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Old 7th January 2019, 18:58   #31
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by RSimonS View Post
I do not think I am entitled to get a preferential or privileged treatment because I bought a BMW. I posted because I had multiple hurdles with in first 500 kms on a brand new bike
Well, you have bought a premium bike so no harm in expecting premium services as well. I certainly expect better treatment when visiting BMW Dealership then say when I go to Toyota

Now, regarding the problems, I wonder if these are limited only to the ones they sold in India or these are reported globally as well? or does BMW produce different bikes for Exports and local distribution?



Quote:
There multiple concerns raised by various owners

1. Quality and Reliability issues
Is this for a particular lot or across all the bikes? I asked about this here in Chandigarh and the local dealer had no issues except for one demo bike from the first lot.

Quote:
2. Turnaround time for getting a service appointment
4. Service team’s lack of expertise, general attitude
Must be in Banglore, over here in North, you simply walk and get things done. And the workshop in charge at Chandigarh is a Young dedicated guy handling Triumph and BMW, so I will say this is more dealer issue. In fact, I have seen so many foreigners (On trips from Europe) here in Chandigarh getting their bikes repaired and have happy things to say.


Quote:
3. Turnaround time for part availability - 2 to 3 weeks for a commuter bike
We will have to give little benefit to them, dealerships are supposed to keep essential spares, I am not sure if they had thought of alternator spare parts.

Quote:
5. Cost of parts (6K for rear break pads)
6. Cost of Service
BMW will have to evaluate their strategy here, they cannot have same labour rates or markup for 1200 GS and 310 even if the same guys are doing work on both. Now that's tricky and debatable, perhaps easier will be to price spares at lower margins then to have different labour rates.

Quote:
7. Over 20% discount introduced by BMW on a brand new release - many owners felt cheated, resale value impacted
Well with BMW, this was more on expected lines, happens in most of their Cars and now bikes. You can go through some of the BMW Car buying threads. Even on the bikes they sold outgoing GS at upto 2 lac discounts and heard they have some large rebates on the bigger KTL & Bagger So, I am not surprised and they won't do anything.


Quote:
8. Attitude of Dealership Management- Episode around the whatsapp group quoted in 310 release thread
This happened in North also, years ago with Harley and then Triumph. Their idea was to connect Riders but as with any other social group, people started discussing individual problems and all.

But in general, I found the sales guys especially senior ones full of ego- mostly I must add. One of them had an audacity to pickup an argument with me when I was picking up GSA last year despite the fact that I am on a first-name basis with owner of Dealership.

Quote:
BMW has started reaching out to individual owners
That's encouraging. Did they contact you? Was it a general call centre type call or specific to your problems/ demands?

Last edited by Samurai : 8th January 2019 at 15:19. Reason: typo
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Old 7th January 2019, 19:13   #32
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by Turbanator View Post
Must be in Bangalore, over here in North, you simply walk and get things done.
Dunno about BMW, but in the case of the RE that I own, I've had a much, much better service experience in both Delhi and Mumbai on the couple of occasions I've had to get my bike serviced there while touring, than I have had with different centers in Bangalore. Both times in Delhi were in fact outstanding (by RE standards- after almost 12 years with an RE, my expectations from that brand are very, very low when it comes to quality and service!)

I guess the sales volumes and the generally more restrained Bangalore crowd behavior contributes to dealer arrogance here. (just an opinion/speculation) My buddies from the north are more likely to kick up a real fuss on the premises if they get shoddy treatment at a dealer, compared to most of us here in Bangalore who will probably let a few things go and would rather mail the company with complaints beyond a point.

As someone has correctly pointed out, whatever the brand or product, whatever the price you paid for it, 35k or 35L, as customers we need to keep getting vocal and highlighting flaws and shoddy treatment. It's the only way any manufacturer or dealer will take us seriously.

Last edited by am1m : 7th January 2019 at 19:19.
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Old 8th January 2019, 12:21   #33
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

It's been just just a week and 700 odd kms, no issues till now on my GS310. What's baffling me is that this rectifier/RR unit/ stator coil issue has been plaguing 310GSs sold world over. So no its not a new issue. I believe BMW India very well knew about the issue before launching the bike in India.

As far as I have researched, both TVS RR310 and BMW G310R do not use the same rectifier unit and wattage as the 310GS, hence they are not affected with this particular issue.

Prior to this bike, I rode a KTM RC390 for about 4 years and some 30K kms. KTM had many serious reliability issues, however KTM was also proactive in repairs and were well stocked generally.

I have no doubts that BMW twins have much better quality cycle parts compared to KTMs in India, however they simply chose to ignore these "commuter" segment bikes!
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Old 8th January 2019, 13:47   #34
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by rahuldevnath View Post
It's been just just a week and 700 odd kms, no issues till now on my GS310. What's baffling me is that this rectifier/RR unit/ stator coil issue has been plaguing 310GSs sold world over. So no its not a new issue. I believe BMW India very well knew about the issue before launching the bike in India.
Those issues where there when the bike was originally launched, number of complaints reduced by mid 2017, which means the issue was addressed by BMW in global markets.

One thing that was noticed in India is that the issue is there for some of the vehicles that was delivered around September, there is no conclusion yet.

Quote:
Prior to this bike, I rode a KTM RC390 for about 4 years and some 30K kms. KTM had many serious reliability issues, however KTM was also proactive in repairs and were well stocked generally.
There is no acknowledgement yet from BMW, Service Centre is fixing the issues as if they are doing a favor.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbanator View Post
does BMW produce different bikes for Exports and local distribution?
No idea


Quote:
Is this for a particular lot or across all the bikes? I asked about this here in Chandigarh and the local dealer had no issues except for one demo bike from the first lot.
Looks like issue is there with some of the bikes manufactured around September, at least that is one common trend noticed

Quote:
We will have to give little benefit to them, dealerships are supposed to keep essential spares, I am not sure if they had thought of alternator spare parts.
2-3 week waiting when the part is manufactured about 50 Kms away from the showroom does not make sense

Quote:
But in general, I found the sales guys especially senior ones full of ego- mostly I must add. One of them had an audacity to pickup an argument with me when I was picking up GSA last year despite the fact that I am on a first-name basis with owner of Dealership.
The Sales folks at Tusker are pretty young chaps, very helpful as well. Approach of Service Personals is very different to say the least.

Quote:
That's encouraging. Did they contacted you? Was it a general call centre type call or specific to your problems/ demands?
It was a call center like call, but specifically asking whether there are issues with the bike and so on. The person who called mentioned he would loop back with an action plan by today or so, yet to hear back
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Old 22nd January 2019, 12:39   #35
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by RSimonS View Post
..One thing that was noticed in India is that the issue is there for some of the vehicles that was delivered around September, there is no conclusion yet.
How is your bike doing right now ? Is the repairs complete to your satisfaction ? I am already in talks with Alwin on the G310R, not sure if your version and 310R shares every part. Looking forward to booking the R in a week. If you know someone with the R, it would be great to connect at this stage before I put my money on the table. My heart was on Ninja 300, but 310R became a better choice due to its upright seating position.

Regards and Enjoy the Ride

Last edited by shajufx : 22nd January 2019 at 12:40.
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Old 22nd January 2019, 13:54   #36
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by shajufx View Post
My heart was on Ninja 300, but 310R became a better choice due to its upright seating position.

Regards and Enjoy the Ride
Do not ignore the honda CB300R, whips the indian competition out. Granted you will receive it only in april, but worth the wait i would reckon in this class.
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Old 22nd January 2019, 14:26   #37
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by shajufx View Post
How is your bike doing right now ? Is the repairs complete to your satisfaction ? I am already in talks with Alwin on the G310R, not sure if your version and 310R shares every part. Looking forward to booking the R in a week. If you know someone with the R, it would be great to connect at this stage before I put my money on the table. My heart was on Ninja 300, but 310R became a better choice due to its upright seating position.

Regards and Enjoy the Ride
I got the bike back on Dec 22, not facing the issue post that. Use was also limited, bit too cold these days in the early mornings.

Issue is not specific to GS, it is there for the R as well. One of the first issue faced was for an R on its trip to Kerala. I will DM you, Alwin is good to deal with.
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Old 9th February 2019, 09:34   #38
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

Three bikes (new cases) are down with battery issue this week alone. In all three cases , bikes refused to start on cranking. Jump start helped in some.

BMW is either pushing old stock of batteries to India or the bikes itself was in yard for a very long time or there is serious faults with the wiring.

Responses from Service is not confident inspiring, their initial response is to blame usage or modification, in case there is no modification they would highlight it as circumstantial.

There were few interactions with some owners and BMW Motorrad, looked more like a PR effort is in place bring the confidence back.

But, when bikes which are used for daily commute of 50+ kms refuse to start in the morning, there multiple unanswered questions.
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Old 9th February 2019, 09:36   #39
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by RSimonS View Post
Three bikes (new cases) are down with battery issue this week alone.
Any issues recurring in the bikes that have already been repaired by BMW Motorrad?
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Old 9th February 2019, 09:48   #40
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

Not yet, most of them are new ones. There is one bike with multiple issues, but that bike had a crash earlier.

Voltage of battery shows around 12V for the bikes reported today with the issue. So, either there are weak batteries or they are not getting sufficiently charged is our conclusion
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Old 18th February 2019, 19:02   #41
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

A colleague of mine has booked the bike yesterday completely unware of these issues. He did tell me that the sales guys didn't encourage him for the G310 GS stating it's plagued with issues but had nothing to say about the G310. I shared this link with him but I see he has made up his decision.
Any thing he should be watching out for ? He mentioned the delivery could be mostly this weekend.
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Old 21st September 2019, 16:30   #42
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth View Post
A colleague of mine has booked the bike yesterday completely unware of these issues. He did tell me that the sales guys didn't encourage him for the G310 GS stating it's plagued with issues but had nothing to say about the G310. I shared this link with him but I see he has made up his decision.
Any thing he should be watching out for ? He mentioned the delivery could be mostly this weekend.
Nothing mate, just ride the way it should be bike is fantastic and way beyond other premium bikes quality.
I didn't liked it due to my own personal reasons but trust me its class apart.
I have done 4300 kms in one year with zero issues.
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Old 25th October 2019, 09:18   #43
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

Nasir's bike's battery died when he was en-route to Goa, BMW Motorrad denies warranty citing use of Aux lights.

Below email was shared by Nasir with BMW Motorrad

Quote:
Originally Posted by nasirkaka;
Hey guys,
My battery dies and this morning BMW denied warranty citing use of aux lights. I have written back to them sharing my feelings. thought to share it here as well:


Dear BMW Motorrad,

I purchased a BMW G310 GS on the 18th of August 2018, bearing registration number KA 03 JT 8427, from TUSKER BMW MOTORRAD, Bangalore, India. This morning, i was denied warranty for the stock battery, which failed and left me stranded on a tour. Following is how the story unfolds.

Couple of weeks back, i was on a ride on my 310GS towards North Karnataka & Goa. For a few days, I could sense a bit hesitation during starting of the bike, and on 6.10.2019 morning, the bike just refused to start. I was at Palolem, Goa and very very worried as we have been hearing so many cases of faulty battery, alternator, etc all these months. I was 600kms away from home with a dead battery and a lot of frustration. First thing was to try and find out if it was battery or if charging system was at fault. With the help of a friend, I pushed the bike to a garage where on voltmeter the battery showed 11.6 Volts. We jump-started the bike and checked the battery, at idle run, it showed 14.4V. This gave a bit of assurance that the alternator was charging the battery, so it looked like mostly a case of dead battery. We tried looking for a similar battery and found an exact match in Excide - XLTZ9. This is also a 12V 8Amp maintenance-free sealed battery having exact same shape and dimensions compared the stock battery. We replaced the battery, and bike started without any issue. I finished my trip and returned back to Bangalore last week without any further battery related issue. My bike was due for its 20k service, so i took a service appointment, carried the old battery to service center, narrated the experience and requested for a battery replacement under warranty as the battery is just over a year old. This morning, i was denied warranty on the basis that i have a pair of aux lights on the bike. I am extremely dissapointed with this response from BMW motorrad, not so much for the warranty denial but more for the reason behind it.

* BMW 310 GS & R are known to have battery and charging system issues, especially in India. This is well documented on many Indian and global forums across the world. New battery on stock bikes without any accessories have failed, so there is definitely an issue with the quality of the battery, why hide behind an innocent pair of aux lamp as an excuse to deny warranty. Some reference links for the battery issues are as follows:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post4646807 (Major battery issue with the BMW G 310 R and GS! BMW Motorrad India is unresponsive)

https://www.g310rforum.com/forum/337...d-battery.html

https://www.g310rforum.com/forum/337...ats-wrong.html

https://www.g310rforum.com/forum/337...rge-issue.html

Coming back to Aux lamps, If BMW had given bright reflector and sturdy design for sufficient illumination, there would be no need to spend on additional lights to begin with. Such is not the case, so for our safely and visibility, we are not left with many options.

I am using a pair of aux lamps from reputed RIGID INDUSTRIES, which when switched on, draws a max of 36 volts together. These lights are connected using reputed and good quality AKRO wiring harness, where power is drawn directly from the battery along with a safety fuse and relay. No OEM wire have been cut, spliced, or positapped anywhere. trigger is been obtained from the Aux connector port provided on the bike under the headlamp assembly cowl. So there is no question of tampering with wiring harness, or using substandard parts.

The bike has a 308 Watts generator adding a 36W LED aux (which is very sparingly used) is well within the overall load limit. So technically there is not additional load on the charging system to affect the battery drain.

Why did BMW provide couple of aux connector on the bike to begin with if it did not want it to be used? Majority of adventure genre bikes from all brands all over the world have accessories be it electrical, mechanical, ergonomical, etc. I have used bikes from many other brands, and none of them are so rigid with their warranty policy.

I would have gladly accepted the warranty denial, but given the number of battery failures in a small geographical area like Bangalore in last one year, we all know that there are quality issues with the battery. I had similar aux setup on my KTM duke 390 and the battery lasted for good 3.5 years. My kawasaki versys had many electrical accessories without any battery issues. Nor do those dealers make a big fuss about adding accessories.

Its really sad and disheartening to go through painful ownership experience of a premium brand. As it is, the BMW brand is slowly but steadily gaining negative image in the market and incidents like denying warranty for a known faulty product is only going to add to the spreading negative image of the brand. Unless there is a major change in mindset where customers are given some importance, the brand is definitely going down in the long run.

I am not writing this mail just to get a battery replacement, but as a BMW customer who has to time and again go through painful ownership experience, be it service time, booking time, spares availability, etc. How do you expect the bikes to sell if there is a fear created that for any small change/customization, the warranty will be void. I personally know a few who did not buy into your brand because of the dictatorship kind of role the brand is adopted. On the Bangalore 310 whatsapp group, people are scared to even add a USB port as they are afraid it would void warranty. On one hand, you create a bike and market it for adventure, and on the other hand, you dont provide any USB port on the bike, where even the smallest of scooties these days have one. How do you expect someone to travel and explore and adventure around, if he cannot charge his mobile for navigation? Is that your real idea of adventure? I guess so.

i am copying this mail to many to share this story and bitter experience, hope there is someone up there who understands the plight and does something to save the brand. Without a warranty, my future bike services could be self attempted, and i am sure a lot of other will follow and we all know whose loss it eventually is.

So good luck to you BMW motorrad, you have definitely saved a battery today but lost many hearts.

Regards
Apparently, there is a new design design change in the free wheel which is inside the alternator. In the picture below, the right one is the old design with the rebits, while the left one, which is the new design, has no rebits.

It seems the free wheel design caused the alternator to short the coil and burn it which caused failure which hopefully has been fixed with this new design.

It is not clear why a recall is happening.
Attached Thumbnails
BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem-alternator.png  


Last edited by RSimonS : 25th October 2019 at 09:25.
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Old 25th October 2019, 12:22   #44
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

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Originally Posted by RSimonS View Post
In the picture below, the right one is the old design with the rebits, while the left one, which is the new design, has no rebits.
The design change seems to be with the starter clutch and its associated parts.

See for yourself;

BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem-images.jpg

The magneto remains the same from the pictures you've posted, unless the magneto and starter clutch is a single fused component on the 310.

Even then I find it hard to digest that the magneto caused the stator to short, as the stator sits on the alternator cover and the magneto is attached to the crank locked in place by a woodruff key.

Who knows? Maybe the fact of the matter might really be stranger than fiction.

Do keep us posted.

Regards,
A.P.
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Old 25th October 2019, 12:29   #45
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Re: BMW G310: Many bikes suffering reliability issues due to alternator problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by RSimonS View Post
Apparently, there is a new design design change in the free wheel which is inside the alternator. In the picture below, the right one is the old design with the rebits, while the left one, which is the new design, has no rebits.

It seems the free wheel design caused the alternator to short the coil and burn it which caused failure which hopefully has been fixed with this new design.

It is not clear why a recall is happening.
Looking at this RE is way better. As everyone is aware of the infamous coil failure in the BS3 variant of the Himalayan. RE used to replace the Alternator (during warranty period), no questions asked.
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