You may recall that two years ago we rendered assistance to a Coloradan returning from Alaska whose R1200GS fuel pump was failing.
Story here:
valleybmwriders.com/index.php/forum/trav...elps-a-traveller#706
We have kept in touch with David since then. This year he was once again in Alaska and we had arranged for him to stop in for a visit on the return journey. While on the Dempster his 3 year old Chinese rear tire pressure sensor died so we planned to replace it with a Schrader sensor that I programmed coincident with a tire change at Gary Sampson's. I had sent him my previous paper on replacement tire pressure sensors found here:
valleybmwriders.com/index.php/forum/tech...ire-pressure-sensors
But then when he was in Dease Lake the stator burned out on his 2015 R1200GS. The early years of that generation of boxers are known to burn out stators and it's no easy fix because it requires that the engine be pulled out of the bike in order to get access to it. Between the part and the labour this is around a US$3000 job! Shame on BMW for not better engineering the stator in the first instance.
Fortunately for David there was a chap in Dease Lake who not only helped diagnose the problen as a dead stator (following directions from David's trusted mechanic back in the US) but who was also able to set him up with a used NAPA Marine starting battery and a set of heavy gauge cables with eyelets at each end such that he could connect the big battery in parallel with the bike's battery. The bike was content but of course the big battery has to be recharged periodically.
The battery on the back of the bike:
On the first leg David managed to get over 300 miles on the initial charge! He had more good fortune along the way finding folks willing to give him some charging time from their vehicle. David stopped at Smithers to pick up a charger at Canadian tire and the service bay there was kind enough to put the battery on a big charger. The 3A charger he picked up at Canadian was more of a last resort since it takes quite a while to charge the big battery with it. Needless to say he was sufferinmg from "range anxiety" throughout.
As he made his way south David's impression was the the battery we discharging at a faster rate which is probably the case as starting batteries don't like to undergo deep discharge.
He made to Kelowna and our place where I confirmed the stator diagnosis (there was continuity to ground from the stator coils so the insulation had failed). David joined the gang for breakfast at Pur and Simple on Wednesday morning. Gary changed the rear tire and installed the new tire pressure sensor. We all agreed that it was probably prudent to get a deep cycle battery from Canadian Tire as it's better suited to deep discharge and being larger had twice the capacity so we made the switch in the Canadian Tire parking lot. We also swung by the dealership to pick up a new rear mudguard as the original one had been damaged during the trip north and we installed it at our place.
So with all that David's confidence grew that he could make it the rest of the way to Colorado and he was on his way again. Janice and I rode with him as far as Greenwood where we all had brunch and he was off:
I'll add a subsequent post when we know how the rest of the return trip went.
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