GS-911 Diagnostic tool
 

I've made a search on this section, but can't find any postings, so here goes:-

I want to buy a GS-911 Emergency diagnostic tool for my BMW, but the price differences range from £500 + (touratech) down to about £150 ( or equivalent) from what is obviously a far eastern source. I don't want to do anything fancy with it,( mainly service date adjustments) so an enthusiasts version with a USB connection will do, ( i don't need blue tooth).

Has anyone bought or had any experience of the cheaper far eastern versions of this useful looking product?? has anyone got one lurking in a cupboard they want to sell?

All useful info gratefully received.

contact Brendan::. UKGSer.com .:: here Pongo
good luck :thumbup1:

Thanks for that Bertrand. I withdrew my membership from UKGSer nearly a year ago so the link doesn't work for me.

Paying some £15 sub to get a discounted gs911 seems cheap !
He is asking €260 euros plus postage
Is the usb bluetooth enthusiast model
Pongo I have just pm'ed you his email and email you too- I'd hurry, these second hand units are quite rare.

Thanks for that Bertrand. Have mailed him.

and the result is............................? do tell!

And the result is! I have exchanged mails, but I have not bought it. €260 Euros is the retail price of the one I want, which I can get here. I was hoping ( long shot) to pick up one up a bit less expensive. Having just had to spend €300 on a new headlamp unit I can't justify the expense at the moment for something which will only rarely be used. Thanks anyway Bertrand for your help

This is the list of all the Hexcode GS-911 dealers.

Distribution — Hex Code

GS-911 Belgium Dealer
 

I have owned a GS-911 for 4 years: excellent bit of kit.
It frees you from the dealer almost completely, and means if you have a funny electrical breakdown on the road the odds are you can diagnose what is wrong and get just the part you need sent by courier to you from someone.
You can even change km to miles and back with it now.

Plus the forum for it is GREAT too: very supportive people.

I was in Holland and bought mine from Belgium thru Jos Palmaers. I'd compare his prices to the UK ones.

Jos Palmaers <jos@xantip.com>
GS-911 Benelux
Nachtegaallaan 10
B-2321 Meer
Belgium
Tel. +32 495 24 19 19
E-mail info@gs-911.be
GS-911 BMW diagnosetool - Home

In general I've found UK prices very high for any motorbike parts. Touratech especially.

Do NOT buy a Far East copy: they are not supported anymore and from what I hear do not work as well.

You can try one out from someone else who has one too: the amateur one lets you use it on other bikes too: up to a certain max number.

The GS-911 is a South African bit of kit and works really well.
Alan

GS 911 diagnostic tool
 

Somewhere on this forum is a comment by Grant Johnson where he strongly supports them. Grant and others are way ahead of me in regard to their knowledge of them. I am a real novice (emphasis on real) regarding my 2010 1200 GS. Is this tool able to help me and if so how? I can do an oil change but that's it so far. Thanks in anticipation.

It will read the diagnostics for the bike: via the CANbus system built into the machine.
They can also cancel fault signals kept in the "computer brain" of the bike.
Whether you value this, or not, is a value judgement to be made by you.
For instance:
BMW nowadays keep all of their service records on a centralised computer database (some say kept in Berlin).
Many car manufs are doing the same - you don't get a paper based service handbook with new vehicles, just a computer printout of the centralised records, if you ask for it.

Anyway, this may be a contributory reason why independent service centres for BMW bikes in particular have come into being here in the UK. There is virtually one per county/regional area in the UK nowadays to cater for those who don't feel the need to be on a central database (there again, perhaps the work carried out by the independents ends up on the BMW central records?).
A lot of the independents - perhaps all of them - have computer based diagnostics and there are adverts here in the UK for people who will read the diagnostics of a Beemer for the price of a few beer tokens.

It's an EXCELLENT tool for your tool box if you want to move away from virtual complete dependency on a mechanic. And is useful even if you are (initially) a novice but want to learn.

I've got an HP2 Enduro and I do all my own maintenance: complete to strip down to engine to re-coat frame when I changed clutch.

So maybe I'm at the extreme end, but if you have at least a critical set of tools, and can read, you can do a lot of your own preventative maintenance. BMW has a very good CD-based maintenance manual for all the later model GS's. It's based on what the dealer uses. You can use common senses and tools like the GS-911 to trouble shoot issues and decide if you feel comfortable fixing them, or need more expert help.

If your bike is off the warranty, there's no real down side to doing your own services, as long as you use your head to read what's in the manual and take your time.

Don't buy a GS-911 from the Far-East: it's going to be a clone. The real benefit of the GS-911 is the support you get from the developers and the very active forum they run. It doesn't make sense to have a bike that's worth more than some people's houses, and try to save £100-£200 on a really useful tool with good support.

How much does your helmet cost? Or your sunglasses? Do you buy brand name oil, or the cheapest that you can get on eBay?

I was having a problem on a trip, and in the middle of Kenya a guy in Argentina on the GS-911 forum told me he thought the reason my bike was sounding like a Harley with a stutter was because one of my throttle cables was caught up. He said he'd had same issue, and found a pebble stuck in the linkage.... hmmmm I thought. Well let me try....pink!!!! Dang. Problem solved.

Buy it. And remember, if all else fails RTFM (Read The %u%%ing Manual). But seriously RTFM.

BMW Motorrad is based in Munich and not Berlin. Anyways, why does it matter where BMW keeps its service records? Things are indeed pretty tightly controlled by BMW Munich: but that's OK, it keeps the cowboys out.

What does happen is that the main electronic parts like the ECU's and the Instrument module are keyed to your serial number and you cannot swap parts from bike to bike yourself: you have to buy through the dealer/BMW. So that means if those fail it's a lot of $$$$. But that's the same for most modern cars now anyways. And you don't get these components failing very much, and if so, will likely fail whilst on warranty if it's on warranty if it's a manufacturing defect. If you have a big crash, then it's not that expensive to cover the bike with insurance.

But you can do about 99% of everything else yourself with a reasonable set of tools: and that includes a GS-911 and a multi-meter.

A GS-911 is not for just "resetting fault codes". You can read just about all the sensors on the bike, and record it real-time while the bike is running. So you can see if it's running OK. Do preventative maintenance. I have an HP2 Enduro, so my ABS faults are minimal (I don't have ABS...:-} but ABS is a very common issue on GS-s, and the GS-911 helps you trouble shoot these. Even if you don't pick up a wrench, you can see what's causing a problem and save the mechanic a few hours trying to find the issue (and save you $$$).

A BMW is a pretty simple bike: even the more recent ones. If you read the manual, have some tools and use common sense you can solve many issues yourself. The really complex stuff is too much hassle for the dealer to fix in any case: they'll just pull the part and put a new one in.

Yep, Munich Bavaria, but the 1200GS used to be put together, by gastarbeiten staff, in Berlin - I guess they are to this day (many an individual has made a visit to that factory, but not I as it happens).

No matter, the computer records will be backed up on servers all over the place in accord with the corporations' policies.

I don't know enough about logging parts to specific bikes but there are certainly a boat load of individuals in the UK offering BMW servicing, often as ex-technicians of the main dealers from the days when they were "released" (to employ a euphemism) and replaced with youths straight out of school at a quarter of the hourly pay rate - a sensible business decision for any main dealer accountant.

As for the GS-911 capability, I readily agree that I gave up typing far too early with my earlier description if only on the basis that there are earlier posts in here which extol the virtues.
Your last sentence is of passing interest: it is why I went to night school years ago to learn the innards of computer hardware - from there I learnt to build my own desktops which is, nowadays, a declining knowledge and interest with the rise and rise of tablets, mobile phones etc etc. That was in the days when there were computer "fairs" all over the country for purchasing components and a decent specification desktop cost north of 1000 UK pounds.
"chuck it and buy another, why bother repairing" is the mantra now with labour rates at around 50/hour.

Wow thats great NOT. Great would be to buy a bike that does not break down, need expensive diagnostic gear and shiped parts via courier! A good travel bike has to be able to be repaird after an accedent in a african workshop with standart tools etc.

Importing courierd parts at Customs can take up to a few months. By this time your visa will have cicked you out of most of the countrys on this planet long ago. Not talking about the import Tax more then 100% in many countrys...