How important is the Reading of Fault Memory?

[hallzee]

Had my '01 for just over a year now; 15K trouble-free miles, and loving life.

Doing the 24K service. Can handle everything myself - except for the reading of the Fault Memory with the MoDiTec unit. My hunch is only dealers have that little piece of hardware.

Do most guys take it to the dealer, and have them perform this function, or just ride on (ignore that part of the service)?

If you have the dealer do this, how long/much does it cost?

[munson]

Had my '01 for just over a year now; 15K trouble-free miles, and loving life.

Doing the 24K service. Can handle everything myself - except for the reading of the Fault Memory with the MoDiTec unit. My hunch is only dealers have that little piece of hardware.

Do most guys take it to the dealer, and have them perform this function, or just ride on (ignore that part of the service)?

If you have the dealer do this, how long/much does it cost?
I had my Moronic read just once on my 01 LT, to find out the model number.
So far on the 04 I have had it read once by Herman and his GS911. It's not essential to have it read, but it can help diag any problems you might have.

[hallzee]

Thanks John. She's running fine, so I'll just let 'er be.

[sparky_k1200lt]

The dealer service dept told me "it usually doesn't need to be read, unless you have (idiot) lights flashing". I took this to mean "If I see lights on instrument panel that I don't expect, I should bring bike in for them to connect to their computer, and read the 'fault codes'"

[rando]

My dealer, Carolina BMW, said run it by sometime, he'd put it on and let it do it's thing for a while. No charge, if I call the day before and let him know I'm coming. Said it would take 15-20 minutes probably.

Randy

[CharlieVT]

The dealer service dept told me "it usually doesn't need to be read, unless you have (idiot) lights flashing". I took this to mean "If I see lights on instrument panel that I don't expect, I should bring bike in for them to connect to their computer, and read the 'fault codes'"

I haven't had the Motronic codes read for about 35K miles. I mean to get it done or buy one of the code reader units. I guess I am waiting for an upgrade to the code reader that has greater capability than what is presently available.

If the advice from your service dept is good or not, I am not sure. I wonder if a bad oxygen sensor or temp sensor could cause the bike to run lean causing top end damage and you wouldn't know it until valve or piston damage had occured. I have been told by a BMW service manager that they have found bad sensors with the MoDiTek service computer that were otherwise unknown.

I mean to follow my own advice better and get the Motronic checked for faults. I suspect there are some things that would be best detected by finding a fault stored in the computer rather than waiting for greater consequences.

Being very cynical here: Your service department might rather do a top end repair on your bike and make some real money, rather than just run a MoDiTek scan of your Motronic.