Saturday, March 26, 2016

24k on a bad starter relay

The intermittent starter problem that has dogged my 2003 BMW K1200GT for about eight years may finally be solved.

You may recall that Charlie Parsons and I hauled the GT and one of his bikes up to Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles in Cape Girardeau a couple of weeks ago. I finally got around to calling Brian at Grass Roots this morning and got encouraging news.

It appears the starter relay was the problem with my bike. Brian said they tested the circuitry on the relay multiple times and it failed intermittently. Unfortunately, the original part number has apparently been superseded and they're working with BMW Motorrad to determine the proper replacement part. Due to the Good Friday holiday, they didn't hear back from BMW yesterday and expect it will be Tuesday before they can get an answer and order the appropriate part. The OEM starter relay was priced about $125, so this ought to be less expensive than replacing the combo switch.

That means I have ridden about 24,000 miles with a wonky starter relay that, through the Grace of God, has never left me stranded.

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