Tech Info

EFC

Electronic Fuel-pump Controller

With the introduction of the CAN-bus based models in 2004, BMW replaced the old Fuel-pump relay with a solid-state version, and called it the Electronic Fuel-pump Controller…

The two most common failures (up to date), have been the ring antenna for the Electronic immobilizer, as well as the Electronic Fuel-pump Controller… Both are catastrophic if you’re not adequately prepared for them! As the Electronic Fuel-pump Controller (referred to as EFC from here on (I’m a lay typer)) powers the Electric Fuel Pump, its failure means the the pump has no power and

broken EFC => No Pump => No fuel pressure => Engine not running…

There are several reasons for the EFC failure and I won’t be discussing those at this point – there are a lot of good articles on the web, discussing the possible reasons, as well as the workarounds…

Here is what the EFC looks like:

thanks to AndyW (www.motorcycleinfo.co.uk)

And here is what they look like when mounted in your tank

what it should look like...

what a severely corroded Electronic Fuel-pump Controller looks like. Most of the times the damage is internal, so if your EFC looks like this, and the bike still runs... count yourself VERY lucky... but take action!

There are several very good articles on this issue, but I’ve found one particularly clear, comprehensive detail, and well illustrated… Below is a link to the EFC page on Andy W’s motorcycleinfo site. It is well worth the read:

“R1200GS failed fuel pump controllers” link to motorcycleinfo.co.uk …read it!

There are several workarounds when you do encounter this problem. Just like the spare ring antenna for the EWS, I would suggest getting one of the bypass cables from www.burnsmoto.com – it’s better to be prepared!