The service writer and the mechanic both test rode the bike and couldn’t find a problem. They have no reason to not make a warranty repair if they can detect a problem. The service department is the real profit center for the dealership and warranty work is gravy.
There’s basic “I don’t give a f**k” issues throughout the workforce, unfortunately.
(Warning, long story about problem with dealer mechanics. 70% of it’s to frame the issue, ’cause I’m a verbose writer. You’ve been warned. Maybe skip to “moral of the story” … )
Back when Audi first introduced it’s 5000 series sedan, which wowed all of the car writers, I saved up over a seven month Navy deployment, and intended to buy one overseas and have it shipped home. Not sure about the law now, but at that time, a person who was overseas for over six months, could avoid customs on items he or she brought back with him. Navy officers and senior enlisted, for example, would encounter Mercedes salesmen on the piers of various European ports. They could purchase have a Mercedes delivered back home for less than 2/3’s the US price (I think it was about $11K or $12K out the door, back then). Unfortunately, due to real world commitments, my ship’s port visits were cancelled or rescheduled on the fly. I had an authorized auto loan to buy an Audi 5000, and the check followed me from port to port, never arriving at the same port we were actually in. By the time we reached Hawaii on our way home, it was too late to do the deal.
However, as a young bachelor with no expenses other than foreign port liberties, I had saved a ton of money over the deployment, and had sufficient funds saved to pay cash for the Audi back in the states, at the US price. So, I got my dream car. It was until at least 10 years ago, the most beautiful, advanced, and well equipped car I’ve ever owned.
Then “life” happened. Got married. We had a baby. The Audi had a few reliability quirks, including regulators for the power windows that failed regularly, and cost $400 (probably like $2000 in today’s dollars) per replacement. There were two replaced under warranty, and I picked up the tab on a 3rd.
Just after the car was out of warranty (3 years), I started having problems. The car wouldn’t start at times, sounded like it was out of fuel. However, if it cooled off, it would restart. That kept happening at odd, inconvenient times, like at 11 PM after a long, 12 hour day, when I picked up the wife and our infant son to get them to the 24 hour grocery store, to pick up necessities. We shopped, went back to the car, and .. it wouldn’t start. Meanwhile, night time temps in S. California were near freezing, and so was the car with my baby inside it. I think I finally got it running at 1AM, took the family home, and had to be up at 5AM to get back to work in L.A. It was about that point that I decided the Audi was an expensive toy that had to go, that I’d have to get a reliable car for the safety of my family, as well as just to be at work on time.
I had it into the Audi dealer three times, but the techs said “Sorry, can’t reproduce the problem, nothings wrong.” I finally got a tip from a buddy about a private shop that specialized in German vehicles. They were supposed to be the best of the best. I scheduled to bring it in, I think I had to wait 2-3 weeks at that time due to their full schedule. On the way to the shop, the car died. I restarted it, kept the revs up so that it wouldn’t stall, and continued on. Then it stalled again in the middle of a busy intersection, and I had to push the dang thing out of the way. Got it started once more, and burned rubber trying to get the car to the shop, not only to avoid the cost of a two, but because the problem was finally repeating often enough that I might finally get an accurate diagnosis.
I pulled in, explained what was happening to the mechanic, as it died yet again. He immediately knew the problem’s root cause. He reached into the tool box, grabbed a piece of insulated wire, opened the hood, pulled a relay, jumped the connection, and bang, restarted it fine. The cause was a failing relay that controlled the fuel pump, designed to prevent hot fuel from spilling into the engine bay in event of an accident. Fixed in 10 minutes, and off I went. Literally MONTHS of issues, three trips to the dealer, and they had no clue that it could be that relay. The mechanic said that again, it was a frequent failed part on those early Audi’s. Yet, the dealer techs had no clue. Or, all they cared about was getting my car out of their service bay, and collecting their hourly rate.
Moral of the story …
Bottom line, I think the techs who looked at your bike are worthless. If YOU as an experienced rider can feel the issue, and easily produce it, then the issue exists. The problem is, for whatever reason, the mechanic failing to diagnosis it. If you find a GOOD mechanic, even the problem, he’ll accurately diagnose it. He won’t tell you the problem doesn’t exist and hand you back your keys.
More recently: My 2014 Ford Edge had a bad wheel bearing. I thought that the noise generated it was due to the tires, i.e. perhaps the guys balancing were doing a poor job (i.e. it was a low mileage, newer set of radials). However, when I put on the snow tires, the issue persisted. That’s when I was pretty sure it was a bad wheel bearing (i.e. something I’d never experience in almost 50 years of driving). Took it into Ford. It took them HALF A DAY to diagnose the issue, which was passed up to Senior techs, who used the stethoscope to verify it. Then they charged about 2.5 hours to replace it (under an extended warranty). They only did the one side, so sure enough, six months later, the other side started making the same sound. I fixed it myself in 2 hours, without a lift and all the advantages that Ford techs have (including mechanical experience). Then as before, no one could hear the problem other than me. Second “bottom line”: Competent techs wouldn’t have required half a day to diagnose the problem, or almost three hours to R&R the bearing.
Good luck with resolving the issue. If you can get a referral from other owners to a better, private shop, I’d take it there and pay them for their analysis. If they discover that the issue is mechanical, take the bill back to the dealer, demand they pay it, plus fix your dang bike under warranty.
Or, K.I.S.S, keep it simple with even an easier diagnosing method. If you’re pretty sure the cause is the tires (are they mounting Dunlaps now?), pay to strip off the OEM’s, put on a clean, balanced set. Again, if it resolves the problem, take it back to the dealer and demand BMW Motorrad pay for the tire replacement. Your time and aggravation matter. You have a what, $30K++ new BMW? Pay $300 to a clean set of tires from Michelin, or whoever your goto tire company is. If the issue continues, then YOU’LL know that it’s not the tires.