad is leaving for California this morning and going to be back  late Saturday so he’s ordering shorter springs from Ohlin, having them delivered tomorrow (Saturday). and I’m going to be at his house at 8:00AM Sunday to pull the shock and change the spring.

    It’s always disappointing to delay a departure, but I think I made the right decision. This will give me time to go over the motorcycle and do some maintenance that I have been unable to do since it was at the dealer for so long. So, all in all, not a bad thing at all.

    I’m looking forward to going back over to Brad’s since it will be an opportunity for me to learn more. Hopefully I will get back home, pack the motorcycle, and be on the road Monday morning.

    The lesson learned? Don’t make any major changes to a motorcycle immediately before leaving on a trip. Get the modifications and maintenance done early and ride the motorcycle for a while to make sure it’s all in good order. Next time…

    Bolt with no nut on it
    Old and new shock
    Installed Ohlin

  • A good sign? Fort Worth BMW Motorcycle Dealer

    I haven’t had good luck with the local BMW dealers since they tend to treat me like I’m a stupid female — tell me I want the wrong motorcycle, ask me when I’m buying parts who is doing the work for me and scoff at me when I tell them I’m doing the work myself.

    My F650 has about 40,000 miles on it and I have a bad water pump and radiator fan right now.

    The water pump is a known failure on the F650 suspected to be caused by the low quality of BMW coolant and solved in the future by using Honda coolant. Evidently the BMW coolant gets gritty as it deteriorates and breaks down the rubber seals on the water pump impeller shaft that seal off the coolant and oil so they don’t get to meet each other.

    The radiator fan is a mystery. I looks likes something dropped down into it so the fan blades dragged across it and ruined the fan. Who knows.

    Both should be covered by my extended warranty I bought prior to leaving on the Canada trip.

    I took the motorcycle in today to the Fort Worth dealership and was really impressed with Stacy Smith the service manager. I really nice young man who didn’t make one negative remark to me as a female rider and treated me like I actually knew what I was talking about. What a nice change.

    I went to the parts counter and ordered a couple of small parts and was treated with courtesy by the good natured man behind the counter.

    I’ll post more as I find out more…

  • Difficult maintenance decision

    After the motorcycle overheating in Big Bend I took off the plastic when I returned and found a slightly mangled radiator fan. I’m not sure what happened — it almost looks like something got in the fan and damaged the blades, but I can’t imagine what could have dropped down in there. I don’t have much doubt that the overheating issue is a result of the fan being damaged.

    The good news is my extended warranty covers the fan — which is a $300 plastic piece from BMW — so I can take it in and have it replaced.

    The bad news is the forecast is perfect for this weekend, the blue bonnets are at peak bloom in the hill country, and there’s the Texas Rally in Llano, Texas that I’d like to check out.

    So do I take the motorcycle in so they can start working on it or do I head down for bluebonnets?

    I ran the idea of going by Jean-Francois and since the temperatures are supposed to be in the 70’s he suggested disconnecting the fan so if it has seized it can’t cause any collateral electrical damage and go ahead and make the trip.  Since this is a Saturday to Sunday trip, hopefully there won’t be any stop and go traffic.

    After a lot of vacillating I decide to go. I want to see blue bonnets, I want to go to my first rally, and I want to camp.

  • My weekend with Murphy’s Law

    If anyone is wondering where Murphy’s Law went since their luck has suddenly returned — not to worry. Murphy’s Law is staying with me for a while. I’m going to stick with equipment problems — this would be an extremely long post if I included people problems too.

    It started with a ride that just didn’t feel right from the start (previous post) and continued from there.

    On Wednesday we stopped in Granbury to get lunch and after I get off the motorcycle I realize the zipper pull on the right leg of my Aerostich suit has self-destructed into pieces. That should make it interesting to get in and out of my suit for the remainder of the trip.

    90 miles later I’m in Brownwood, Texas and my motorcycle hesitates, dies, and won’t restart. Perfect. But not to worry — it took a little while but I found the faulty fuse and I was back on the road. I am just really concerned about what short or other problem caused the blown fuse. Okay I’m also concerned my riding buddy stood by and did nothing while four other guys showed up and actually helped.

    Thursday I get from Brownwood to Alpine without any events — other than riding into a 35-40 MPH headwind behind a riding buddy who thought 88 was an appropriate speed for those conditions. I felt like I was about to be lifted off my motorcycle and started to experience muscle fatigue across my collar bones from holding on so hard. At least my new Ztechnik windshield didn’t rip off…

    On Friday I’m headed down to Santa Elena Canyon and am watching the temperature rise on my thermometer. On the last 2-3 miles before the canyon I get stuck behind an extremely slow moving truck and as I’m crawling along in near 1o0 degree heat the overheating warning light comes on. I have ridden in 106 degree heat at painfully slow speeds in deep gravel and I have never seen that light come on. Again, perfect.

    I tell my riding buddy to go look at the canyon and I remove the plastic from my F650 and check the coolant level. I add may be less than 1/2 a cup of water and it dumps onto the pavement. It is NOT a low coolant problem despite the fact that my water pump was replaced improperly and I’m dripping coolant every time I stop.

    Oh, did I mention that? I had told the guys who helped install the water pump that there should be a gap between the seals, but they installed them hammered together. So now I have dripping coolant all the time and will need to drain the coolant and oil and redo the water pump installation. I’ve got that to look forward to, but that is not the cause of the over heating. You want to know how irritating it is to see coolant dripping every time you stop your motorcycle?

    Saturday was a low mile day due to high winds so no motorcycle problems (only people problems).

    Sunday is the long ride day to get back to the Dallas area from Big Bend. About 4 hours out from Dallas I notice my battery gauge isn’t working. Shortly after that thought I realize my heated clothing isn’t heating. Right after that it dawns on me that my music is missing in action too. Peachy. That means my accessory fuse block has completely cut out.  That means two shorts in one weekend — not a good sign.

    Okay — I said I would leave people problems out. I lied.

    I stop and tell him I’ve stopped because I’ve lost my heated clothing and I start taking the bike apart to get to fuses to see if I can solve the problem. He folds his hands, leans back against his back rest and settles in for a nap. I’m struggling to pull fuses with no fuse puller and he sits. I can’t get the fuse out that protects the Centech AP-1 and ask for help. He reluctantly and slowly dismounts his motorcycle and a pulls the fuse.

    I get a snotty “You’re not going to figure it out until your remove the plastic” (lengthy check) and he gets back on his motorcycle. Screw it. I make the ride home in high wind with no heated clothing.

    My next post is what I consider a good riding buddy.

  • Having an “off” day

    I don’t like having an off day under most circumstances, but I really don’t like having one when I’m going to be riding my motorcycle. Whether I liked it or not, today was one of those days — when it just doesn’t seem quite right from the time you get on the motorcycle.

    To start we were undecided as to whether we should leave today or wait until tomorrow to get to Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. A front with a very strong line of thunderstorms was due to pass over the route we were going to travel and they were forecasting hail, possible tornadic activity, and a lot of lightening. If we waited until the next day they were forecasting high winds which aren’t a lot of fun on a motorcycle. Hence the indecision. We decided to go and hoped to be stopped before the front went through.

    I headed out to meet Dave and  couldn’t even get out of my little town. They were trimming trees and had the road closed for the work. I got past that only that only to get on the frontage road and find the entrance to the highway closed for  construction. Okay.

    I ended up running short of time and showed up with no gas – which I found a little embarrassing since I try to show up for rides ready to roll. Made a quick fuel stop and we got on our way.  We barely got on the highway and Dave comes to a screaming stop on the left shoulder – he got on the brakes so hard I thought I was going to hit him attempting to stop behind him and ended up having to stop next to him with traffic hurtling by too close for comfort. He’d forgotten to fasten his helmet strap. Like I said – nothing felt quite right and not what I would call an auspicious beginning.

    On the way through the mid cities and Fort Worth there was more debris on the road than I have ever seen before, but traffic was good and we got on 377 to head toward Brady.

    We made a quick lunch stop in Granbury where I attempted to do a reset and get my day going in a better way. This was greatly assisted by the sun coming out.

    I thought I had successfully made an attitude adjustment right up to the moment in Brownwood when my motorcycle did a slight hesitation and then completely died and would not restart. Fortunately I was able to pull off into small parking area so I didn’t have to push the motorcycle off the road.

    Part of my off day had been forgetting to reset my trip odometer when I got gas. I knew the fuel light had come on a few miles before it died and on the chance the fuel sensor was bad Dave walked down and bought some gas. While he did that I called the BMW dealer where I had purchased my motorcycle to see if there were any problems with restarting a fuel injected motorcycle after running out of gas. They said no and to call back if it didn’t restart.

    It didn’t restart.

    I called back and asked for what to check to diagnose the problem. This request was met with prompt and complete rejection. They insisted I call to have the motorcycle towed. So when faced with the choice of helping a customer solve the problem and be able to continue on with their trip, their choice was to protect the BMW income stream and get the motorcycle towed.

    I had three responses to that. I didn’t want to ruin my riding buddy’s day. I didn’t want to ruin my riding buddy’s trip. And I definitely didn’t want admit to defeat and give up. I kept my responses to myself and hung up on the guy.

    I immediately jumped on the self doubt band wagon since I had done some pretty serious maintenance to the motorcycle myself a week and a half earlier. On top of that a parting comment when I left the tech day was that I may have been sold the wrong spark plugs (which I had installed) and that I may need to add some caps to make the posts that seat into the coils a little larger.

    So my first impulse is the spark plugs were failing because I had not checked the spark plugs — the bike had been running great and all the plastic, the snorkel, airbox, and maybe even the battery have to come out just to get to the tops of the spark plugs. So instead of doing this in the comfort of my garage I end up tearing the bike apart to check them in a parking lot along 377.

    While I’m working on this several guys stop to see if we need help. I had gotten down the spark plugs by that point and they pitched in by checking to see if they sparked. Nothing. So why no spark. We started checking fuses and the 15 amp fuse was blown. One of the gentlemen had fuses in his stuck (so I didn’t have to dig those out) and gave me a replacement and 2 spares.

    The bike fired right up.

    So I’m excited — then I look ahead and see serious storm clouds moving in and I realize the temperature is dropping. I reassemble the motorcycle in record time with assistance from the guys who stopped, give them quick hugs of gratitude, and suit up just as the rain starts.

    We bailed on making it to Brady and rode a short distance to motel in Brownwood. We got under the drive through cover for the office just as it started raining in earnest.

    So what did I learn from this experience?

    1. If someone tells me something may be screwed up check it out in my garage before leaving a on trip since this is a heck of a lot better than doing it on the side of the road.
    2. Don’t call the dealer. They just want you to give up and go home. Call knowledgeable friends who can give you suggestions, but don’t even bother to call the dealer until you truly have given up.
    3. I have now had my motorcycle quit running two times while on the road and both times I have been blown away but the warmth, kindness, and helpfulness of people who stop. We get too many lessons that people aren’t great. How wonderful it is to get one about how truly great people can be.
    4. When I get home I’m going to post on the F650 forum asking what to check when you have a stopped motorcycle. I know when it won’t start it’s either spark, air, or fuel — how do you check for failures with all three? I’m going to type that list up and store it somewhere on the motorcycle.
    5. Having an “off” day is okay as long as everything turns out fine — which it most definitely did.
    6. Last, but not least — ALWAYS start with the simplest solution first. I can’t believe I tore my motorcycle apart when all it needed was a new fuse.