Another ABS question

Had to change the HES on my '99 R1100RS. While I had things apart I did a couple other things, including replacing the left side cam chain tensioner. When I got things back together and went to start the bike I got a gasoline shower all over the left side of the bike. I forgot to disconnect the fuel line from the throttle body and it seems that those hard plastic fuel lines don't like to be bent much. Don't you just love self inflicted misery! Got a new fuel distributor and got it installed. Thanks to all who posted concerning these fixes, it was a great help.

Now to my question. I removed the ABS unit to facilitate the fuel distributor replacement and I am now getting the alternate flash on my ABS lights when I switch on the ignition. The battery voltage checks out good. I am sure I got the wiring harness plugged in properly. I have not tried to start the bike yet. Where should I start looking?

Try clearing the fault codes first. You may have inadvertantly set a hard fault when working on they bike if you powered it up with anything disconnected from the ABS. If that does not sort it out, then read the fault codes and see where the problem lies.

See page 72 in this document for instructions on doing this.

Thanks for the link to that document, Ed. I've got that downloaded to my hard drive.

Tried clearing the fault. No luck, it starts again as soon as you switch the iginition back on. Got hold of an analog volt meter, showed a code #4 which is the rear sensor. This makes sense as I had removed the rear caliper so I could raise the rear subframe. I checked the clearance between the sensor and the toothed ring and the max feeler gauge that came in my tool kit slipped through. I loosened the caliper bolts and tapped it down with my hand and retightened the bolts. Checked the clearance and it was good. Cleared the fault, tried the switch again and got the same fault. Is there a way to test the sensor??

If the front and rear sensors are the same, you could swap them and retest.

The air gap fault is different from the sensor fault. The airgap fault will reset with the ignition too as its a soft fault. Deffinitly you have a problem with the sensor itself. Check the lead from the sensor, it's possible that you damaged the wire somewhere when you were working on it. And just double check the plug too.

I don't know of an official test for the sensors, but they produce an AC voltage (sine wave) signal. If you connect a voltmeter to the leads (analogue will work best) and spin the rear wheel, you should get a reading on the meter. Its a pretty weak signal so use the lowest AC voltage setting.

It's the rear sensor

Ed, I tried the voltmeter and got nothing. Tried it on the front sensor and got nothing. The lowest scale on my voltmeter is 10 volts AC, so the voltage generated must be very small or I didn't have things hooked up right. Anyway, I pulled the front sensor off and put in on the rear. They appear to be identical except for the length of the wire. I cleared the ABS code and switched the key off and back on again. This time the fault was for the front sensor, which made sense because I didn't have anything connected to the front. Called my dealer and ordered a new one... $141.00 including expedited delivery form Germany! Should be here in a week. I think in the mean time I'm going to dissect the old one and see if I can repair it. Thanks to all who responded.

Steve

Keep us posted on how this turns out.