BMW Fuel Strip Reimbursement?

[Firenailer]

I found this in the Pirates Lair Newsletter, hopefully it's true! Good luck to anyone who has had the fuel strip problem.

 

 

Quoted From the newsletter -

 

"Fuel Strip Reimbursement From BMW! Money For Nothing and Your Strips For Free

 

I know many friends and customers who've had to replace the oem fuel strips on their late model BMWs. I replaced mine back in 2012 long after my warranty ran out. $100+ dollars out of my pocket and believe me.. I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned doubloons. I know a few friends who've had 3 or 4 fuel strips go bad. Ouch!! I was told by my dealer that the better the gas is... (read: cleaner and additive-free)... the longer the fuel strips will last. Great. That's basically worthless information. What's a guy supposed to do? Seek out specialty "green" gas every time he needs a fill up?

 

Just recently while perusing my favorite chat forum (I-BMW.com) I heard some juicy news. Not only has BMW improved on the new generation fuel strips but they are now offering a 12 year replacement warranty. Also...via all local dealers, BMW has just put a program in place to reimburse their customers for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred over the last few years related to replacing fuel strips. Warranty or not. To test this news I sent the following email to my dealer of choice.. Eurosport of Asheville

 

"I have a warranty question for you..... On Aug 30th, 2012 I had the fuel strip on my 2006 BMW K1200S go bad at 25,000 miles. I paid $119.50 to Eurosport to have it replaced.. I'm sure your service department has a record of the procedure. I don't have the receipt. Those things going bad has been a common problem with these bikes as you well know..Over the last few days I've heard from 3 customers (of Pirates Lair) who told me their dealers are now reimbursing them for fuel strips they had to pay out-of-pocket for over the last few years...! Thought I'd ask if you guys would make the same offer? or at least credit towards future purchases..... Think about it.. Let me know... "

 

 

Within an hour I got a response from Thomas (at Eurosport) saying that indeed, BMW had just set up a program to reimburse customers for fuel strip costs and I was the first locally to ask about it.. I thought for sure he'd want me to produce a receipt, my first born child, some naked pictures of Amber, and/or jump through other various hoops, but all he said was..." I'll check and get back with you." Three days later I had a check in my mailbox. Amazing! Wish everything were that easy..

 

With that said... if you've paid for replacement fuel strips in the past... all you have to do is ask and BMW will gleefully give you your money back. With or without a receipt, apparently. My public thanks go out to the good people at Eurosport of Asheville and the suits at BMW who sucked it up and did the right thing. That's the way you do it...."

 

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[CoarsegoldKid]

Amazing. Amazing that my RT still gauges the fuel correctly since the day I rode it off the lot in Nov '05. And other bikes go through them like tires.

[UberXY]

I had my fuel strip replaced on my 9 year old K bike this week...for free under the new extended coverage. While they had the bike they also installed the cam chain guide, for free. For some reason I thought the cam guide thing was a recommended upgrade, but turns out it was a recall.

 

My fuel gauge had always been a little weird, never showing completely full and generally dropping 2 or 3 bars at a time. Didn't bother me at all until it stopped functioning completely and the yellow light was on. Now it seems to work fine. I appreciate BMW for fixing this, and for Mortons for looking up the other free fixes.

[Firenailer]

Great to have confirmation on the strip repair.

 

I think that it will go a long way with the faithful for BMW to step up like this! Good job!

[RedMac]

Mine was replaced on my 2006 a few weeks ago at no charge. Yes, they are covering this cost. They must have had computer documentation showing you had previously paid for this. I've heard other folks needed some sort of documentation.

[mwood7800]

Amazing. Amazing that my RT still gauges the fuel correctly since the day I rode it off the lot in Nov '05. And other bikes go through them like tires.

dont hold your breath on your 05 as mine just went for the first time. My first visit to a dealer sence I bought it new. 45k

[Dave_in_TX]

Amazing. Amazing that my RT still gauges the fuel correctly since the day I rode it off the lot in Nov '05. And other bikes go through them like tires.

dont hold your breath on your 05 as mine just went for the first time. My first visit to a dealer sence I bought it new. 45k

 

My 07 RT had the original fuel strip and 140k miles on it when I traded it in two years ago.

[RPG]

Please excuse my ignorance, but is this verification that BMW will cover expenses by those owners that have replaced fuel strips only? Or, are they also covering all fuel gauge issues going back 12 years? (I'm assuming that my '04 RT fuel level sensing system is different that on later years)

 

I'm not alone in that my '04 RT has progressively shown less than 10 bars when full year after year. I'm now down to 7 bars on a complete fillup despite several bottles of BMW fuel system cleaner, Chevron fuel cleaner with Techron, per recommendations by BMW that it might allow the fuel level sender to "get cleaned up and work correctly again". Their words, not mine.

 

thanks,

 

RPG

[dirtrider]

Morning Rick

 

Your 04 uses a conventional wire & wiper fuel level sensor (2 thin wires & a sliding float)

 

The 1200 fuel level sensor's in question are a strip of polymer that uses a heater circuit to heat the strip & change resistance. (installing the strips require on-bike calibration to the computer before fully installing).

 

BMW has had a LOT or problems with those fuel strips on the 1200 bikes including multiple strip failures on the same bike (my personal 1200RT is on it's 6th fuel strip at the moment)

 

Of the many problems that are caused by the 1200 fuel strip failures are a bright yellow light that illuminates on the dash ALL THE TIME (very distracting & annoying), as well as the fuel range computer not reading accurately (so it can tell you that you have 200 miles to empty tank when in fact you have 10 miles to empty tank)

 

On your 04 1150RT-- there are a few BMW service bulletins that cover inaccurate fuel gauge readings (most are a resistance issue or a resistance/back feed issue caused by the fuel pump sharing the fuel gauge ground circuit).

 

 

One of the big issues with the 1150 fuel gauge is resistance in the pass-through isolators on the fuel pump plate (usually traced to poor condition solder connections) or in the pass through ground side.

 

See if your fuel gauge reads differently with the engine (& fuel pump) running. If so then you more than likely have a resistance issue in the shared grounding or pass through isolators.

 

You can also have some tarnish on the sliding float thin wires or the float can be contaminated.

 

 

 

[RPG]

hi D.R. and sorry for the slight hijack to the post.

 

My '04 reads the same at fillup (7 bars) whether the engine is running, fuel pump on/off or not.

 

iI's a slight annoyance as the low fuel light works pretty consistently, coming on between 250 and 290 miles. And once the gauge gets down to about 2 bars (200-240 miles on the trip meter), it descends pretty normally from that point.

 

Funny, when the bike was new, I marveled at how consistently the fuel gauge worked, dropping a bar about every 20-25 miles.

 

I was thinking the sending unit was of the donut variety as on my ski boat, where the donut rises and falls over a shaft, depending on fuel level and changes resistance accordingly.

 

This design sounds different, but only slightly. It's not stopping me from riding so I guess I'll wait until the snow files to investigate further. I just thought that maybe it could be addressed sooner, if on BMW's dime.

 

Thank You for the reply as always,

 

RPG

[Tech1]

Received a letter from BMW today explaining a "warranty coverage extension / repair expense reimbursement" for certain 2005-2013 BMW motorcycles. "12 year, unlimited mileage, from the date of the first retail sale or the date it was placed in service as a demonstrator or company motorcycle, whichever is earlier".

 

Sounds good to me! I have not had a true failure yet, but it is getting worse at the expected mileage left, reading too high, as it gets into the last 1/3 of a tank. It will then suddenly seem to correct itself in the last 50 miles.

 

[Ron-M]

Just received my letter from BMW yesterday. Welcome news. I am currently on my sixth fuel strip. It was also good news that I will be reimbursed having had to pay for one because it failed out of warranty.

[TestPilot]

So if your original strip fails within 12 years it's considered under warranty. What's the warranty on any replacement strip?

 

[TestPilot]

So if your original strip fails within 12 years it's considered under warranty. What's the warranty on any replacement strip?

 

I got the answer to my own question, and I don't like it. According to Chip at BMW NA Customer Service, any replacement strip is covered up to the 12 year in-service anniversary date. However, replacement strips installed under this extended warranty are NOT covered by BMW's standard 2-year replacement part warranty. So if you get a free replacement at 11 years and 11 months, that strip only comes with a 1 month warranty. Any strip failure after the 12 year anniversary is entirely the owner's responsibility.

 

[_Brock_]

In case you haven't read this, here is a link to the letter BMW is sending out regarding the fuel strip extended warranty & reimbursement. I received this yesterday...

 

**LETTER**

 

I have an appointment to get mine fixed Friday @ 1. My warning light comes on with about 100 miles of fuel left. The countdown hits "0" with 40-50 miles left.

[Car 54]

Got my letter today. Still have an accurate, April '07 guage reading. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Dave_zoom_zoom]

In case you haven't read this, here is a link to the letter BMW is sending out regarding the fuel strip extended warranty & reimbursement. I received this yesterday...

 

**LETTER**

 

I have an appointment to get mine fixed Friday @ 1. My warning light comes on with about 100 miles of fuel left. The countdown hits "0" with 40-50 miles left.

 

 

"WOW!

 

This sounds more like the BMW I used to know M-A-N-Y years ago.

 

Dave

[Sonor]

Just got my official letter - amazing.

[Fubar]

Amazing. Amazing that my RT still gauges the fuel correctly since the day I rode it off the lot in Nov '05. And other bikes go through them like tires.

I WISH mine lasted as long as the tires! 6 strips, three sets of tires in 28 K miles and 5.7 years.

My letter came this week. Relief for 6 more years at least.

[Killian]

I know many friends and customers who've had to replace the oem fuel strips on their late model BMWs. I replaced mine back in 2012 long after my warranty ran out. $100+ dollars out of my pocket

 

$100? Wow! I was quoted $400 + from my local dealership to replace the fuel strip on my 08 RT back in May or June when my fuel strip went out. I was too cheap to spend the money so I just made a habit of eyeballing my fuel level every time I went for a drive.

 

I never received a letter and I haven't been on the board much lately so I didn't know about the new warranty.

 

I rolled into the dealership today for my annual service service, fed up after months of staring at the Yellow Triangle of Doom and the flashing gas pump icon. I was seriously happy when the service tech said that they were going to replace the fuel strip for free.

 

I dropped the bike off at 11am and at 4pm I received a call from the service tech telling me that he just got word that the fuel pump is on a TSB as well. They want to keep my bike overnight so they can replace the fuel pump and have it ready for me by mid day tomorrow.

[cris nitro]

That's pretty good. I would be happy to hear that. I had the same experience where the previous owner took it in for a valve adjustment before I picked it up and got the fuel pump recall done at the same time. Nice.