[coolmg]

Ridding in the Bad Lands of South Dakota in 99.7-degree temp proved too much for the final drive seal in my 2012 K1600 GTL, with 20K miles. Yes I know things fail from time to time but I feel so lucky as my 03 RT and latter my 05 LT both had similar problems. Reading different forums I find that I am in a small group of GTL owners who have succumbed to a similar fate. I still love the bike and will take it in as the warranty is still in effect, but the love I am not feeling quite as much.

 

[Rueda Grande]

It appears from hear in Oregon's outback that you were riding your Bavarian Motor Works motorcycle with a low seal coolant level. It will get you every time.



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[meese]

I've heard of maybe 3-4 of these happening (including my own '12 GTL), over several thousand bikes with many millions of miles traveled.

It's a hassle, to be sure, but it's so much better than it used to be with the LT/GT/RT/GS final drives . . . :bmw:

 

[coolmg]

Things happen mechanically, and after 35 years of rebuilding pumps and drives I of all people know that. And this is not enough to dash my enthusiasm for the K1600, but as I was looking forward to ridding in the Grand Tetons I am to say the least disappointed. If it’s true that I am the third or fourth person to have a failure of this type then hopefully BMW will learn from my misfortune, then hopefully others can benefit. Not really sure what seal coolant is since this is a sealed oil cavity around the ring and pinion gears.

 

[meese]

Yeah, you can just ignore that other guy, as he likes to post random nonsense for no apparent reason . . .

My seal failure was two years ago, when few K16's had very many miles on them. It came at the end of a 1,600-mile endurance ride in the heat of summer, after crossing several mountain passes and right after about 60 miles of dirt and gravel roads. So lots of heat, lost of elevation/pressure changes, and lots of harsh roads. I've ridden just as hard since, and haven't had any further issues with it.

Have they gotten you back on the road yet? My dealer went back and forth with BMW NA for a week or so, then found out there were no seals available, and no spare drives. So he pulled one off a brand-new bike to get me back up and running. They did send the failed part back to Germany for further inspection.

Since then, I've heard of a couple more seal failures, but nothing like we got with the earlier designs.

 

[Rueda Grande]

What is Seal coolant you ask?
A fictitious liquid sometimes referred to ask sarcastic criticism directed at a historic European motorcycle manufacture that has had more than ample time to work out the all the kinks of seal design and a quality manufacturing process.


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[meese]

Put the bottle down, and step away from the keyboard . . .

We've talked about this before, remember?

 

[coolmg]

It’s starting to make sense now, lots of heat altitude change/pressure change makes a great recipe for a failure. The bike is in the back of our toy hauler and ready for the 1800-mile trip home. The dealer will have it in about three weeks, they are good guys and I won’t have any problems from them. Hopefully BMW has learned something about seals since 2012, at any rate thanks for the info. Finally I did bring my little F650 and we have been piling up the miles on it, a great little bike for the mountains.