Supertanker
New Member
Hi All,
I finally got a chance to start trouble shooting my ABS light on/no rear brakes issue (I’m a retail store manager so free time ain’t much) but before I start taking things apart I thought I’d ask a couple of questions on the forum in the hope that people smarter than myself can save me from myself LOL.
Ok so the issue is that my ABS light comes on the minute I press the rear brake lever plus I have zero rear brakes. There’s no pressure there at all. My front brakes are working perfectly.
I tried bleeding my brake system (old school way with a bottle and pipe). Front right, front left and then the rear. No issues with the front but zero brake fluid comes out the rear bleed nipple. I can’t get the level of the brake fluid in the rear brake reservoir to drop at all when I pump the rear brake lever during bleeding.
I then tried to bleed the rear using a vacuum bleeder. Still can’t get any brake fluid out the rear nipple.
I don’t have a diagram of the inside workings of the ABS unit but I’m assuming that the brake pressure sensors electronically speak to the ABS ECU and then there’s a bunch of solenoids and valves and a pump in there that manages the hydraulics and hydraulically obviously front is joined to the rear.
I tried to cycle the ABS unit by using the jumping with the wire trick (also from this forum) and it cycles once only (one click) and then stops (not sure if that’s normal?)
So first questions is (before I go straight to doing the ABS bypass trick that I read about here) – why can’t I bleed the rear? Is my rear master cylinder shot or can the ABS unit be preventing the bleed? (Huge air lock maybe?) Its not as though the bike was standing in a puddle of brake fluid (I don’t see any fluid leaks anywhere).
Are my symptoms indicative of master cylinder or ABS unit failure? (I'm not sure whether the ABS unit can create the zero rear brake symptom) or something else maybe?
It just occurred to me now - do I need to switch the ignition on if I'm trying to bleed the rear (to activate the ABS unit and get the air out of there if that's the issue)?
Any advice/pointers/tips appreciated - before I start ripping things apart.
Regards
Wayne
I finally got a chance to start trouble shooting my ABS light on/no rear brakes issue (I’m a retail store manager so free time ain’t much) but before I start taking things apart I thought I’d ask a couple of questions on the forum in the hope that people smarter than myself can save me from myself LOL.
Ok so the issue is that my ABS light comes on the minute I press the rear brake lever plus I have zero rear brakes. There’s no pressure there at all. My front brakes are working perfectly.
I tried bleeding my brake system (old school way with a bottle and pipe). Front right, front left and then the rear. No issues with the front but zero brake fluid comes out the rear bleed nipple. I can’t get the level of the brake fluid in the rear brake reservoir to drop at all when I pump the rear brake lever during bleeding.
I then tried to bleed the rear using a vacuum bleeder. Still can’t get any brake fluid out the rear nipple.
I don’t have a diagram of the inside workings of the ABS unit but I’m assuming that the brake pressure sensors electronically speak to the ABS ECU and then there’s a bunch of solenoids and valves and a pump in there that manages the hydraulics and hydraulically obviously front is joined to the rear.
I tried to cycle the ABS unit by using the jumping with the wire trick (also from this forum) and it cycles once only (one click) and then stops (not sure if that’s normal?)
So first questions is (before I go straight to doing the ABS bypass trick that I read about here) – why can’t I bleed the rear? Is my rear master cylinder shot or can the ABS unit be preventing the bleed? (Huge air lock maybe?) Its not as though the bike was standing in a puddle of brake fluid (I don’t see any fluid leaks anywhere).
Are my symptoms indicative of master cylinder or ABS unit failure? (I'm not sure whether the ABS unit can create the zero rear brake symptom) or something else maybe?
It just occurred to me now - do I need to switch the ignition on if I'm trying to bleed the rear (to activate the ABS unit and get the air out of there if that's the issue)?
Any advice/pointers/tips appreciated - before I start ripping things apart.
Regards
Wayne