ABS red warning light coming on intermittently

[David.]

I managed to find a business in Sydney that may rebuild our later Camhead ABS units. I have emailed them.

Can they fix pressure sensor faults, Module Master say that they can't, https://modulemaster.com/products/iabs2 ... 1200rt-k26

Known issues we are unable to fix:

Pressure sensor faults

[Marvin2Shoes]

Time to buy a canbus development module for my raspberry pi. I will figure out what codes come out of the ABS, i will write a bit of code to simulate ABS CAN data and parse speed etc to instruments so the brake light isn't turned on permanently and the cruise control will work. After this is achieved I will throw the heavy piece of ABS junk in the bin. Nothing should be this difficult to fix. BMW = APPLE= NO RIGHT TO REPAIR.

[Marvin2Shoes]

Can they fix pressure sensor faults, Module Master say that they can't, https://modulemaster.com/products/iabs2 ... 1200rt-k26

Known issues we are unable to fix:

Pressure sensor faults

Just got word back from ATE ABS manufacturer... All spare parts are only available through BMW. Only they aren't.
BMW has left me no choice... Full CAN bus decoding and methodology to workaround the ZFE nonsense that BMW is using to hold end-users to ransom for non-servicable components THAT SHOULD BE SERVICABLE.
I am making a promise to even the BMW owners who are unable, for whatever reason, to see how much they are being screwed over. I will apply every waking hour to expose every possible secret about the support systems of bmw motorcycles so all owners have access to vital information free of charge! WATCH THIS SPACE.

[Stu]

Unfortunately this is the norm with the majority of manufacturers these days!

Throw it away and replace it is their solution

I would bet money on that another abs pump uses the same parts but it's just finding out which ones

[Marvin2Shoes]

That would be a very useful thing to know indeed.
We would need someone friendly in the industry who isn't currently making money from keeping that knowledge an industry secret.
I went to BMW today and they gave me the price of the ABS unit at AU$3030.15 + installation labour. I doubt I would get much change from $4000.
It looks like I'm going to have to decode the CAN bus on my ABS while it is working to bypass ZFE errors and thus allow use of the cruise control after I pull the ABS unit from the bike. I can't have unreliable components on my 3200km trips and I am planning a trip to Melbourne soon (2490km/1556 miles). A trip a motorcycle with 48000km on the odometer should be able to complete.

[Wuls]

Hi @Marvin2Shoes ,

Although I know this thread is 1.5 year old, I wan to add my experience here.

I had the exact same issue last weekend after I changed the DOT4 Brake fluid as you showed earlier this thread. The pressure issue in the rear brake system. I wondered if my fluid change caused the issue. I also use the Motoscan app and after I saw that the ABS red warning light came on (sometimes after 20 km later after 45 km and later after 12 km). I searched the internet and landed on this thread. I still didn't know what caused the issue as this thread had no further updates and today checked the actual functioning of the ABS system and why I couldn't get it fixed without buying an ABS system for $$$.

So, I read the internet and found how the ABS system functions. So, because the rear brake nearly functioned while riding, I thought it must be air in the system and I checked again the Motoscan app. In there it was mentioned that you can remove trapped air in the ABS system by bleeding (in my case) the rear brake system, run the Motoscan diagnostic on the rear brake system, bleed the system again, and again run the Motoscan diagnostic and finally bleed the rear brake again. This solved my issue and the rear brake now feels solid and (however it's not very powerful) it brakes a lot better and the ABS red warning light is not showing anymore. I'm happy to share this here an hope that if someone else has this same issue that it can be solved easily (if you have the Motoscan app or any other diagnostic system that can run diagnostics on the ABS so trapped air (in the ABS system) can be moved out of the hydraulic braking system.

My 2 cents on this forum.

Thanks,
Wuls (from The Netherlands).

[simbo]

if you have the Motoscan app or any other diagnostic system that can run diagnostics on the ABS so trapped air (in the ABS system) can be moved out of the hydraulic braking system.

My 2 cents on this forum.

Thanks,
Wuls (from The Netherlands).

That's the procedure I go through when changing the brake fluid on my 2011. Change the fluid front and rear, cycle the ABS pump with the gs-911 then bleed front and rear again.

[Marvin2Shoes]

Hi @Marvin2Shoes ,
Although I know this thread is 1.5 year old, I wan to add my experience here.
Thanks,
Wuls (from The Netherlands).

Hi Wuls, I had no problems at all with braking. Both front and rear braked very efficiently. There were no noticeable leaks and on-the-whole everything was as clean and operational as you'd expect on a bike that had done 49000km.
I also changed the fluid but the didn't alter the intermittent warning and made no difference to the feel of the brakes even under severe braking.
The truly annoying part was that every time the error cropped up the system turned on the rear brake light permanently and disabled the cruise-control thereby rendering the bike useless until you pulled over and switched it off to reset the error.
BMW can say it's a safety issue to kill the cruise control but for someone like me who is perfectly happy riding without ABS it merely reeks of 'go to the dealer and spend lots of money to get this fixed'. I have since found a KLR650 pre-2020 model with no ABS, no digital control units and no BMW type BS to pi$$ me off and the RT can stay in hundreds of pieces in boxes in the shed. As far as I'm concerned one less electronically-crippled BMW motorcycle on the road is what I'd call a community service.
Good riddance to money-grubbing rubbish motorcycles.

[Doctor T]

The ABS unit is the same as fitted to a Ford Fiesta. I can't remember the year's models. Fiesta's have never had a recall for the ABS.Around £50 from car breakers

[Marvin2Shoes]

The ABS unit is the same as fitted to a Ford Fiesta.

Even if it was true that a car abs unit was identical to the BMW motorcycle abs unit (which I find very hard to believe) the only way I'll ever waste another second of my time on that bike is to pour petrol on it and throw a match on It. Life is too short to spend on crap motorcycles.

[David.]

The video on page 3 shows the ABS motor being changed on a Hexhead GS with that from a 2013 Ford Focus.

The motors may be the same but the valve block isn't.

[Doctor T]

Thank you David. Have see a few videos showing it is a straight swap. Both bike and car use the Bosh unit

[David.]

In the video on page 3, both ABS units are made by Ate, https://www.ate-brakes.com/

[Doctor T]

My error they are made by ATE