FAILED ABS Unit

[moto-m]

I can understand why those who, for the present, are fortunate enough to still have a working ABS system on their BMW motorcycle and want to play down the chances of a potential huge expense in the near future. They probably realise that reports are already out there to those in the market for a used R1200* and this could seriously harm the residuals when they come to trade-in time. Who is going to risk this kind of expense when looking to buy 2nd. of even 3rd hand. It could even be the case in a few years that the bikes with ABS, whether still working or not, will command less in the market place than those without the system installed. There are many BMW owners now who openly admit that they will trade the bike in before the warranty expires as they are not prepared to risk the cost of repairs - and these are people who can afford to buy new.

And if you want to kid yourself that as long as the fluid is changed at the prescribed intervals it can't happen to you, then dream on. It's the luck of the draw. And it should not be the case when paying this kind of money.

Mike
Cheshire uk

[Woland]

I can understand why those who, for the present, are fortunate enough to still have a working ABS system on their BMW motorcycle and want to play down the chances of a potential huge expense in the near future. They probably realise that reports are already out there to those in the market for a used R1200* and this could seriously harm the residuals when they come to trade-in time. Who is going to risk this kind of expense when looking to buy 2nd. of even 3rd hand. It could even be the case in a few years that the bikes with ABS, whether still working or not, will command less in the market place than those without the system installed. There are many BMW owners now who openly admit that they will trade the bike in before the warranty expires as they are not prepared to risk the cost of repairs - and these are people who can afford to buy new.

And if you want to kid yourself that as long as the fluid is changed at the prescribed intervals it can't happen to you, then dream on. It's the luck of the draw. And it should not be the case when paying this kind of money.

Mike
Cheshire uk

And you have numbers to back up your assumption about failed ABS units? With BMW being worse than any other make?

Seriously though, I'm not a BMW fan boy, but making generalizations based on forum posts or "friends had problem" is rather presumptuous.

Secondly, "luck of the draw" has nothing to do with it. In all likelihood its a very small percentage of units that's either faulty from the manufacturer or its a weak design, that's not luck, that's statistics.

Thirdly, I wholeheartedly agree that BMW should focus way more than they are on quality control and quality components rather than buying the cheapest "passable" quality components. But that's probably true for all manufacturers.

[moto-m]

And you have numbers to back up your assumption about failed ABS units? With BMW being worse than any other make?

Seriously though, I'm not a BMW fan boy, but making generalizations based on forum posts or "friends had problem" is rather presumptuous.

Secondly, "luck of the draw" has nothing to do with it. In all likelihood its a very small percentage of units that's either faulty from the manufacturer or its a weak design, that's not luck, that's statistics.

Thirdly, I wholeheartedly agree that BMW should focus way more than they are on quality control and quality components rather than buying the cheapest "passable" quality components. But that's probably true for all manufacturers.

I don't have any figures of failures - perhaps you're right and all ABS systems are as troublesome. Do you have the facts?

I'm not referring to friends who have had a problem. It's my personal experience that I'm referring to.

And when you are part of the unfortunate minority to be hit with this kind of expense through no fault of your own, the difference between luck and statistics is a fine distinction.

Mike
Cheshire uk

[uncle BS]

yall can stick your head in the sand and pretend it dont exist-- many bmw riders have done this before on the antenna ring failures and the well documented final drive and seal failures-- pretend it dont exist -- i've seen thats what many bmw owners do,, well it does exist and you;'re gonna see more an more people posting about failed abs pumps-- deal with it,, me and the others already are....
these abs pump failures are coming to light at around 25-50k and espcially vunerable bikes are -- 2007/2008. i wont throw out names i merely know what im talking about-- most --dont.

[GBag]

It just go a whole lot spookier today. Its been showing the failed yellow warning light intermittently for the last few days. When failed the directional auto off is also failed. Today it was failed going to town (25mi) when leaving the mall to come home the lights were off and showed normal. going down the hill to the traffic light i got a bug in the helmet so I grabbed the clutch and used my throttle hand to open the face shield. At that moment the traffic in front stopped so I applied the rear brake....... nothing....the pedal was like a steel rod. It wouldn't move at all and no brake applied. Grabbed the front and was lucky enough that it was working. Stopped and checked the pedal area to see if there was a stick stone or other item causing a jamb and it was clear. within a 1/4 mile I went around a very rough clover leaf and the failed lights came on. Suddenly I had a working rear brake again. Very weird stuff happening with this. I can't wait to get it sorted as I'm a little hesitant to ride right now for fear of having both brakes refuse to work.

[uncle BS]

moto- m ==you are so totally correct in your post. yrs 07 an 08 r1200r an gc models are espcially vunerable-- i would get more specif but i wont --as to the failure rates-- i 've been contacted by people in the bmw loop-- and it high numbers -- very high numbers of failure-- hopefully i'm gonna get mine replaced next week at a cost of 600.00-- with no warranty. from the research ive done --that price is dirt cheap-- many take a 1000.00 hit and up. I dont know what it is about bmw owners that simply refuse to accept final drive failures anthe now becoming very obvivous --abs pump failures-- you're gonna see these failures coming to the fore front in the next 12 mths.

[deilenberger]

GBag - see: http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60685 - $150 repair (and I have heard from people who have had it done, and it worked fine..) If course it it's your '11 R12R - warranty should fix that right up with a new modulator.

[xprof]

Thank you Don for this potentially very useful information. That's why I'm happy to be a member of this forum!

[deilenberger]

Mike,

No problem. A friend is considering (I believe he bought it) - the bike for sale in Delaware.. but on a test ride the ABS warning light came on. I'd dug around a bit looking for the info to pass along to him, and thought it might be a useful reference here too..

Other then the ABS light - the Delaware bike looks basically new..

[GBag]

Don, Thank You for the post. The bike will begin warranty service on the 7th. It gets better as each day passes lol. Today the speedo decided to go intermittent as well. It would take about 5mi of riding for it to "wake up" and get with the program. I'm just glad it's doing this during the warranty period.

[celticus]

I talked to my BMW dealer yesterday about the price for repair of my ABS unit ( 2007 R1200R) and was told it would be $2400. Dang! I emailed Modulmaster this morning for a price on some work fixing my unit. We will see what they say. The bike rides just fine without the ABS but I do wonder about the hit on resale value.

Mark

[deilenberger]

Mark,

That's an "interesting" price. A friend ended up buying the '07 R12R with no miles that was posted here for discussion.. It had an intermittent brake warning light. He had the dealership selling it take to Bob's BMW to diagnose. They said modulator, and they wanted $1,800 to repair it. Seems your dealer is being just a bit greedy, I believe the modulator is around $1,300, so that means they want $1,100 in labor to R&R 4 brake lines and one electrical connection?

My friend ended up getting the '07 at a wholesale price (quite a bit lower then it was advertised for) where even if he had to replace the modulator, he'd be just fine on price. Other then that - the bike looks as new (expected with only 7,000 miles on it.) I suggested he bonk the modulator motor with a rubber mallet, then go ride the piss out of it and see if that frees it up. Or at worst - use ModuleMaster for $150 and do the R&R himself.

I've been searching a bit for the writeup on fixing these - which had photos and some good instructions, but I'd failed to bookmark it, so I'm still searching. When I do find it, I'll post the link here so we have an easy place to find it.

[hjsbmw]

I've been searching a bit for the writeup on fixing these - which had photos and some good instructions, but I'd failed to bookmark it, so I'm still searching. When I do find it, I'll post the link here so we have an easy place to find it.

Try the gs-911 forum and search for

"BRAKE FAILURE" again

with the quotes included as the author typed the title that way. Is that the one?

[Woland]

And you have numbers to back up your assumption about failed ABS units? With BMW being worse than any other make?

Seriously though, I'm not a BMW fan boy, but making generalizations based on forum posts or "friends had problem" is rather presumptuous.

Secondly, "luck of the draw" has nothing to do with it. In all likelihood its a very small percentage of units that's either faulty from the manufacturer or its a weak design, that's not luck, that's statistics.

Thirdly, I wholeheartedly agree that BMW should focus way more than they are on quality control and quality components rather than buying the cheapest "passable" quality components. But that's probably true for all manufacturers.

And when you are part of the unfortunate minority to be hit with this kind of expense through no fault of your own, the difference between luck and statistics is a fine distinction.

Mike
Cheshire uk

Indeed it is. I have 60k trouble free km's a F800St and 75k trouble free km's on my '07 R and I'd be a fool if I inferred anything about failure rates on BMW's from my own personal experience. That said, it sux when it happens to you

[Woland]

i would get more specif but i wont

Why not? Without getting into specifics, not to be unkind, your post means squat. I'm not saying this to be an a-hole, but actual numbers is the only thing that will actually make any sort of meaningful impact, everything else is just loose speculation.

[deilenberger]

I've been searching a bit for the writeup on fixing these - which had photos and some good instructions, but I'd failed to bookmark it, so I'm still searching. When I do find it, I'll post the link here so we have an easy place to find it.

Try the gs-911 forum and search for

"BRAKE FAILURE" again

with the quotes included as the author typed the title that way. Is that the one?

Harald (and all),

Found it.. and made a copy of the photos and instructions on the BMW-MOA Hexhead forum. At least there I know the photos won't go away (they're stored on the forum servers..)

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=61389

[celticus]

Mark,

That's an "interesting" price. A friend ended up buying the '07 R12R with no miles that was posted here for discussion.. It had an intermittent brake warning light. He had the dealership selling it take to Bob's BMW to diagnose. They said modulator, and they wanted $1,800 to repair it. Seems your dealer is being just a bit greedy, I believe the modulator is around $1,300, so that means they want $1,100 in labor to R&R 4 brake lines and one electrical connection?

My friend ended up getting the '07 at a wholesale price (quite a bit lower then it was advertised for) where even if he had to replace the modulator, he'd be just fine on price. Other then that - the bike looks as new (expected with only 7,000 miles on it.) I suggested he bonk the modulator motor with a rubber mallet, then go ride the piss out of it and see if that frees it up. Or at worst - use ModuleMaster for $150 and do the R&R himself.

I've been searching a bit for the writeup on fixing these - which had photos and some good instructions, but I'd failed to bookmark it, so I'm still searching. When I do find it, I'll post the link here so we have an easy place to find it.

My dealer told me that the module was $1800 before tax $2000 after and then there would have to be a module meeting computer getting to know one another session which would require the use of the dealerships computer and software.
Mark

[uncle BS]

ah, no don - you are wrong the price has gone Back up to appx 1875.03-- per bmw as of 8-12-2012-- I KNOW BECUZ i just bought a pump installed it an had the DEALER RUN THE CODES AND RESETS..... SO THE AVERAGE BMW owner is gonna pay 1200 bux -- and up -- for the repair-- and again - you dont but i know just how prevalent the failure rate is -- and it is enormus. espcially vuneralbe are 07-08 r1200r's and gs models. my total costs for a 2010 abs -- 6 count em 6 hunder bux. i feel lucky. in fact i know i'm lucky. i got a defective abs for sale u can ship to tyler at module master for a rebuild an 5 yr garantee if any one is interested pm me. i'll let it go cheap- and as the service manager said yesterday as i was walkin out the door-- thats a 1875 dolla pump you got there.

[uncle BS]

woland-- the rason i will not get more specific is that i have the confidence of bmw employees and i have seen weith my own eyes an hear with my ears what the failure rates are in reference to abs pumps on 06-09 models gs and r models-- i'll not betray a confindence an jeopardize peoples careers just to throw thier names out here on the internet. i really dont think you could be wronger if you tired--

yes this is bmw's typical failure yes the failure rates are excessive an yes the repairs are OUT RAGEOUS. and yes far far more so than other brands. now dems the facts jax.

[uncle BS]

actual numbers of failed abs pumps? are you serious? are you really serious? you cant even get bmw to admit they have a problem- antenna ring failure, exide battery failure, cracked fuel pump discharge boss failure-- AND YOU ACTUALLY THINK YOU'RE GONNA GET data on abs pump failures?

see this is whats wrong with an open dialogue-- you have people assuming theyre gonna get hard legitimate facts to support thier opinon-- it aint happenin in the bmw world. I have not seen one instance of bmw na ever admitting there has been a problem concerning anything.. but hey i got good news -- i filed one helluva complaint with the nhstb last week-- reference -- failed abs pump-- safety issue.