BMW R1200 GS LC

Hello, Im looking for some technical advice,
I have purchased a breaker only 2016 R1200 GS LC
I then purchased a 2014 frame, ecu, lock set and clocks.
I have built the bike onto the frame however the bike wont run when the back light is plugged in and when you indicate the engine management light flashes instead.
I have taken the bike to BM to get the clocks changed from KM to Miles and the say that the general module will not programme in. this is the lighting module.
They ordered the correct general module from the chassis number but it doesn't fit the wiring loom om the 2016 bike.
The 2014 module is much larger than a 2016 module.
Apparently a new one comes blank and is coded in in the workshop, but there are two to pick from and they don't know which one to order.
Could anyone wipe the data from the one I have? or suggest a alternative? other than buying a 2014 loom.
Thank you for any helpful advice.

Hi RIchard
Welcome to the forum - great first post
Usual advice - think about being a subscriber etc.

"They ordered the correct general module from the chassis number but it doesn't fit the wiring loom om the 2016 bike.
The 2014 module is much larger than a 2016 module."
This is patently an oxymoron - if they had ordered the correct module it would have fitted!

A little more thought required here by asking yourself in the style of Clint Eastwood - " am I building a 2014, or 2016 bike?"

FWIW you should have a huge collection of 2016 bits and pieces to attach to a bare 2014 frame.

Regards.

Technical information

Bem said:

Hi RIchard
Welcome to the forum - great first post
Usual advice - think about being a subscriber etc.

"They ordered the correct general module from the chassis number but it doesn't fit the wiring loom om the 2016 bike.
The 2014 module is much larger than a 2016 module."
This is patently an oxymoron - if they had ordered the correct module it would have fitted!

A little more thought required here by asking yourself in the style of Clint Eastwood - " am I building a 2014, or 2016 bike?"

FWIW you should have a huge collection of 2016 bits and pieces to attach to a bare 2014 frame.

Regards.

Click to expand...

Ok, Im not overly concerned with the actual year of registration, that's just a number. Obviously if I could of purchased a 2016 frame I would of , but this wasn't a option at the time.
Im more interested if anyone has any experience with the wizardry like electronics on these bikes or could point me in the direction of someone who has!!
Thank you for your reply and advice.

in this modern can bus age mixing and matching control units from different ages of bikes cars or whatever is never a simple task in fact mostly impossible,some will say i can virginise that control unit so your bike will accept it but by and large its a fruitless exercise.dont know if you did this to save some money but you sure have created a headache for yourself good luck.

The engine runs, and every thing else works ?. Abs mult function display etc headlights ,
so the fault as you describe only manifests with the back light connected,
The change point is 2014 clocks and engine ecu, plus a write off accident / collision,
Have you or the dealer checked control unit voltage , and supply / earth of the general module, its it recognised on the network,
Not knowing the damage that the 2016 bike and wiring sustained, it may be wiring thats causing your issue,
If rear lights cause the fault have you checked its not faulty due to the crash, or wiring pinched broken ,
Shorted k line ( its single wire not can ) will kill comms with the control unit,
You know where any damage was sustained, so have a good look first,
I would un plug the general module and rear light,
Get a multi meter out and check wires from the rear light to the general for short to each other and to earth , and only continuity with a bulb load with wiring disconnected from light and module,
Then establish wether power and earths are there,, it wont function without
It wont hurt to check as most of it is functioning i assume other lights work,
They will have run coding / component protection on the other modules brakes engine and immobilizer, the last part may be as easy as plugging the fresh, 2016 unit in and coding it ,
Or is it conflicting with the 2014 instruments,,

Thank you for your reply, As you have said, everything does work other than the back light, the bike runs perfect when the light isn't plugged in. As soon as you plug the back light in the bike wont run at all.
When the bike was plugged in at BMW it came up on their software that the GM module was at fault.
I will try what you have suggested with the wiring and earth, I did try a new back light to no avail.
Thank you

Being thorough with wiring might pay off,
Its a slow job, worth back tracking on everything disturbed, working forward from the rear light, pinched or damaged un touched wiring, check it all,
It would be worth un plugging the general module and back light,
Check you only have one earth at the light, dont force the pins with the meter probe, use a pin/ paperclip if you cant get contact,
Was the bike fully stripped?
Not sure re the diagnosis description,
faulty software on some units can be a replacement solution, or re load,
The crash may have damaged the control unit,
It would be interesting to run a gs911 on it so see the fault description,
And any live data like control unit volts and visibility, light plugged in and un plugged compared,
Good luck, be thorough, if you do end up with the replacement control unit at least there is no risk of damage or mis diagnosis,,
I will have a look on the wiring diagram as just returned from holiday,

More technical help required please.
Does anybody have the software to scrub the information stored on the ground module?
my bike, R1200 GS LC works almost perfect other than when you indicate right the engine management light flashes and the millage cannot be altered from Kilometres to miles,
it has been into BMW but they tell me the module will not accept a update as it has the wrong information in it.
They say that they do not know which module is required and there has been 7 versions, they suggest buying one after another and plugging it in to see which one works, at £220.00 each this doesn't seem a option as it could be the seventh addition!!
As when you plug one in, it cannot be returned.
So , somehow I need to clear this module and plug it in clear of any previous information.
Im not adverse to removing the Microchip from the pcb if anybody knows which microchip it is.
Thanks very much for any information

Hi Richard,

First, welcome to the forum

Now lets see what we can do.

Normally i would say model year / and assembly month are paramount to finding the right parts for your bike

but i;m guessing you have neither which makes things a bit more complex

I dont know what you know about the electronics on the bike ( newbie or expert) so i'll cover some basics


The bike has two communications busses -Can bus & Lin bus

google will provide more info on them for you

The problem you have is your trying to create a Bitsa

Bits of one and another

However Can bus & i suspect Lin bus will have a hissy fit


I would read up on the basics of Canbus so you get a flavour how the system operates


Trouble is you need to match all your ECu's to the harness, as that will dictate what will run

If you have a MY14 harness, there are at a minimum potentially 2 variants as each model year often gets revisions and uplifts

so you need to match all ecus to a my14 harness - then the ZFE & and main ecu's will need syncing to each other otherwise the kombi will show a mileage error and will need

Reflashing with ISTA or similar

Do you have a haynes manual with a wiring diagram ?

You need a 2014 wiring loom, and the module for the 2014 frame use that frame no for any software updates. In the mean time, bell the wiring out from the module to the light. Make notes of what readings you get from which pin to pin. Even better if you have the wiring diagram. But also go round the houses ie take a measurement from all pins to make sure there isn't a short.

Hi. thanks for the information,
The bike is a 2016 model but built onto a 2014 frame, when I bought the frame I also got the clocks, ECU and lock set,
So I built the bike onto the 2014 frame and everything fitted perfectly other than the ground module as the 2016 loom has a smaller ground module.
So the 2014 ecu and clocks don't correspond with the 2016 ground module.
I then purchased a 2014 loom and fitted that,
Then everything plugged in as it should.
But, as the ground module has a been fitted on a different bike it wont accept my chassis number which matches the ecu. clocks and chassis, but not the ground module.
So, if I can clean the ground module of all previous information I can then plug it in and it will accept the information from the ecu, clocks
Hope that makes some sort of sense!!!!

Ok, that makes sense. Can you locate a 2014 module. Thta might solve your problem. Look on realOEM for the part no.

You can buy for want of a better word 'virginised' ECU modules, electronic fuel pumps etc for cars so they can be fitted and coded to another vehicle , I would contact one of the specialist ECU repairers and ask them if it is possible