R1200RT programming - cables/extras software etc

Hi everyone,
I want to remove the ABS from my R1200RT '07. After comprehensive research (I think) I cannot find a definitive answer as to how to connect to my bike so I can deactivate the ABS and ensure the rear brake light still works.

Firstly, I have the Teves ABS system which precludes the simple earlier ABS removal.
I have tried to disable the ABS with Motoscan and a OBD LinkMX green dongle, but the brake light still doesn't work.
I have tried connecting the bike to my laptop running Insta-P but the laptop would not recognise the bike.

Does anyone know of the definitive way to connect to the full network of brains on the bike so I can modify it, without buying the full Icom multiplexer?

Thanks for any answers

Bikerbuoy said:

Hi everyone,
I want to remove the ABS from my R1200RT '07. After comprehensive research (I think) I cannot find a definitive answer as to how to connect to my bike so I can deactivate the ABS and ensure the rear brake light still works.

Firstly, I have the Teves ABS system which precludes the simple earlier ABS removal.
I have tried to disable the ABS with Motoscan and a OBD LinkMX green dongle, but the brake light still doesn't work.
I have tried connecting the bike to my laptop running Insta-P but the laptop would not recognise the bike.

Does anyone know of the definitive way to connect to the full network of brains on the bike so I can modify it, without buying the full Icom multiplexer?

Thanks for any answers

Click to expand...

Right back to the begginning

how did you servoectomise ?

did you follow instuctions from here or just hack and slay?

a bit more info, and we may be able to help



Looking at your model for an 07 - you should have a pressure modulator I-ABS gen 2, which is generally reliable

it can be repaired, and id generally reliable.

I haven't heard of anyone removing thit system, only the earlier pressure modulator integral abs unit

why do you want rid?

So I removed all the linking pipework and connected the both the pedal and lever to their respective calipers. You are right about the ABS unit, although some twat in the past has buggered up the motor clamp.

Compared to how they were before the brakes feel 'stronger' and do not have the delay that was felt before, the delay (not always, not always the same length) that made my heart skip a beat on a motorway once or twice.

Now I have since found out that the whole unit can be refurbed, but having got this far I was hoping a quick switching on/off of a few digital switches would have me MOTed and away again....

Bikerbuoy said:

So I removed all the linking pipework and connected the both the pedal and lever to their respective calipers. You are right about the ABS unit, although some twat in the past has buggered up the motor clamp.

Compared to how they were before the brakes feel 'stronger' and do not have the delay that was felt before, the delay (not always, not always the same length) that made my heart skip a beat on a motorway once or twice.

Now I have since found out that the whole unit can be refurbed, but having got this far I was hoping a quick switching on/off of a few digital switches would have me MOTed and away again....

Click to expand...

I'm going to have to guess, as it's not exactly clear

You have / had ABS gen 2 which has been removed.

On the gen 1 unit you split the electronics pack from the ABS/ servo unit, you need to keep the electronics for the brakelights / speedo to work

then it was open the Kobmi (dash) and cover the red ABS led's.

If you had a GS it was possible to repin the speed sensor to the non ABS pins on the ZFE ECU, and then you could use ISTA to reprogram the CAN system to tell it it was a non ABS bike -

this meant that the red warning leds operate normally and dont show an abs fault

However you have an RT which is a big world of pain.

I wont beat around the bush.

Your probably not going to get away with what you have done

AFAik You cannot remove the ABS faults or potentiality restore speedo & brake functions with the aid of a software flash.

Your model only came with ABS, so if the electronics have been removed along with ABS module, your speedo & brake lights wont function !

Your ZFE has no spare pins to reroute the ABS sensor(s), to enable the speed function to be switched via a software flash

so you will need the ABS electronics pack to enable the brake & speedo function

On the earlier bikes you just unbolted it from the side of the ABS pump unit - on the GEN 2 i dont know how it works, you could try splitting the electronics pack and plugging it in, and see if it

restores speedo & brake function.

What was up with the original unit ?

sorry it's not good news, but it's far more fixable than the Mk1 units

You have / had ABS gen 2 which has been removed - Currently removed yes!

On the gen 1 unit you split the electronics pack from the ABS/ servo unit, you need to keep the electronics for the brakelights / speedo to work - Speedo working fine, brake light no

then it was open the Kobmi (dash) and cover the red ABS led's. - Done this - all invisible now!

If you had a GS it was possible to repin the speed sensor to the non ABS pins on the ZFE ECU, and then you could use ISTA to reprogram the CAN system to tell it it was a non ABS bike - I used Motoscan to disable the ABS but this obviously did not fix the brake light issue

this meant that the red warning leds operate normally and dont show an abs fault - See above

However you have an RT which is a big world of pain.

I wont beat around the bush.

Your probably not going to get away with what you have done

AFAik You cannot remove the ABS faults or potentiality restore speedo & brake functions with the aid of a software flash.

Your model only came with ABS, so if the electronics have been removed along with ABS module, your speedo & brake lights wont function !

Your ZFE has no spare pins to reroute the ABS sensor(s), to enable the speed function to be switched via a software flash

so you will need the ABS electronics pack to enable the brake & speedo function

On the earlier bikes you just unbolted it from the side of the ABS pump unit - on the GEN 2 i dont know how it works, you could try splitting the electronics pack and plugging it in, and see if it

restores speedo & brake function. - Tried running it with the electronics from the ABS unplugged - no brake light, then plugged back into the ABS unit but non functioning - brake light on all the time

What was up with the original unit ? - It was suffering from what I thought was servo failure, ie it would hesitate before braking, which scared the shit out of me more than once.

sorry it's not good news, but it's far more fixable than the Mk1 units[/QUOTE]

Hmm so it might be simpler just to send the unit off for refurb and refit it all!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, time for a think!

Motorworks do a Sh unit from £275- £385

Depending on what version.

I believe sticking brushes are one cause of failure -

There is a home fix using a ford fiesta unit - either asa replament or donor unit

A forum search should find the thread.

What faults if any were thrown up by the motoscan / gs911??

And if i recall you need ISTA or similar to reflash the various modules

Ive just had a look at my wiring diagram for the RT, mine only goes to 06 so only the MK1 ABS unit

Ask if anyone can put a pic up of the brake circuit wiring diagram

Going back to basics, its only a switch and a light, could you make a simple circuit from the rear brake switch to trigger the rear bulb?

it may throw a hissy fit with the can bus , but if it's a get you out of jail fix, you have nothing to loose

I had an ABS problem with my '07 GS, which was the sticking pump motor brushes. Here is what I wrote on here once it was fixed (that was 2yrs ago and its still OK):

Thanks for the advice, and for anyone browsing the thread looking how to fix their bike, heres my take on the subject:

First and foremost, if you get the brake failure light coming on, get the fault codes read by a dealer/friendly GS911 owner. This fault cropped up shortly after replacing the brake discs when conventional wisdom would have pointed me in the direction of the wheel sensors.

You will need to remove your ABS unit, remove the faulty pump from it, repair or replace it, re-fit and ride!
I chose to fit a used pump from a Fiesta.

The Ford Fiesta part number you need is CV21-2C405-AE. There are vids on YouTube of how to do this so I'm not going into detail of what to do (This one is a simple photo montage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFNkluQ_cbM

What I will add is that before you start, drain the brake fluid, it will save a lot of mess. Just open the bleed nipples on all 3 calipers, remove the reservoir filler caps and pump out the fluid until the reservoirs are empty then leave it to drain a bit longer.

When I put it back together, the front brakes bled quite easily and I soon had pressure at the lever. The rear was a bit more involved, I had to loosen the "fluid out" banjo bolt on the ABS module and bleed from there to get all the air out so fluid would then flow to the caliper.

Test rode the bike yesterday morning and all was well. Fixed for a £40 used pump and a bottle of brake fluid.

Watty100 said:

I had an ABS problem with my '07 GS, which was the sticking pump motor brushes. Here is what I wrote on here once it was fixed (that was 2yrs ago and its still OK):

Thanks for the advice, and for anyone browsing the thread looking how to fix their bike, heres my take on the subject:

First and foremost, if you get the brake failure light coming on, get the fault codes read by a dealer/friendly GS911 owner. This fault cropped up shortly after replacing the brake discs when conventional wisdom would have pointed me in the direction of the wheel sensors.

You will need to remove your ABS unit, remove the faulty pump from it, repair or replace it, re-fit and ride!
I chose to fit a used pump from a Fiesta.

The Ford Fiesta part number you need is CV21-2C405-AE. There are vids on YouTube of how to do this so I'm not going into detail of what to do (This one is a simple photo montage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFNkluQ_cbM

What I will add is that before you start, drain the brake fluid, it will save a lot of mess. Just open the bleed nipples on all 3 calipers, remove the reservoir filler caps and pump out the fluid until the reservoirs are empty then leave it to drain a bit longer.

When I put it back together, the front brakes bled quite easily and I soon had pressure at the lever. The rear was a bit more involved, I had to loosen the "fluid out" banjo bolt on the ABS module and bleed from there to get all the air out so fluid would then flow to the caliper.

Test rode the bike yesterday morning and all was well. Fixed for a £40 used pump and a bottle of brake fluid.

Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for all you wisdom. I have thought about wiring in an extra brake light supply, but as the bulbs are single element I have no idea what the CAN BUS will do. It looks like the fix with most guarantee of working is to get my unit rocon'ed here

https://www.ecutesting.com/product-catalogue/bmw/r1200/abs-pump-ecumodule-combined/

then refit it all. If it works at the end I'll have my ABS back. With the inability to get into the CAN BUS programming without spending £300 on the ICOM extra bits the recon looks like being the best bet.

Stay safe everyone

Incidentally, the Motoscan app and MX link dongle look to have a lot of functionality at a lot less cash than the GS911 too...

Quick Update

I pulled the ABS motor apart, cleaned up the brushes, tapped some threads and bolted it back together.

Using Motoscan+OBD2 LX Link I reset all the fault codes. With the tank on and everything attached/connected that should be, I get zero faults shown on any of the bike modules.

However, the brake light still won't activate!!!!

So I have 1 final question:

Should my brake light work without the engine running?

If the answer to this question is yes, then I will fully reassemble all my correct ABS pipework and pray that it caused by a pressure switch inside the ABS unit.

Thanks for reading!

Final Update - All fixed now with MOT

Today the bike passed it's MOT with a fully functioning ABS system that I have tested. If anyone wants help/advice on this please feel free to get in touch. The bike is now for sale on the Trader.

Bikerbuoy said:

Today the bike passed it's MOT with a fully functioning ABS system that I have tested. If anyone wants help/advice on this please feel free to get in touch. The bike is now for sale on the Trader.

Click to expand...

How did you fix the brake light issue in the end? better you post it up than leave the site and leave us all guessing

Santa-2512 said:

How did you fix the brake light issue in the end? better you post it up than leave the site and leave us all guessing

Click to expand...

I suspect there is a pressure sensor inside the ABS hydraulics that allows the brake light to activate. With the system fully recommisioned it all works perfectly! All it cost me was time, brake fluid, an M4 tap and 4 short bolts.