Brake failure warning light, 2003 k1200gt

chessare5 said:

I just had my spring service and rode home from the Barrington, IL shop about 55 miles to my home, no problems. This was 2 weeks ago. I start to pull away tonight and the brake failure warning light would not go out even after the "pull away" procedure. Dealer flushed and refilled brake fluid and didn't find any issues. I did take a very short ride in my Chicago neighborhood tonight, and it seemed like the brakes were OK, but the failure light kept flashing. Very disturbing. Any thoughts? It's hard to imagine the dealer might have missed a serious fault in the braking system, and again, brakes were fine when I road home.

Thanks, Grandpa Jim, Chicago

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Pauls1150 said:

Q: On these, is the brake light current monitored? If so, you may have a dead (or even just dying) tail or brake bulb or socket.

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myK1200rs said:

On these K1200GT with longitudinal "brick" engine the rear bulb is being monitored / controlled by the ABS modulator (tail and brake light filament in same bulb).

HOWEVER, when / if you have a bulb failure (tail or brake circuit), it will show as a STEADY General-Warning only (the red triangle symbol). Because he said he is seeing a flashing warning, this falls into another type of defect / warnings.

To further troubleshoot, the OP (Chessare5) needs to be more specific about which of the warnings he is seeing (either ABS or General-Warning triangle symbol)
...AND ALSO... at what speed do they flash (slow is 1 time per sec - fast is 4 times per sec).

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chessare5 said:

Thanks to all...
Both the ABS and Gen lights are flashing slowly. Braking seems OK but I'm still hesitant to trust that it's something minor, if there is such a thing with ABS brakes. Brake light seems also to be fully functional. Grandpa Jim

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myK1200rs said:

As posted in list from AntonLargiader earlier (same thread),
the slow flashing (1 time per sec) of both warnings in alternate fashion, means: low fluid level in either sections of the 2 sections brake fluid reservoir.

For K1200RS and K1200GT with servos iABS, this reservoir is located on right side just under seat (above right footpeg roughly). There 2 black plastic caps with attached vent hoses. Each reservoir section has MIN and MAX marks.

Section toward inside frame is for FRONT brakes and outmost section is for REAR (see atatched photos...). DOT4 brake fluid only.

BE CAREFUL about not moving or pulling on the connectors on top of reservoir as these 2 sensors are measuring for low fluid level. If either is damaged or disconnected, you get the same error flashing warning as "low fluid".


Jean and Anton,
Thank you very much for your help! I exposed the brake fluid reservoirs, and sure enough, the rear one was below MIN, and the front was actually above MAX. I took a medicine dropper and simply removed the excess fluid from the front and put it in the rear. I took a short ride through the neighborhood, and everything functioned perfectly fine. No angry lights. As you can imagine, I had visions of a $2000 ABS pump replacement, so this no cost solution, thanks again, is a great relief. I'll give it a more thorough test Monday, but I'm inclined to think problem solved.

Ride safe! Grandpa Jim, Chicago

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chessare5 said:

I just had my spring service and rode home from the Barrington, IL shop about 55 miles to my home, no problems. This was 2 weeks ago. I start to pull away tonight and the brake failure warning light would not go out even after the "pull away" procedure. Dealer flushed and refilled brake fluid and didn't find any issues. I did take a very short ride in my Chicago neighborhood tonight, and it seemed like the brakes were OK, but the failure light kept flashing. Very disturbing. Any thoughts? It's hard to imagine the dealer might have missed a serious fault in the braking system, and again, brakes were fine when I road home.

Thanks, Grandpa Jim, Chicago

Click to expand...

chessare5 said:

Jean and Anton,
Thank you very much for your help! I exposed the brake fluid reservoirs, and sure enough, the rear one was below MIN, and the front was actually above MAX. I took a medicine dropper and simply removed the excess fluid from the front and put it in the rear. I took a short ride through the neighborhood, and everything functioned perfectly fine. No angry lights. As you can imagine, I had visions of a $2000 ABS pump replacement, so this no cost solution, thanks again, is a great relief. I'll give it a more thorough test Monday, but I'm inclined to think problem solved.

Ride safe! Grandpa Jim, Chicago

Click to expand...

myK1200rs said:

JIM,
In general, on these iABS with servos system, when the fluid level is near MIN, you can expect the brake pads of the applicable section to be worn: in your case, I would check for rear brake pads thickness VERY SOON...

Assuming no leaks and no other loss (as it should), on iABS with servos, the fluid level goes down in this 2 sections reservoir in direct proportion to brake pads wear. The fluid level in the handlebar master-cylinder does not change with front pads wear.

OTHER IMPORTANT MAINTENANCE:
If you want to reduce possibilities of a costly ABS pump replacement, you should plan to bleed the system every year (partial bleed - wheel circuits) AND ALSO full bleed (control + wheel circuits) every 2 years.

Although BMW has published a Service-Bulletin that this strict maintenance schedule can be relaxed to every 4 years for the full bleed (instead of every 2 years). there is enough "anecdotal" data from many hundreds of users that these servos ABS modulators will last longer if maintenance is strict.

Above applies to iABS servos modulator as installed on most Boxers and K-brick-engine between 2002-2006 for USA market. Most other countries got these new iABS servos beginning in 2001.

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