BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Try to start my '08 R1200R 4500 miles bike this afternoon and . . . . . click . . . .click . . .wont turn over - at all.

Think my trusty $150 BMW trickle charger is on the fritz because of erroneous light signals in the past, so I pull out my multimeter and strong 13+ volts - hmmmm.

Try roll starting it down the driveway and it just skids in first gear - like the motor is seized.
Try in 3rd gear, pretty much the same, although it did turn over maybe a couple of strokes - now I'm freaking out a little.

Try charging with 8 amp charger for about 30 min, still no turnover - at all. I can push it in gear and it turns over a non compression cycle, but the compression cycle is hard to turn over.

So should it turn over on roll start or is a two cylinder thumper just have too much compression? I would think in third gear it should definitely turn over (rotate the engine)???

I know the batteries can fail without notice as my last one did - but this seems a little strange.

Put another trickle charger on it and this evening the light indicated green (95% charged) - still click . . . .click . . .wont turn over - at all.

What should I check next? New battery? Relay? Try the starter removed? Help.

A big twin is always going to be hard to push start, I'd expect it to take three guys. Two guys pushing and one bouncing on the seat to get traction.
It might still be the battery, you should get a meter and monitor the battery voltage while cranking.
If that's good, you can take the spark plugs out and put the bike on its center stand, then you can turn the motor over pretty easily by turning the back wheel by hand. It will at least tell you that the engine still turns OK.

Make sure battery connections are tight. Check meter when you hit the starter...maybe way South of 13 volts with a load.

Your motor is not seized. I have attempted to bump start my R1200R on hills. It takes a steep hill, a lot of speed and 6th gear to do it. Otherwise the wheel skids. It also takes a battery is excellent condition and tight terminals to turn it over, so there is you most likely problem. Those are BIG high compression cylinders.

It isn't that easy to turn over the big twin with no compression (plugs out - to check valve clearances), and likely very difficult with compression. Besides being big cylinders - it's a high compression engine.

Your symptoms are of a failed internal battery connector. They will look just fine with no load on the battery, and they will fool even intelligent chargers. What they won't fool is a load-tester. The click/click is the classic symptom of a failed battery. As was suggested - monitor the battery voltage when you're actually trying to turn it over. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see it drop below 10V (and sometimes to almost 0V if the connector has failed.)

deilenberger wrote:It isn't that easy to turn over the big twin with no compression (plugs out - to check valve clearances), and likely very difficult with compression. Besides being big cylinders - it's a high compression engine.

Your symptoms are of a failed internal battery connector. They will look just fine with no load on the battery, and they will fool even intelligent chargers. What they won't fool is a load-tester. The click/click is the classic symptom of a failed battery. As was suggested - monitor the battery voltage when you're actually trying to turn it over. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see it drop below 10V (and sometimes to almost 0V if the connector has failed.)

^What he said.

Thanks for the reassurance about the roll start. Never had a bike that hard to roll.

Charged the battery overnight 13 volts - drops down to 11.5 when attempting start - no turnover.

Stays at about 11.8 to 12 after with ignition on.

Going to try a new battery.

bhmav8r wrote: Stays at about 11.8 to 12 after with ignition on.

Going to try a new battery.

That's how a bad battery cell shows itself on a voltmeter

New battery - started right up.

Thanks again for the help.

bhmav8r wrote:New battery - started right up.

Thanks again for the help.

Glad to hear it. These bikes are actually pretty darn reliable.. (at least mine has been..) Engine problems where something mechanical breaks is really quite rare on them.

I rode my dad's old Suzuki Gs1000 for awhile in the mid 90's...Loved it..one of my favorite motorcycles ever. But it enjoyed many electrical gremlins. WHich we never really solved...

I think I rode it for a couple months...Using the electric starter maybe 1/2 the time.. I push started it almost every day.

I tried ONCE with the BEEMER.

NO CHANCE, I looked like a monkey f**kin a football. L-O-L