Solved....my rear abs/servo failure

[Fanum]

Some who went to Land's end will be aware Ihad a rear brake/servo failuyre on the way down there, so I rode the weekend and the trip home with residual (read fekk-all!) braking on the rear, inc no abs.

I was only able to get the bike into Prestige late one afternoon last week, and they tested the switch and diagnostics, and said it was a wiring problem between the switch and the rear end.

I could have taken it back in, but that involves pissing around and althoiugh I was pretty sure I'd not done anything stoopid with my Autocom feed, I also wanted to check that as well....(no, it runs off the rear light circuit...so not my fault )

Anyway, I had an hour or two spare tonight so I had a good old mooch around.......

AFter connecting a winch powered by three elephants and geoff capes up to the fuse box (cunningly designed to be almost exactly three foot four inches wider than the frame it sits in ) I finally discovered that the screw for the fuse/relay box cover had pierced the brown and yellow brake switch wire, causing my problems.

A few fiddles later, all solved, tested bike, brake light working again, servo and abs working again, one happy fanny......

So I wired up my TT Quest power lead (couldn't get the friggin QD for the balancer pipe off to remove the tank though but that's another story ) ), drank some Guiness and smiled smugly to meself.








PS crap design though or what!!!!

 

[luke scott]

I finally discovered that the screw for the fuse/relay box cover had pierced the brown and yellow brake switch wire, causing my problems.

So is this a BMW design fault or had you done this ? If it's bmw have you told them or are you going to ?

 

[Fanum]

Re: Re: Solved....my rear abs/servo failure

So is this a BMW design fault or had you done this ? If it's bmw have you told them or are you going to ?

It's certainly not good design Luke, but who's fault is debateable.

The Brake switch lines (two wires, very thin things) come up from the foot pedal and enter the fuse box at the bottom rear corner (acan't remember offhand which side, but that's ireelevant)

they then wind about a little and dissappear into the loom, wrapped in that sticky tape stuff.
Where they enter though, they pass very close to the tip of the back fastening screw- in the last year, my fuse box has been out to fit an Autoswitch, find a live supply for a GPS and maybe for servicing, and at some point, the wire has been left too close to the screw-tip.

I've re-routed it a little and cable tied it up, but considering the sensitive nature of the wire, and the consequences of it being broken/shorted, it's a shame it's not better protected.


Yes, I'm going to tell them tommorrow just for their info.

 

[luke scott]

OK. So what you had was an electrical short that caused the servo not to work and the warning lights to come on ??

Not a servo failure.

 

[Cheesy Mike]

My servo brakes failed just after Christmas. The problem was a faulty rear brake switch. It's amazing how a simple electrical fault i.e. the brake light sensor, can cause so many problems.

Mike

 

[Fanum]

OK. So what you had was an electrical short that caused the servo not to work and the warning lights to come on ??

Not a servo failure.

Academic really.....sure, my actual servo hasn't failed, but a problem caused the servo not to work which is in effect a failure.....

I suspect quite a lot of 'servo failures' will turn out to be something similar in the long run.


I agree with Mr Cheese........I love the bike, I still like the ABS/Servo setup, particulalry the linked aspect of it all, but it does bother me that something as stupid as the brake switch (and if you'e seen one off the bike they're pretty rubbish looking ) or just a bent handlebar shield can fekk up the system.

I'd still have the Evo system again though.

 

[MikeO]

OK. So what you had was an electrical short that caused the servo not to work and the warning lights to come on ??

Not a servo failure.

You do spout off a load of bollocks sometimes Luke.

If you suddenly discover you have no servo assistance when trying to brake, do you take some weird sort of consolation in the fact that it was a switch failure, and that the servo is fully operational?

Mike

 

[luke scott]

If you suddenly discover you have no servo assistance when trying to brake, do you take some weird sort of consolation in the fact that it was a switch failure, and that the servo is fully operational?

No but I'd be pleased that bmw were not going to take 1100 euro off me for a new servo. I'm with cheesy mike on this one...