Electronics » The Gremlins have arrived...

Hi all

Turned on the bike this morning and got a message saying "Emergency Call Failure - please book the bike in to a specialist workshop". (I do have the Emergency Call function installed).

Also, the on / off button now only stops the bike and turns it off on a long press, rather than a short one.

Has anyone any experience of this? Is the latter issue simply because there's a warning message in the TFT and so the button behaviour changes to force you to acknowledge it? Or is there a second issue?

GS's seem to have had similar issues (though no mention of on / off button press issue). Some forums assert that it's due to poor reception but that doesn't seem credible since a) the bike's at home, where it's been for several months without any reception issues and b) it would be daft if the TFT was programmed to tell you to go to a workshop because of a temporary lack of GPS signal.

Help very welcome!

Olie.

Hi Olie

I got the message "Emergency Call Failure - please book the bike in to a specialist workshop" two days ago when out riding. I just ignored it and used the wiz wheel to remove the message.

Greg

Thanks Greg - I was able to clear it off the display no problem, but if I go into the Vehicle Information menu and move across to the final tab on the right the message is still there. It doesn’t seem to have removed itself completely.

When this happened to you, did you get the odd behaviour with the on/off button? (Mine’s keyless, so I guess if yours has the probably more reliable key start then you won’t have seen this issue...)

It sounds like your big mistake was having the Emergency Call function installed on your bike. You should have known that BMW would be using it to badger you into taking your bike into a franchised BMW shop for $$$ service, instead of using it to allow you to contact emergency services should you be in an accident or need mechanical assistance.

Well, it's a brand new bike so I won't be paying any $$$, though it is a massive pain in the arse. And as a long time BMW owner I knew who I was getting into bed with from the outset :)

Also, if the $$$ spent were to ever get an ambulance to me a bit quicker, that's a good trade to my mind. You can't spend 'em if you've karked it, after all! :)

Also, follow up problem discovered - the steering lock won't engage.

Zitat von OlieL im Beitrag #3

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Thanks Greg - I was able to clear it off the display no problem, but if I go into the Vehicle Information menu and move across to the final tab on the right the message is still there. It doesn’t seem to have removed itself completely.

When this happened to you, did you get the odd behaviour with the on/off button? (Mine’s keyless, so I guess if yours has the probably more reliable key start then you won’t have seen this issue...)

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Zitat von OlieL im Beitrag #6

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Also, follow up problem discovered - the steering lock won't engage.

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Just a thought: Is this an electrical rather than an electronic problem? Are there some poor connections on some part of the wiring loom for some reason?

Maybe you have one problem with two consequences: There are problems with ignition and the emergency call system is trying to alert BMW thinking you are disabled and in need of assistance but your electrical problem is preventing that happening. Does that make any sense? If not ignore me.

Chris

I had the same message a couple of times and the explanation given was: it uses a sim card that is situated in the TFT and sometimes loses the signal.
After a couple of TFT updates it appeared to be sorted. What i will say is that the S O.S button works very well as i found out after having an "off" earlier this year.
Worth every penny.

Thanks all for the helpful comments - in the end Vines said the only way I could get it looked at earlier than 15 October was to call BMW Roadside Assist, so did that and a van came and picked it up for me. My point was that the fact that the steering lock doesn’t work means I have a potential insurance issue if the bike gets nicked, with which they agreed.

Now got to see how long it’ll take before they can fix it... never thought to check the fuel filler but anyway hopefully they’ll flash the computers and sort it all out - hopefully leaving me with the latest TFT version as well.

Well that's disappointing...

Apparently the various gremlins are being caused by a faulty ABS sensor. The part has to come from Germany, which means that my bike's off the road for 5 to 10 days while they get it shipped across.

The only positive is that they are going to update my TFT for me at the same time so at least that'll be done when I get the bike back.

I had a recent ride where the TFT menus suddenly stopped working. Additionally, no turn signals, no horn, and no headlight. Battery fully charged. I pulled into a parking lot (how I found out about the headlight) and had to shut down and start up 3 times before things went back to normal.

Could these issues be related to a loose or faulty battery?