06 with ABS warning

[GAPS]

My 06s ABS warning light came on today, stayed on for about a 1/2 hour, went off for a bit then flickered on and off...... I disconnected the battery for an hour or so when I got home to see if ECU would reset, no dice, still on....

Now abs idiot light is off, I adjusted rear brake pedal to a higher position which in turn takes spring pressure off the brake light switch... wondering if the rear brake light switch could be tripping me up.......only problem with this idea is that the brake light was operating normally, not stuck on as you might suspect.

 

[GAPS]

My abs idiot light has come back on so now I wonder...how are error codes displayed and/or detected? What about resetting the system, will disconnecting the battery reset it?...not sure what to do next other than the obvious and bring it to my dealer....would rather solve this at home if possible.

 

[Toecutter]

Could be something wrong. The dealer might be free, and maybe, just maybe, know what they're doing. But don't count on it if they're not already highly touted in the dealer feedback forum.

 

[DoctorBob]

P.S. I did a little sleuthing this weekend, and I has found the enemy: me (and a farkle). I installed the Kisan auto-modulating tail-light bulbs, and they appear to be the cause of the problem. I removed them and went for a long ride, even used the brakes hard enough to trigger the ABS. They worked flawlessly.

Kisan makes a splice-in modulator for ABS bikes, so it is entirely my fault, not Kisan's.

Yes, I should have known better, but I hoped only the BMWs had ABS problems with brake light modulators. Doh!!! Mea maxima culpa. The indignity of it all! :dribble:

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I just started having the ABS warning light activate frequently on my 06. For first 200 miles, I used brakes lightly and never had the warning light come on. Then I decided to finish breaking in the brakes with more vigorous use, and the idiot light and I got well acquainted.

When the ABS computer detects a fault in operation, it shuts down for safety (reverts to purely manual braking) and starts flashing the idiot light to let you know it's put itself down. Mine resets (stops flashing) if I just turn off the bike for a second and then restart. But my ABS obviously isn't working, since it shuts down with only modest braking force, long before there is any danger of wheel-lock.

I plan to visit the dealer next week. If it can't be fixed by bleeding the lines or making sure a sensor ring isn't loose or misaligned, I'm afraid an ABS problem is nothing we home mechanics can fix ourselves. Really wish it weren't so. I hate letting other people muck about inside my machines. I bet they don't even wear antistatic wrist straps when they open up my bike, and they probably haven't calibrated their torque wrenches since last week. Or ever.

Well, I'll post the results of dealer diagnosis when I get it. In the meantime, it would be nice to hear from anyone else having trouble with their 06 ABS. Is it a common problem (like the 17.0 mpg poltergeist) or did GAPS and I just get "lucky"? :blink:

 

[zzkenoman]

Do you think it has something to do with linked braking, when you are hard on the front brakes and the abs kicks in when the rear tire wants to break loose?

 

[DoctorBob]

zzkenoman,

I don't think linked brakes have anything to do with it. I can reliably fail my ABS using either the front lever or rear brake pedal alone, without even coming to a full stop, and I am braking no where near hard enough with the front to make the rear tire feel loose. I apply a smoothly increasing amount of pressure, not a panic grab, and don't think I'm anywhere near the limit of braking power yet.

I'm moving up from a '92 Honda 750 Nighthawk, which has a single small disk up front with only 2 pistons, and a drum rear brake, so I'm used to very weak brakes. So far, I haven't braked the FJR hard enough to be anywhere out of my "comfort zone"; with 3 disks, I bet that if I really squeezed hard on the FJR brakes I *should* feel like I'm stopping too fast!

Since I haven't seen any complaints from riders that surely use the brakes harder than I have, my problem is probably an isolated rather than common one. I'm not too upset yet, I'm sure Yamaha will make it right, I just hope there are some spare parts in the supply chain to fix it soon!

 

[FJRottie]

According to Yamaha, the front brake does not do anything to the rear.

When the front brake is applied, all 4 - LHS front caliper pistons are activated, while only the "upper" two pistons on the RHS front caliper are activated. When applying the rear brake, both rear caliper pistons are activated plus the two lower pistons on the front RHS caliper are activated.

Is this correct with the FJR LBS ?

Must be something with your ABS system itself. Maybe the front ?

The dealer still puts the front wheel on...right ?.

The rear brake affects the front and the front affects the front only.

Just a thought.