General Category > ABS related issues
Bleeding brakes
Haakon:
If you have a spongy brake feel you are NOT the first :D
While pull LIGHTLY on the handle, carefully loosen the banjo bolt at the end of the front brake pump.
Have the handlebars all over to the left- so the brake pump is at its highest position.
(and have a rag under the banjo, to prevent brake fluid to damage your painted parts)
I am sure you will see small bubbles escape, tighten the banjo when the bubles stop.
Thats the first step.
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I understand you have fitted a ABS recently?
Did you do it yourself or did a BMW workshop do it?
When fitting a new ABS the ABS unit must be bled- using the GS911 ABS bleed procedure.
I believe you HAVE had that done already?
If so, and your ABS does work, it just a matter of trapped air, usually at that banjo bolt.
Haakon
malmac:
--- Quote from: Haakon on March 23, 2014, 10:39:18 PM ---If you have a spongy brake feel you are NOT the first :D
While pull LIGHTLY on the handle, carefully loosen the banjo bolt at the end of the front brake pump.
Have the handlebars all over to the left- so the brake pump is at its highest position.
(and have a rag under the banjo, to prevent brake fluid to damage your painted parts)
I am sure you will see small bubbles escape, tighten the banjo when the bubles stop.
Thats the first step.
---------------------
I understand you have fitted a ABS recently?
Did you do it yourself or did a BMW workshop do it?
When fitting a new ABS the ABS unit must be bled- using the GS911 ABS bleed procedure.
Haakon
Thanks for the advice.
Will give that a try.
Mal
I believe you HAVE had that done already?
If so, and your ABS does work, it just a matter of trapped air, usually at that banjo bolt.
Haakon
--- End quote ---
biker_bob:
--- Quote from: Haakon on March 23, 2014, 10:39:18 PM ---If you have a spongy brake feel you are NOT the first :D
While pull LIGHTLY on the handle, carefully loosen the banjo bolt at the end of the front brake pump.
Have the handlebars all over to the left- so the brake pump is at its highest position.
(and have a rag under the banjo, to prevent brake fluid to damage your painted parts)
I am sure you will see small bubbles escape, tighten the banjo when the bubles stop.
Thats the first step.
---------------------
I understand you have fitted a ABS recently?
Did you do it yourself or did a BMW workshop do it?
When fitting a new ABS the ABS unit must be bled- using the GS911 ABS bleed procedure.
I believe you HAVE had that done already?
If so, and your ABS does work, it just a matter of trapped air, usually at that banjo bolt.
Haakon
--- End quote ---
I've had my XCountry for 2 years now, but have only just bought my GS9-11.
I've been reading this thread because I have the same question.
In a nutshell, what is the procedure for changing the ABS modulator?
I'm not scared of doing it, I've just never worked on an ABS bike before.
malmac:
Hi Bob
I do not know exactly which ABS unit is used on your model, but I did finally get my ABS sorted out. In brief here is what I did.
1. bought a brand new unit
2. fitted the new unit - however I complicated the process by draining all the brake fluid from my system rather than leaving the system full by applying the brake, say front, letting out the pressure at the calliper, but instead of letting the brake lever off, just zip tie it to the handle bar so no more fluid comes down the line.
3. installed the new ABS unit
4. bled the brakes, which took me ages because I found it difficult to get all the air out of the system. I found applying the brakes, zip tie lever to hold pressure on and then I lay the bike over on its side on a large wooden block, over night to assist air to self bleed.
5. I then loaded a Beta version of the software for the R1200gs onto my laptop and ran through the bleed process for the ABS unit - this worked fantastically - I will now do this every year.
6. I now had good brake lever pressure - not spongy
7. I turned on ignition - the ABS light flashed - where as before it had immediately just stayed on solid (broken)
8. took the bike for a ride in the dirt, tried the rear brake to lock up - ABS functioned perfectly - ABS light did not come on to say I had a failure
9. feeling confident I applied the front brake to lock up - again ABS functioned perfectly
10. I returned home and ran the GS911 to see if I had any fault codes - none
11. I took the bike to my authorised dealer for a safety check - they ran the bike and used the full BMW computer check - no problems were found
Expensive, time consuming lesson - buy a GS911 and bleed your brakes properly every year or get your bike serviced by an authorised BMW workshop - because otherwise I think the ABS units will fail every four or five years.
Mal
Haakon:
Bob, a very good description indeed :D
I am a bit confused tho, by securely (zip tie) the handle in the "brake applied" position you DO close off the brake fluid resevoir from the rest of the system.
Meaning: THAT IS the way to do it.
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To remove the last sponginess- the handlebar banjo bolt must be bled too :)
Haakon
PS- Do not only bleed the brake every year, make sure to change the fluid too.
At least every second year.
Vapor lock is NOT much fun- I know >:(
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