ABS warning light after long drive...

[EdOnS10]

Hello All - my ABS light acts normal for starting diagnostics (comes on until I drive, then goes off) - and breaks always seem fine. However, twice now at the end of a longer ride (say 1hr +) it will come on and stay on. Seems like after a mix of surface, long highway stretch and then slowing back down for surface is when it will come on. If I turn the bike off, it acts like nothing happened (works normal like any other start). I checked the sensors and they seem tight and clean cables/wires etc. I did put on the touratech abs sensor guards not too long before the first instance - but it really seems more related to the driving since short trips or different terrain seem unrelated to it lighting up... It's actually been the outgoing leg of the only two longer trips I have taken - the other half the trips are uneventful.. Hmmm.. Not sure how to reproduce consistently, so it's not going to be easy to guess and check I'm afraid..

Any ideas? It's a 14ES with just over a 1000mi, so I suppose a dealer inquiry is not out of the question- just wanted to know if there was something obvious I should know/look into first. I tried searching the forum, but did not see mention of the problem being intermittent like this. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Checkswrecks]

See if the bolts holding the rear caliper drag link are over-tightened. The caliper needs to have some ability to move and calipers warm as you ride.

 

[Koinz]

Remove the sensor protectors next time you go for a ride, maybe there's electro magnetic interference going on that's confusing the sensors.

 

[terryth]

I had some intermittent ABS light faults. All chased down to a sightly wrongly routed front ABS sensor wire that occurred after a tire change and the cable got rubbed by the wheel hub as it rotated, eventually making a break in one of the wires once the cable got worn down enough.

 

[EdOnS10]

Thanks all! - I really appreciate the leads... I will have a closer look and see if any of those steps help - I tried to be careful with those things, but it would certainly defeat the point if the sensor protectors or their install caused the problem :-[

Checkswrecks - by "drag link", I am assuming you mean the short bar that holds the angle of the caliper assembly? I think "Torque Rod" in the service manual. Or do you mean the caliper bolts themselves? Looks like it wants 30Nm on the torque rod bolts and 27Nm on the caliper bolts... I'll see if I can verify they are OK.

I'll report back with how things get on... Thanks again to all for the help!

 

[Checkswrecks]

Thanks all! - I really appreciate the leads... I will have a closer look and see if any of those steps help - I tried to be careful with those things, but it would certainly defeat the point if the sensor protectors or their install caused the problem :-[

Checkswrecks - by "drag link", I am assuming you mean the short bar that holds the angle of the caliper assembly? I think "Torque Rod" in the service manual. Or do you mean the caliper bolts themselves? Looks like it wants 30Nm on the torque rod bolts and 27Nm on the caliper bolts... I'll see if I can verify they are OK.

I'll report back with how things get on... Thanks again to all for the help!

I honestly skipped the step of saying "Inspect the sensor wires very closely because it was so obvious. But I will agree with the others in that it ought to be a first step.


Yes, the drag link is that short bar that's also called a torque rod, even though both are misnomers, because it loads in compression. Whatever.
:
The other thing common in Yamahas that makes people think the ABS has a fault is when the brake lever pivot gets cruddy and doesn't come all the way up every time. Like the shifter, the brake pivot needs to come off to be cleaned and lubed now and then. Commuting with how messy our regular rain is in the DC area, this one happened to me now & then till I knew to clean and lube the pivots at oil changes.

 

[EdOnS10]

Great thanks - I'll check for both!... I did indeed look at the sensors a few times thinking the same thing, but not yet taken the step of removing the guards altogether.. The first thing I thought when I saw the light was one came loose or got junk in it - but they seem fine, clean and in the right place (that's what I meant by being careful with those things)... Anyway with it being long ride dependent (so far anyway) I was thinking it might be something more significant, or in the nature of your suggestions. I'll give it another once over and see how it goes...

 

[EdOnS10]

Well, so far so good. I did a once over as suggested, went ahead and left the sensor guards on but checked their tightness and position along with the rest. After two decent rides I have not seen the issue again - so I'll just have to hope it's happy with me now and ride. So knock on wood and all that stuff - but for now, thanks for the all the suggestions. I'll update the post if it comes back or I ever narrow down what the exact root-cause was.