Filing DOT complaints regarding the fuel strip

[Dr. Strangelove]

And in the USA there is a move to go to 15%

The irony is that more energy is required to grow and produce it than is saved.
Our lobbyists at work!

[jkhomes]

Here is an old school solution.

[Catchina]

Some stations around here are 20% but as some have mentioned the fuel strip failure has nothing to do with ethanol in the gas.

[Martyn]

John (and others),

first of all let me point out that I am not affiliated to BMW in any way. I have read all your posts and arguments and it seems to me this is a problem related to North America (and maybe some other parts of the world - except Europe) for whatever reason. I am active in a couple of forums and back here in Europe I have not heard about any widespread failures of the fuel indicator. Maybe because this is not a common problem over here or because people have not reported about the same in various forums.
Oliver

UK forums, & dealers for that matter, are well aware of it. It produces pages of anecdotal reasons & theories on the websites, but I favour the "because some idiot thought it would be cheaper in the long run" as an explanation. Probably the same chap that designed the ring antenna & went on to save a few pennies on the FPC specification.

A colleague has just had his third replacement fuel strip at 40,000 miles, all under Warranty.

Personally I go for the "zero the trip at refuelling" procedure.

[Dr. Strangelove]

refilled with Chevron premium and added 5 oz of Techron to the tank. 50 miles into the tank it happily tells me I can go another 254 miles!!! Woo Hoo, Livin Large

[omg1010]

Here is an old school solution.

I very much remember those days ... However nowadays we tend to rely on the electronic gadgets and if these don't work as they should we complain. In the "good old days" we used to complain about the carburators. Especially the Bing carburators on the old BMWs were highly sensitive ...

I personally (R1200S) reset the odometer and when I have around 200 kms on the clock I know its time to go looking for a fuel station. Usually around 250 kms the low fuel warning light pops up - just when I am expecting it ...

Brgds
Oliver

[Dr. Strangelove]

When your light illuminates what bar level shows in your display and how many "miles left?"
Just curious about how a functioning fuel strip works.

I've looked twice and can't find the petcock nor the reserve tank on the r1200r.

[atractaspis]

Here is an old school solution.

I very much remember those days ... However nowadays we tend to rely on the electronic gadgets and if these don't work as they should we complain. In the "good old days" we used to complain about the carburators. Especially the Bing carburators on the old BMWs were highly sensitive ...

I personally (R1200S) reset the odometer and when I have around 200 kms on the clock I know its time to go looking for a fuel station. Usually around 250 kms the low fuel warning light pops up - just when I am expecting it ...

Brgds
Oliver

Complaining is what improves technology... If everyone accepts the new technologies and celebrates them just because they are great when they work and never complain when the new fancy technology doesn't work (even though this fancy new technology also created fancy new prices), then we would never improve anything. We would all still start our bikes by peddling like crazy... I remember peddling my first scooter for a km before the darn thing finally started.. My cars clutch just started slipping in my passat... I was not happy when I realized how much it will cost to replace.. The only other time I had clutch issues was when there was a clutch cable .. And in my little fiat I had to replace that cable at least 2-3 times a year.. Was really cheap and I could do it on my own... Would prefer that now that I have to pay someone about 8 hours of labor and the parts.. But then again as much fun as the fiat was as a first car I would not trade it for my VW Passat... The fuel gauge in my fiat never worked by the way ... So I am pretty familiar with estimating miles I can go on a tank.. However, as drStrangelove pointed out the fuel economy is very variable.. Being in a tight budget I tried to get the gas to last as long as possible, but twice it went about 80 miles sooner than usual.. No apparent reason.. And it sucked having to push that thing around in the alps... Downhill was fun.. But running out of gas on an uphill slope not so much.. Had to walk many km to find gas (no cell phones).

Now we have cell phones, I do complain when I can't get reception when I need to call a towing truck... But my Honda shadow had the set up with the knob an reserve tank. Again usually I had no problems estimating the amount of miles I can go... I regularly traveled from Indiana to Kentucky.. About 180 miles trip.. And would have to stop every 70-80 miles to make sure I don't have to switch to reserve while going 75mph .. However the same trip with same temperatures, same traffic, but maybe a little windier than usual and I ran out at exactly 68 miles ... And it went from 75mph down to about 50 mph in an instant... Passing a semi.. But luckily no car behind me to mow me over...

That was one of the moments I decided maybe I need a bike that doesn't simply run out of gas to let you know you need to get to a gas station.. I decided I wanted some I that fancy technology bikes have nowadays.. I also had my whole instrument panel go out on a different bike regularly .. Couldn't tell speed nor how many miles I traveled.. I guess I could have done it the old fashioned way.. Use mile markers for distance.... Time it how long it takes me from one to another and then figure out my speed... It wasn't my bike, but I suggested to my friend who owned it to get rid of it (he had it fixed 4 times already and it kept on doing that)..

I think a little complaining is a good thing.. It's what improves technology and then sells it even better when it did get improved.. Hence my move from old Honda bike to new expensive, but full of technological gadgets BMW bike .

But then again I am from Austria (Vienna mostly, except for a few fun years in Tirol) and we are known to complain quite a bit.. So maybe it is just a cultural thing..

But hey Austrian movie makers and one actor (although with some German roots ) won oscars last night ..

Might be in Austria and Germany (Stuttgart area) this summer.. Hoping to get to ride through the austrian alps on an r1200r.. And hoping not to have to watch the miles too closely but enjoy the ride until the bike tells me to think about stopping to get gas.

DrStrangelove: maybe the fuel additive improved your mpg drastically... Maybe your R can take you all across the country in one tank now.. Try it!

[omg1010]

When your light illuminates what bar level shows in your display and how many "miles left?"
Just curious about how a functioning fuel strip works.

I've looked twice and can't find the petcock nor the reserve tank on the r1200r.

Dunno how many bars show in the display. But miles left (in my case kms left) usually shows around 60-70 kms. That figure can however drop quite fast if I squeeze the throttle hard ...

Brgds
Oliver

[Dr. Strangelove]

thanks
with the first strip I noticed that the miles left decreased very rapidly once under 100 miles left, dropping a mile for every 0.3 miles actually covered. As stated previously at 38 miles left I was out.

If I had a functioning low fuel light that would be very helpful, as I would use the odometer as I do, but I would have a backup fail safe alert for those times when the mileage is either greatly decreased or increased because of riding conditions.

[arp]

Done. Thanks John and Don for the initiative.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Thank you for helping the plight of many here

[Dr. Strangelove]

My third strip went in yesterday. There was no obvious physical issue with the previous, other than it not working. I wish now I had taken a picture but the "strip" was not as I had imagined. It was about 1 foot long and had a dog leg or elongated Z bend to it. It hangs from the right side of the tank and snakes to the lower left, hence the dog leg shape.
I expected something sort of floppy but it had a firm shape and had a hard white plastic "housing."

After 77 miles it is still working! woo hoo.
While the tank was off I had the fuel filter replaced also, at 19k miles a bit early, but I dislike removing the tank on any bike. It's a pain. No therapy at all.

I told them at the shop about our move with the NHTSA and they were not at all against getting a third party involved. Took about 3 hours, maybe less. And because I had the first one replaced out of warranty, and paid for it back in December '12, it was no charge.

They did calibrate the strip.

John

[roger l]

My third strip just went out today. It had been having problems saying I had still a half tank of fuel when I had 200 miles on the odometer. With the weather in the 60's today I went for a ride and the fuel light went on with 10 miles into a full tank of fuel. The warranty for the last one will be up in November of this year. I will call the dealer tomorrow to see when I can take it in to get it replaced under warranty.

Roger L

[dbrick]

My third strip just went out today...The warranty for the last one will be up in November of this year.

I believe the warranty is two years, parts and labor included, and the coverage timer resets every time a new one is installed, even if that new one is itself a warranty replacement.

[Dr. Strangelove]

report that one to the NHTSA also. Every time one fails it should be reported.

At least you didn't run out of gas, though

[curmudgeon]

Just a heads up - the fuel strip complaint is being actively investigated. I was recently contacted by a USDOT/NHTSA/ODI Vehicle Defects Investigator who wanted to have a look at my bike. Unfortunately at the time I happened to be 1,000 miles away from home on vacation and he left town before I returned. He's supposed to set up an appointment the next time he's in my area so I'll post with more info once that happens.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Great news. He'll probably not see anything though. Others have harvested the bad ones and dissected them finding nothing apparently wrong.
I am on the mailing list for NHTSA motorcycle recalls and there has been a flurry of ABS issues that have come up recently. And I wonder how many fuel strips have to go south before it is investigated further.
Yes, that is very interesting and thanks for the posting. Let us know when something else happens. Just an FYI, my third is now 7+k old and still functioning. I also still carry gas and do the math whenevr I fill up.
And yet there are those out there who just take it as nature of the beast. Makes you wonder if they would accept that level of function from their plumber or their surgeon. Prob not.

John

PS it's easy to sign up for the NHTSA alerts, it's on their website. One brand seems to show up more than others.

[deilenberger]

I also got the ABS recall notices on motorcycles.. it appeared a flurry of Japanese brands had recalls, and a few euro bikes which perhaps are using a Japanese modulator (dunno, and that's a guess..)

It does mean to me that BMW may be more cooperative on items on the NHTSA list on their website, which I'm certain BMW-Motorrad monitors quite carefully. At least that's the impression I got from some private communications with someone who suffered an ABS modulator failure.

The conclusion to be drawn - it's certain worthwhile reporting these sort of failures to the NHTSA. Apparently once in a while an investigator does review them and if they see a pattern they start looking into them.

[shawn_speed]

I am a new member and thought it was appropriate to use the information here to file a DOT regarding the fuel strip. I have a couple of Ducati S2R1000's. Ducati agreed to replace all affected fuel tanks in the US because of a class action judgment. The tanks are expanding-nobody is sure if it is ethanol related or not. I had both bike's tanks replaced for free.

I live in Phoenix and did a red eye to pick up a 2012 R1200 R in Melbourne, Florida with 3,800 miles and ride it back last week. The Ducs don't have a fuel gauge. I am in the habit of using the trip meter to plan routes and stops. They have excellent low fuel warning systems. I was fat, dumb and happy riding north and west from Daytona beach when the R1200R died. The computer option said I had 200 some miles to go and fuel gauge showed full. I felt stupid for relying on the gauge since the trip meter said I had traveled 160 miles without putting any gas in it. The bike is getting a new fuel strip under warranty.

However, for every one of us trolling forums, there are many owners who will never know this is a widespread problem and shell out big bucks to have their bikes fixed, rewarding BMW and dealers behavior. If the DOT complaints don't get BMW's attention, there is a lawyer salivating in Louisiana and planning to get rich soon I am sure.