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Intermittent cylinder drop-out

EuroMoto

EuroMoto

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2022
Member Number
1564
Posts
89
Location
So. IL
I have a 2017 GSA that has dropped out one cylinder on a few occasions. It happened to me 3 or 4 times and the dealer did an ECU update last winter and it went some time without incident. It has done it 3 more times now, each time has been at small throttle opening, once in a parking lot and the 2 other times as I was in traffic and moving from a 35mph to a 45mph zone. (The previous 3 times were all in parking lots or rolling to a stop) Luckily it has never happened when merging with traffic or trying to cross an intersection.

When this happens, the bike immediately begins running on one cylinder resulting in loss of power, the idle speed spikes (I assume to keep the engine running), engine light turns on, gear indicator goes blank (or at least once the gear indicator thing has happened, maybe every time...I'm usually focused on getting away from traffic).

I have MotoScan and it has returned a Throttle Valve 2 (left) each time, I have not erased the code from the ECU so it will hopefully show when it goes to the dealer again.
I have the extended factory warranty so it should be covered but I recall others having similar problems (as well as a PUMA case number for the issue) and was mostly curious if there had been a known cure.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I forgot to mention that the bike runs fine after cycling the key switch off/on then starting the bike back up.

As mentioned, I'll let the dealer sort it out and the mothership pay the bill! Intermittent problems can be a real bear to chase down for sure.
 
I dropped the bike off with the dealer earlier this week and they can see the codes for the left throttle valve and know that there is a PUMA case on this issue. BMW directed them to swap the throttle bodies side to side to see if the code follows the part or stays on the left. They've ridden it some but no issues so asked me to pick it up and continue riding until it happens again.

Have to admit, I don't care for that since it's a 5 hour round trip to let them see it every time. I spent several years as an ASE auto tech and can't imagine a car manufacturer doing something like that.
 
My low mileage 2017 r1200gsa did just the same thing in Austria in 2021 , it was cutting out onto one cylinder and showing a throttle body fault and a left switch gear wiring communication issue but as soon as I went into the dealers they said this is a spurious fault code and not the throttle body but a failing ECU, mine was the fourth bike that had seen with the same fault .

Luckily they were able to get a programmed ECU from the factory within two days and get me back on the road.

There have been more and more cases of this occurring as well within the UK and BMW are more than aware of the issue .

A good way to check and if the bike has an ecu fitted that is clearly marked with the BMW part number and a Bosch production label and number they are generally okay , however, BMW fitted a batch of ECU's from another manufacturer that bore no makers marks or labels and they are known to fail (probably a cheaper option)
 
BMW pulled a similar stunt with their Hayes brakes debacle…. We all know how that worked out for them…
 
neil w said:
My low mileage 2017 r1200gsa did just the same thing in Austria in 2021 , it was cutting out onto one cylinder and showing a throttle body fault and a left switch gear wiring communication issue but as soon as I went into the dealers they said this is a spurious fault code and not the throttle body but a failing ECU, mine was the fourth bike that had seen with the same fault .

Luckily they were able to get a programmed ECU from the factory within two days and get me back on the road.

There have been more and more cases of this occurring as well within the UK and BMW are more than aware of the issue .

A good way to check and if the bike has an ecu fitted that is clearly marked with the BMW part number and a Bosch production label and number they are generally okay , however, BMW fitted a batch of ECU's from another manufacturer that bore no makers marks or labels and they are known to fail (probably a cheaper option)
Click to expand...

My bike had the UK BMW Insured Warranty which paid for the ECU replacement and labour which was @ £ 1000
 
I get that you want to let the warrantee cover this… were you able to isolate whether it’s a failure to spark, a failure to deliver fuel, or a failure to get air? I remember synching my carbs by shorting the spark side-to-side and tuning for matched loss of RPM. Highly analog, sure, but it gave a feeling for that condition, which was quite different from run out of fuel.
 
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