BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Evening everyone and as I'm new to the forum, hello! I've recently acquired a 2005 R1200RT with 40,000 miles and I absolutely love it. I've ridden allsorts over the years, from an SV650 to a ZZR1400, this tops them all in terms of fun factor.
Anyway, I'm having a very strange issue with my indicators and can't seem to find anyone who's experienced the same thing. The indicators have developed a mind of their own. The left indicator will activate on its own and then won't allow me to cancel it without simultaneously pressing the left indicator button and the cancel button. If I press the right indicator button while this is happening, I get both sets flashing as if the hazards are on. I've also noticed that the right indicator will occasionally 'self cancel' with no input from me. I'm minded to squirt a load of GT85 into the switchgear to see if that helps, but wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

If you have a GS-911 you can have a look and see if there is a fault with the left switch. Hazards are supposed to come on if you press both buttons together (which is why there is a triangle on each side next to the buttons)

Thanks Nick. Better spend some of my Christmas money then!

The l/h indicator switch on my '06 RT was playing up when I first got the bike, in that more often than not pressing it didn't do anything at all. It turned out to be the microswitch behind the paddle that was defective - I suppose there will be different sorts of 'defective', and erroneous operation might be a possibility if the switch is 'making' on its own. The microswitch is a cheap part, its a C & K Components K12C12.5N available on eBay for around £5 delivered. The microswitch is embedded in some sort of plastic that fixes it into the larger switch unit - I sent mine to a local electronics repair guy, not feeling competent to do the Dremelling required to get the microswitch out, or the soldering and re-embedding when fitting the new one! Anyway, it cost me £25, the switch came back looking and working like new, and I was a happy owner again. If you feel up to doing it DiY, it might be do-able with the switch unit removed from the bars and freed from the loom by snipping the cable ties around the headstock, although it's probably best to take it off altogether to get it on a bench in front of you - that means removing all the plastics and the fuel tank, as the other end of the cable is plugged in to the main ECU under the tank, a bit of a pain but not in any way difficult...it's what I had to do to send mine for repair.

I think your own diagnosis might be being affected adversely by how the bike normally operates. As Nick said, the hazards come on if you press both paddles (although I've never noticed that on my bike, as there's a dedicated hazards switch...),so that's not part of the problem. Also, don't early bikes have the self-cancel function anyway? Pretty sure that under certain circumstances, mine will switch off - so that's not part of the problem either. I reckon it's a duff l/h microswitch - I read somewhere that the l/h ones tend to fail sooner because we operate them that bit harder than the r/h one, because our right hand is also operating the throttle....makes sense in a way, I suppose.

Before blowing a small fortune on a GS-911, it might be worth finding either a local indy who has one - most will plug you in and give you any codes for not much money at all - or a fellow owner with one might be prepared to help. Are you in the UK?

Oh....I wouldn't squirt GT85 into anything electrical, I know it says it can be used to disperse moisture in electrics, but I'm always wary of using 'multi-purpose' cleaner/lube when specific electrical contact cleaner is readily available...that's just me though! I tried contact cleaner in my duff switch, it seemed to work for a bit, but soon went back to its u/s state.

Pete

Thanks Pete for your detailed response. Sounds like a fairly simple, if fiddly, job.

The left turn signal circuit is shown below (switch S9073):



Should be fairly easy to troubleshoot...it goes thru one intermediate connector (X9070) then on to pin 12 of the ZFE (central vehicle electronics module).


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