Hi All. I am after a list of people who have experienced and or reported faults with the C-ABS System on the Fireblade. If you can reply to this post like the below. Name: (Forum name will do) Model Year: Reported to Honda: Yes/No Taken to Dealership: Yes/No Description of fault: Description of work carried out: Problem Resolved: Yes/No I'll start off Name: Pete1987 Model Year: 2009 Reported to Honda: Yes (Ref 00857667) Taken to Dealership: Yes (1st time 30/07/2012, 2nd time 11/04/2013) Description of fault: When braking all of a sudden a sudden loss in brake lever and pedal modulation, lever goes straight back to the throttle and the pedal goes soft and fully to the floor. ABS light flashing and does not reset until the bike is turned on and off again. Brake lever and pedal have to be pumped to regain feel, yet very spongey feel (lever almost all the way to the bar). Description of work carried out: Full brake bleed on 30/07/2012 conducted by John Banks Honda, authorised by Honda UK. Problem Resolved: No after my first ride back on the bike since the brakes have been bled, the brakes failed again with all the sypmtoms of the above, Honda UK were called using the same reference number above and now the bike is being collected by John Banks Honda to be diagnosed. Video Link of ABS error whilst stationary: http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/Peter19871/media/C-ABSFailure_zps16cb37f4.mp4.html Video Link of Brake Collapse: http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/Peter19871/media/BrakeCollapse_zps42b24b01.mp4.html If you anyone can help by detailing any faults you have had with the C-ABS models that would be much appreciated, and with your help I hope I can get a solution for you all. Honda uk contact number: 0845 200 8000 Cheers Pete
The solution I have found after speaking to Honda was firstly to bleed the system if that fails which is does is to replace the front power unit/modulator assy part # 57100-MFJ-A51 (2010 RAA)
Name: Swiss T Reported to Honda: No - Out of Warranty Taken to Dealership: No - Do my own spannering Description of fault: Same as previous post - When braking all of a sudden a sudden loss in brake lever and pedal modulation, lever goes straight back to the throttle and the pedal goes soft and fully to the floor. ABS light flashing and does not reset until the bike is turned on and off again. Brake lever and pedal have to be pumped to regain feel, yet very spongey feel (lever almost all the way to the bar). Description of work carried out: Initially removed the cabs fuse. Stripped & cleaned the calipers & sensors together with new fluid & bleed. Also fitted a cabs on/off switch so I can reset on the fly without turning the ignition off/on, or just turn it off all together. Problem Resolved: So far yes. Since the cleaning & new fluid, I have kept the system on & its been ok. As a caveat, read the owners handbook about the conditions which will put the cabs into fault mode & avoid same.
Listing the model year would also be useful. Has anyone experienced these problems on 2012 onwards model? Just purchased one which seems ok so far. I wouldn't have chosen one with ABS but it came as part of the deal.
Mines a 2012 Ian and I believe our bikes have the modded modulator Mr B mentions, so all should be good for us fingers crossed!
Ok thanks thats good to hear, don't fancy the lever coming back to the bars?! Hope you all get sorted. Ian.
Name: Slick (59 ABS) Reported to Honda: No Taken to Dealership: Yes (1st time feb 2013, 2nd time March 2013) Description of fault: When braking in very slow conditions, lever comes back to throttle and ABS light comes on, reset by restarting and riding over 50mph. Description of work carried out: First time caused by corroded callipers, fully service by honda, fault returned a few weeks later so a full ABS bleed was done under warranty. Problem Resolved: Yes so far!
No mate its being collected Thursday earliest they can do. Thanks for the replies everyone i will hopefully use these to sort this out. I can replicate the fault too 5 out of 5 attempts. Yes please also add the year of the bike too.
Be interested to hear what your plan is and let me know if I can help. Each case has to be looked at individually. As some report a bleed can fix the issue (in my experience temporarily) where sticking pads could cause the fault the air gap between the sensor and rotor can cause the fault or the front power control unit etc. So each bike needs to be looked at and each instance needs to be reported to Honda with the dealers findings of what work has been done. The tech team at Honda will advise the dealer on the appropriate action and what they will or won't cover under warranty.
So far my plan is to get the bike collected and send it off with a document pack detailing as many counts of the abs errors as possible so if there are any uk and us links i can have detailing the problems that will be great. It just shocks me so much that a 12k bike has troubles with such a major safety system (being the brakes as a whole) As many answers or links on here would be great though
Name: (Forum name will do) Model Year: 2010 Reported to Honda: No Taken to Dealership: Yes Description of fault: While wheeling bike back on steep driveway front bike lever went with no pressure felt. Description of work carried out: Dealership bled braking system. Problem Resolved: Part Xed bike for new 2013 Repsol Blade and not had the problem on this one as of yet.
Name: Barry Model Year: 2009 Reported to Honda: No Taken to Dealership: Yes but nothing found when tested. Description of fault: When moving the bike around at slow speed and the engine is running and using the front brake, the lever has come back to the handle bar a couple of times, cured by switch off and restarting. Fault appears also when using the front brake whilst filtering or in slow moving traffic, fault is the same as above and only resets when the bike is switched off. When the fault has appeared, the bitting point is in a different postion to the point it bites at when the c-abs is working. Description of work carried out: flushed brake fluid through, removed both front brake calipers and inspected - no issues with brakes found. Inspected and cleaned abs sensor and abs ring, again no issuesbfound. Problem Resolved: Only if i don't keep using the brakes at slow speed i.e on,off,on,off.
To Give you an idea as to what it looks like when i have lost the ABS and what it is like when the conventional brakes are on and then back to when ABS is active when the bike is reset take a look at the video i took earlier on today. http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/Peter19871/media/C-ABSFailure_zps16cb37f4.mp4.html As you can see, this is how drastically different my brake lever is when the abs fails and when conventional brakes take over. Also you can hear the front modulator squelching at 24-25 seconds when the bike is reset. I'm sure you will agree that the travel in the brake lever is not what I would describe as to being "normal" especially when you compare it to the convential brake. If i can get an in motion video then i will to post up. Cheers Pete
Name: (Forum name will do) Model Year: 2009 Reported to Honda: Yes Taken to Dealership: Yes Description of fault: Collected brand new bike from dealers. Left the forecourt and the fault light began flashing. Got home and looked in the manual for a description of the fault. Returned the bike to dealers who performed a "reset". Left the dealers and again the fault immediately returned. Bike returned to dealers where it stayed for around six weeks. With no resolution in sight by the dealer I dealt with Honda UK Technical Services Manager Dave Rowley. Honda UK collected the bike and off it went to Slough. I never saw the bike again. Description of work carried out: I was led to believe that F&R sensors were replaced and ECU. Problem Resolved: Honda UK replaced the bike and I've now got another C-ABS. No issues to date apart from brake lever feathering results sponginess and excessive lever travel. I believe the original bike was repaired and was returned to the dealers for re-sale, Knutsford Honda who don't exist anymore. Rightly or wrongly here are his contact details; Dave Rowley Technical Services Manager Honda (UK) - Motorcycles Direct Dial +44(0)1753 590621 Direct Fax +44(0)1753 286621
Be in cabs mode or fault mode Pete, that comes back way to far (unless you have the strongest hands in the world). I would propose you have air in there pal; have you bled them? You can do it in the conventional way but just be carefull not to introduce air by letting the res empty.
Just one point on this issue guys, this air in the system, where is it coming from and why is it more prevalent on C-ABS models then conventional brake systems. It is beyond the bounds of possibility that large numbers of C-ABS models suddenly find air in the system. Pete stated his bike had been bled through by the dealer less than a year ago.
Can't answer that specifically, but when I changed the fluid in mine recently, a very small amount of air came through; they now appear fine. I would suspect that they dont take more air in than a conventional setup, its just the cabs components are more sensitive to it. Maybe this is whey fluid change intervals are 2-years on the cabs bikes.
