Hi Kbanny,
Yeah if i
Hi I've never used a power washer on the bike and only very briefly wash with hose in the crank area also the crank area has never been under water only through large puddles!! I even remove the crank arms and covers to make sure its all clean would you recomend packing with silicone grease to prevent water ingress.Hi Kbanny,
The reason you had to force the crank is because enough water has got into the bearings to rust the balls to the bearing races. This sadly is the beginning of the end. Once rust has developed in the bearing it will slowly destroy itself.
The real issue is, how did so much water get in there in the first place? Is their any silicone grease behind the bearing seal? Was the bike jet washed or enthusiastically hosed around the chainwheel area? Was the bike laying on its left side at any point during the wash, did you stop in the middle of a deep stream etc, etc.
The thing is, the damage is done. If it is making a noticeable noise, I would take it back to the dealer and see if you can get it changed under warranty. Pssst, if you did jet wash it, keep quiet!
If you need to ask any further questions Kbanny, feel free.
Pete.
Absolutely, definitely pack behind the seal with Silicone grease. If there is none there now, take the bike back immediately and demand a new motor. There should be a cover seal and grease to protect the bearing if it's not there or it's dry then that's a pre delivery inspection issue and not your fault!
Cheers for that the bike is back at the shop waiting for new motor to be fitted under warranty.im not sure if i have seen a cover seal when i have taken the cranks and sprocket off i can only see the sirclips on the crank spindle??Absolutely, definitely pack behind the seal with Silicone grease. If there is none there now, take the bike back immediately and demand a new motor. There should be a cover seal and grease to protect the bearing if it's not there or it's dry then that's a pre delivery inspection issue and not your fault!
As I said, even if you took the bearing out and re-greased it, it won't help, the bearings internal surfaces will now be pitted and this will cause it to fail prematurely.
I am so sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but please be assured, once it's fixed (replaced) and greased properly and frequently, especially at this time of year, you should be ok
Yup, it's all right here: How to video -
There are too many of these motors out there in the wild for this to be a common issue - Bosch has one of the best reputations for reliability, and their motors have been around for a long time now. You must just have been unlucky and got a "Friday afternoon" motor - unfortunate, but it can happen with any brand. Remember these are complex pieces of kit operating in a relatively extreme environment, there are always going to be a few failures.
Seems like a strange business model if it’s true; fixing the issue would surely be cheaper than replacing all those motors?
Fixing motors is surely cheaper than a full recall.
) And out of that 2,000 motors that went back, how many failed because the owner jet washed it, or drowned it in a stream etc.Need to check your mathsI always feel we should look at the bigger picture. Bosch originally released their motors to be fitted into road bikes, in which, they do a bloody good job. The mountain bike manufacturers were the ones who started fitting these motors into mountain bikes (With the blessing of Bosch I'm sure) Whether it was realised at the time what an extreme environment an MTB operates in, I'm not sure.
What I do know is that in 2016 32.8 million ebikes were sold world wide. If Bosch only had 1% of that, it would be nearly 3.3 million motors out there for that one year alone.
Now look at how many complaints there are on all the forums you can find and it's probably less than 500! Even if 10 thousand people have taken a motor back under warranty, it's still only a failure rate of 0.3% Manufacturers would normally be more than happy with a figure like that. But if we looked more accurately at how many motors go back in a 1 year period, I would guess it's less than 2,000 world wide (Judging on the relative lack of complaints on the forums in a yearly period) Please bear in mind, a forum complaint is out there for ever, so when you look at "all" the complaints, a lot of them will date back 3 or 4 years.
So, if 2,000 motors went back in 2016 when, lets say 3.3 million were sold. That's a warranty failure rate of 0.06% Now the Bosch motor is starting to look pretty reliable. (which is annoying for me!
Just my two cents.
That would be a shame
If you think about it, your normally aspirated bike will probably need a new BB set by spring £20 - £70? But if you keep riding your ebike with plenty of silicone grease around the bearings it will be fine = £0 Or if it fails and under warranty you get a nice new motor = £0 Or if it's out of warranty, it will probably just be a main motor bearing £10 - £15
Unless you do space ship mileage Jonny2, I wouldn't worry about it. The only bearing likely to fail through lack of lubrication is the small needle roller shaft bearing, but this normally dies because of belt dust, so adding more sticky grease or oil to it probably isn't going to help. Just ride and enjoy your bike with the piece of mind that if the worst comes to the worst, it can be fixed. Strip and re-grease maybe after 6,000? (Sorry to be vague but these motors have not been around long enough to know exactly what would be best as far as long term lube. In "nice" conditions they should be good for 10,000 to 15,000 miles.
