Sam, Why did you not go to the dealer and get it done under warranty. I had a long chat with Honda Technical yesterday about my brakes and how they are dropping to the bar and was finally able to show the dealer the flashing ABS light. They know that riders are complaining about spongy brakes, and therefore from what i gathered during the discussion they are covering it under a warranty claim to bleed the system. I have post on this subject http://1000rr.co.uk/general-1000rr-discussion/11657-2.htm Brilliant information though and is very useful,but I'm not that bloody mechanical! where did you get the book from
Mine is still under warranty and has been bled by honda following an ABS error. Personally I think bleeding should be part of routine maintenance just like changing pads and oil, so that's way I have taken the leap and tried it myself. The instructions are here http://www.expandingknowledge.com/J...ABS/Maintenance/Combined_ABS_Air_Bleeding.pdf. Bit daunting at first but if you take time to read it's quite straight forward.
Quick question Sam, Having just completed a front valve bleed, I going to write some notes for my ref next time and noticed I might have missed something. Step 4. The one way bleed (with motor activation) Once you close the front bleed nipple following power unit activation do you bleed again from the same nipple using the brake lever. It's kinda unclear whether this is part of the reset procedure. Thanks in advance, Jon
Hi Jon, No, skip to the next section and get the 5 ABS light flashes followed by long flashes to complete the process. It is confusing in the manual as I've twice now found I ended up following the section whereby you reset the pending fault code after the motor activation! (Switching the key on/off 5 times... That bit) The only time you need to do that it would seem is if the motor activation doesn't work. Otherwise, once the motor activates, close the nipple, do the next lever combo (another motor whirring noise occurs) and you should get 5 flashes from the ABS light, twice, followed by long, slow flashes indicating a successful end to the motor activation sequence. Hope that helps? Sam
Glad this thread is helping people out. It seems a few others have now tried bleeding the system themselves which is nice to hear! To be honest I'm all for home maintenance and having acquired the C-ABS bleeding manual from this site I wanted to do it myself. Plus, its fun, right? I've now bled the system twice; last time being the weekend just gone and wow... What a difference! Real solid lever feel, less lever pull required for max braking effort, hardly any force required to stop at full potential and noticeably harder braking too as the back fishtails a bit! Considering I've only done 4000 miles since my last system bleed it just goes to show that the system needs a bit of TLC to work at its best. A word of warning... Don't get distracted whilst bleeding the rear valve unit and let the reservoir go empty, then suck air into the system!! What a ball ache it was getting that flushed through!! Took 1.5 litres of fluid, a sore right palm from pedal pressing and copious amounts of swearing at myself! It fizzed out in micro-sized bubbles for what seemed an eternity! Without my balls up I reckon a full bleed is possible in 2 hours start to finish, easily. Could also get away without removing the tank I feel. Not sure what the necessity is in the manual where it asks you to remove the radiator?! No need; nothing to access for the bleeding requirements?! I went back for the second go at Ron Haslam race school on Wednesday last week, this time on the blades (elite course) and really that's what made me decide to re-bleed the system again having felt a considerable difference in feel and stopping power on their C-ABS bikes. After the bleed mine feels the same. Here's the bleed nipples on the front valve unit: Cover removed obviously Bike stripped down in preparation Bleed nipple pointed out for the rear power unit. Above that, and either side of that red wire are the two bleed nipples for the rear valve unit. Location is beneath the seat. TIP: in the manual where it refers to the 'simulator side' bleed nipple this is the rear-most one. The power unit side is the front one; presumably because the rear power unit is located to the front of the valve unit as my finger points out Rear undercover removed beneath battery tray to expose the red plug which you need to short circuit with a jumper wire to then set the C-ABS system into front/rear bleed modes Sam
Jon, sorry mate I've just re-read your post and picked up the manual at home. Yes, part of step 4 is to finish off by bleeding from the same bleed nipple just to flush any air through that the motor operation may have introduced. Only needs half a dozen pulls of the brake lever but i never had any air bubbles come through when I did mine. The reset sequence is purely the three bullet points at the top of page 4 of 5 Hope that clarifies Sam
Cheers Sam It does I think, thanks for taking the time to clarify. But just to be sure after completing point A you did B then C? Jon
Sam U DA Man! if we ever meet I will buy you a beer or five! As a celebration of my new found skill I will buying myself a Brembo RCS! (when I can hide the funds from the wife )
This is a great post Sam! Thanks for your efforts - will be doing mine in the near future (& headstock bearings )
Bled the C-ABS for the second time last weekend using 1L of Castrol brake fluidand following the bleed manual, a quick test and everything seemed good. Took the bike for a 60m plus ride today and everything was good until the engine temp got up to 100c over an extended period (about 40+ miles from home) and the gremlins came back The front brake lever lost pressure and came back 5-10mm, the ABS light started flashing again as before. Left the bike to cool down for over an hour and rode back home and the brakes were working correctly until the temp got back up to around 100c again (covered about 20+ miles) and the abs failed again. In the manual it shows you how to bled the rear power unit but doesn't show the front power unit (unless i'm being thick ), this is the only part I haven't bled to date. How do you access the front power unit and were in the bled cycle do you bled it?
Barry, Im going to post this under the ABS issue at the header of the forum as VOSA are now investigating the issue, so they may review this page, hope you don't mind!
This front unit is what I had to have bled, long job (mine was done by dealer under warranty) but (tempting fate) since Ive had that done my brakes have been faultless! although I was told to expect to have to do that at periodic(???) intervals, Im assuming 24 months - takes 4 hours to do all in all. having said this Im sure my radiator has not been remounted properly as it doesnt seem to be on the tight hanger very well, just not sure how to get in and sort it out myself!?
Yep Sam, that makes sense. I look at the flow chart before I bled the system, I followed the detailed description and thought that I must of not printed out that section . I checked other sources of the c-abs bleed manual but they were the same i.e. they all had this section missing. I was gonna flush the coolant system and replace the fluid anyway, easy enough to do.
On the right hand side when your sitting on the bike, there is a fixed locating peg and on the left hand side and there is a fixing bolt. You also have a fixing bolt at the bottom of the rad in the centre. To get to the properly, you have to; Remove lower cow (belly pan), remove air intake cover (underneath the headlights), remove upper inner covers (black plastic covers covering air tubes), remove middle cowls (fairing panels) on both sides. I would get them to do it correctly when it's in for it's next service.
