Brake failure, servo failure, and lights too. '06 R1200GSA

I have this posted over on the ADV rider forum as well.

I’m a new owner of my first BMW. It is a 2006 GSA. It has 7530 miles on it. It is like new. The PO never rode it much after 2007. But he did have the annual service done at the end of 2011. All oils changed and brake fluid topped off.

I have owned bikes since 2007, have lots of good tools, and have wrenched them all as I (probably erroneously) think no one can fix them as well as I can.

I have had the GSA for about six weeks. The first thing I did was to flush the gas and flush the brakes ala Jim Von Baden’s DVD. (That DVD is GREAT BTW!)

All was good until last night. The PO had installed a LED flashing taillight. I saw
somewhere that it might be programmable. I went out and turned the key on then pulled in the front brake lever five times and held it on the last pull for five seconds. (This was supposedly to put it in program mode).

Holy Shoot! The servos went crazy!

And that was it. Since then I have had a brake failure flashing… quickly at first, and the brake light stays on and the servos don’t run.

What the heck did I do by pulling in the brake like that? Is that the source of the problem? The reservoirs were full a month ago when I flushed the brakes, I have seen no leakage anywhere, and the brake pads were inspected when I flushed the system and were like new.

Brake failure in that the servos won't work. They don't come on with the switch turned on, and the motor not started, nor when braking action is applied. I imagine they will stop the bike if needed, but they will need to be squeezed reallly, really hard to do so. I don't know if the ABS works as I haven’t ridden it fast enough or squeezed the brakes hard enough to kick it in.

It seems to be related to the front brake somehow....as I can give it a squeeze or two or three and sometimes the brake light goes off, then the brakes and servos work as they should. If the brake light comes on when the key is turned, the servos won't work.

Okay...so far I have disconnected and re-connected the battery, sprayed the switches with contact cleaner and replaced the led tail light with the standard bulb.

I can hear the switches clicking, and the problem remains...brake failure message blinks rapidly, servos not running at all now, and brake light stays on.

I just pulled the gas tank and checked the fluid levels in the servo reservoirs. They are full. All the reservoirs are full.

As soon as I turn on the key both filaments in the brake /tail light energize.

Plus, I just discovered my low-beam and my fog lights don't work now either. Can this be related?

Is there some fuse I should check?

WTH??

…I hate intermittent problems.

Help!

Welcome to the forum, I am going to bump this up a notch to the Hexhead/Camhead area so the group can get going on helping you. Good luck. Gary

Thanks. I just posted it over there too. I don'[t know how to delete one of them.

is the handguard touching the brake lever at any point? The pre-'07's had issues when you accidentally rolled the guard and the lever contacted the top of guard... ABS failure light would not go off. Also check the little black adjuster on the inside of lever... they give us fits on the clutch switch at times. back it all the way out from switch contact.

Just a WAG at this point...never heard of one doing that by just pumping lever

jackhammer50 said:

Thanks. I just posted it over there too. I don'[t know how to delete one of them.

Click to expand...

No problemo, I took care of the spare and fixed up the title.....now to your brakes!

Sounds like you have offended the CANBUS electrical system on your bike. The CANBUS does not react well to strange circuits demanding power over and above what the computer expects to see. There are no fuses on your Hexhead. The bike's computer senses the current in all the circuits and when it detects something out of tolerance it normally shuts down that circuit. I'd start by disconnecting the flashing lights from the bike and see if that fixes the problem. If it does then you can repost and ask for help with how to hook them up correctly. If they are HyperLites then you can contact them for detailed instructions for installation.

Edit: Just reread your post and saw that you may have already removed the flashing lites.

AKBeemer said:

Sounds like you have offended the CANBUS electrical system on your bike. The CANBUS does not react well to strange circuits demanding power over and above what the computer expects to see. There are no fuses on your Hexhead. The bike's computer senses the current in all the circuits and when it detects something out of tolerance it normally shuts down that circuit. I'd start by disconnecting the flashing lights from the bike and see if that fixes the problem. If it does then you can repost and ask for help with how to hook them up correctly. If they are HyperLites then you can contact them for detailed instructions for installation.

Edit: Just reread your post and saw that you may have already removed the flashing lites.

Click to expand...

Yeah, standard bulb back in there. I'm hoping I have a bad switch either front or back, as the brake light comes on as soon as the key is turned. Will test them tomorrow or replace. I sure hope it's not the servo pump!

Don't know about the low beam though. Maybe the fogs don't work if the low-beam bulb is blow?

jackhammer50 said:

Yeah, standard bulb back in there. I'm hoping I have a bad switch either front or back, as the brake light comes on as soon as the key is turned. Will test them tomorrow or replace. I sure hope it's not the servo pump!

Don't know about the low beam though. Maybe the fogs don't work if the low-beam bulb is blow?

Click to expand...

It is most likely the front brake switch not turning off...that was the last thing you did when it stopped working. I seem to remember that the servos won't work if the brake switch is not released when turning on the system. Make sure that it is off...look it over when it operates to see that it has a full travel.

What Steve posted about the hand guard. If the lever is being compromised, not fully releasing due to touching the hand guard, you will have the brake light on and the fault. Also, check the foot pedal switch for small stones.

Also, while checking the brake switch operation keep in mind the switch is normally closed when the brakes are released, Just the opposite of a normal brake light switch. This way the self check can determine the brake switch circuits are good by sensing continuity. It sure sounds like one or your switches is open when released. This would prevent the servos from operating and the brake light to stay on.

All of this applies to your brake system, I ABS.

Jackhammer (real name Jack?)

Please read: http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=46055 - I'm adding the info to your thread title.

Welcome to the forums!

Brake failure solved!

Thanks to the input I received here on the forum I have solved the brake failure problem. I had many suggestions to check the brake switch on the handlebar or the pedal.

Since I was squeezing the front brake handle when the problem began, thatÔÇÖs where I started this morning.

All along I have been able to hear the switch clicking. So, just in case it had gone bad I removed it and checked it with a voltmeter. It was fine.

So before re-installing it, I just plugged it into the wire on the handlebar.

Guess what? Everything worked again!

So I re-installed the switch back into the brake handle and thatÔÇÖs when I found what had gone wrong.

That switch is held in place by a small pin inside the top of the handle and a small Allen screw on the bottom. The pin inserts into a hole in the switch and the Allen screw presses on a small round plate inserted into the switch.

This arrangement holds the switch in there pretty well, but as I found out it can allow the switch to pivot slightly. And this is what my problem was.

While giving it that final squeeze as mentioned in the first post, I squeezed it pretty hard. Hard enough to pivot that switch to the point that the switch was making partial contact with the lever leaving the circuit closed and the consequent brake failure message.

This also explains why it was intermittent at first; the more I pulled on the lever, the more it moved the switch away from the lever and the worse things got, to finally not working at all.

Now that I know better, all I really had to do was to reach over and move the switch (by grabbing the wire connector) toward the handlebar and the problem would have been solved.

I wouldnÔÇÖt have had to take anything apart! Got in some good practice on removing the tank though.

BTW, donÔÇÖt over-tighten that Allen screw as it will compress the switch and prevent it from working. (DonÔÇÖt ask me how I know!)

Anyway, I put it all back together, put the tank back on, and it is all working like it should.

Really an easy solution if you know where to look.

Thanks to you all,

Jack