04 r1100s bcr scary first start, engine won't crank
 

Hi you all,
My first post on here. I'd like to introduce myself and share this pretty weird experience. Last year I bought my 04 r1100s bcr . 11k miles on it. It had some damage to the left fairing. The front stay bracket was off. I bought new stay bracket and replaced the old one. Had to disconnect some electrics to do this. Both main black electrical boxes left and right stayed connected just transferred them to the new stay bracket hooked up the head lamp etc. Last year the engine was running fine, started right up, and the break warning light was off. When I tried to start it a couple of days ago. I put new battery in it and

1. The engine cranked 3-4 times and jammed . The starter suddenly could not crank the engine any more, struggling, making noise like someone stuck a piece of something in the gears! I put it in a gear rolled the bike a little and it repeated same thing again 2-3 cranks and jam. I'm afraid to try again. It sounds like I can cause more damage.
2. The break control light blinks really fast. When you press front break handle you can hear the pump spin pretty loud.
Has anyone had similar experience. I think these two problems are not related to each other but both developed while the bike was just sitting there for the winter.
Any expertise, opinion will be greatly appreciated. I don't know this bike well and dont know if it's just some hydraulics that could fail from the lack of oil or is it something more serious that did not come up last year while the bike was running?
Again any thoughts from whoever knows these engines will be greatly appreciated.
rgds,

Well, I'll be first!

If it was mine I would remove the spark plugs, get the rear wheel off the ground so that it can freely spin, put it in gear, and then turn the rear wheel by hand to see if you can consistently turn the engine over. This may tell you if it's seized.

I would also ensure that the oil level is fine. Properly. Which is an art in itself.

The engine is not seized cause she cranks 3-5 times every time I put her in a gear and roll her over. When I don't she won't crank any more.The oil level is fine. As I said she ran fine last year for at least 5 min.

Take the starter out.
You can bench test it if you want.
You can also take it apart and clean it.

You can get a new one from EME if you're on the west coast:
Starting

or if you're on the east coast from Beemerboneyard:
STARTERS

Ebay also has them listed for a cheaper price.

are you turning it the same way it is cranking when you roll it,
I would pull the front cover and turn it over carefully by hand
could be a valve strike or timing chain,,
also clutch in? so the transmission is isolated?

or a starter if the battery is good.

The obvious question, what brand battery and ID...
And it was brand new?

Yep, he wouldn't be the first to use a battery without enough cca to start this monster. Batteries can be brandy new & still be bad, I'd try another known good one first. And yes I know what a bite in the ass it is to access which is why I got an Odyssey PC680 in mine, change it every 7-8 years as they die, nothing I've ever seen lasts like those.

Thank you for taking your time to reply. Just briefly. The batteries I've been using on my bikes are Power Safe SBS j 16 aircraft battery by Odyssey. Never failed on me before. I'll look to all the stressed components tomorrow.
thank you again

Do a lot of acrobatics on your bike? Looks like a PC680 with a bunch of aircraft certifications so it should be fine, I guess I'd look to the starter after making sure the motor turns over freely. Just a fyi, a lot of the replacement starters on fleabay & such that are so cheap have been found to have plastic gears hidden inside. I'd stick to the Valeo starters, most oem starters have lasted many, many years & can be rebuilt if not too destroyed.

injector could have leaked gas into cylinder when parked over the winter, causing hydraulic lock… pull the plugs and crank it over and see if fuel blows out of the spark plug holes.

I bought a brand new starter shipped to my house from discountstarterandalternator.com for $62.88. It's made in China, but I used it on my spare r1100s and it works fine. For the money- it may be worth checking out if yours is suspect. I wound up cleaning and greasing my Valeo and kept the other as a spare. (Until I put it in my buddy's r12c.)

+1. Simple to check.

I bought one of these and put it in a customers R11S. I did not charge him for the Starter. Told him to go out a test it and if their were any problems bring it back. That was back in 10-15. So far it is OK.

3rd Bills advice, pull the plugs and crank it. Just make sure there is no pilot light or flame in the area, if there is excess gas, it will spray out.

Then go back to basic troubleshooting. Starters have been known to have the magnets come loose and jam the starter. But I would look at Battery, cables etc before looking there.

Do the plug test! just disconnect the injectors electric connector to prevent fuel injection. This one is dual spark, so you can take the bottom one quite easily and do a quick engine crank test.

So far so good on mine as well. Although I wouldn't want it failing on a trip- for the money it's about 1/7 the cost of OEM. Not even factoring in tax or shipping for the OEM part. It's crazy. I didn't believe it until I had it installed.

it's possible that the starter that bmw uses was copied by the chinese a long time ago, and is probably used in something else, in some other part of the world, and i'd bet that maybe they make half-a-ga-zillion of them at a time.

just a guess, but i've seen it before.

Come on. The Chinese wouldn't copy anything. They are innovators, not imitators...

you're right. lost my head for a second.
they are technological trail breakers who are consumed with wanting to help clean up the planet.
awesome drivers too.