very occasionally ABS/CANBUS light

[John390]

very occasionally, I'll get this to come up on my dash for just a few seconds and then it goes back off again in a few more seconds.

Like once or twice in a month or so.

Its annoying and I don't want to get a real problem some day.

I don't see any corrosion etc, or rubbed wires.

No codes in the system.

Has been doing this since new. Dealer sloughed it off, big surprise

 

[Tom]

Hey John,
I've noticed that (at least on my bike) the excess wiring was extremely stretched for bundling and ziptied from the factory. My bike would commonly read all dashes for the gear display until I cut the factory zipties and removed the excessive tension on the connections going back into the transmission. The bundle for the rear ABS unit and connectors at the rear of the bike were equally as stretched.

Try checking the sensors at the ABS rings and see if their wiring is too stretched.

 

[John390]

they seem ok on the outside visible wiring, but I haven't pulled the tank.

I noticed this on the '17 I test rode before I bought mine. it was worse too, but I've had it happen a handful of times on my bike, now with about 2000km on it.

 

[Falkon45]

I had that light a few times also. I moved the wiring a bit when in installed my fender delete. I haven't had the light sense, though. Give it a try, and see what happens.

 

[Tom]

What Falkon said reminds me, there's a purple wire that's grounded to one of the bolts for the fender, under the passenger seat. I dunno what it's grounding, but mine was basically an un-stripped wire clamped between the powder coated frame and aluminum fender bolt's nut. It would be good housekeeping to go ahead and sand the bike frame around the screw hole, and strip the end of the wire, to ensure there is actual electrical grounding for whatever that circuit is.

 

[Falkon45]

Mine wasn't grounded at all, Tom. It's just sitting there to nothing. We have to be careful and see if that is really a ground or not. The QC on these bikes are terrible. Typically, if it's a ground, it'll have something attached to it. I think they just caught the wire under the washer.

 

[John390]

hmmm, thanks. I'll look at that one. Where is it at?

 

[Tom]

Just remove the allen key bolt that holds the rear seat down, and slide the seat up and back toward the gas tank. It's the only purple wire thats ziptied into the bundle with the OBD connector. You'll see it going to one of the four bolts that hold the plate holder assembly to the chassis, you cant miss it.

The powder coat on the frame is really thick, so it's easier to use a rotary tool. Plus, it will allow you to make a nice chamfer around the hole in the frame. Also, don't wrap the stripped portion around the bolt when you put it back through the frame. The wire is relatively thin, so it's easy to rip the stripped copper strands from the bolt when you torque the nut back down.

If you wanna do it right, it's probably better to just make a small circle of bare frame with a drill or rotary tool, and solder the wire directly to it.

Again, I dunno what this wire is supposed to be grounding, but I was surprised how half-arsed it was done from the factory.

 

[John390]

thanks all!

 

[Tom]

John, you jinxed me! I noticed the same thing on the way home tonight. The roads were still wet, and I was passing a semi-truck. Those yellow lights all over the dash sure do make your heart skip a beat!

 

[John390]

no shit hey? mid corner with 8k on the tach...

need a defib

 

[Tom]

Double checked wiring today. Rough inspection on the ABS sensors (checked for slack) and checked the purple ground wire. Everything looks good according to my "kick the tires" genetics.

The fact this happened in the rain leads me to believe that this may be related to the ABS sensor's fit into the ABS ring (Water = lubrication). I've noticed sporadically low MPH readings on the dash, so I think it may be related to the rear wheel. I'll check clearances on the ABS ring when I get a chance.

 

[tracattack390]

I have a similar issue, but the light kicks in pretty often. From the looks of it, this happens when i'm stuck in traffic. Did not find any issue while zipping on freeways. Worst part is that whenever the light is on, rad fan spins at a higher speed.

 

[Tom]

The owner's manual states this condition happens when the bike's sensors detect the front wheel moving at a different rate than the rear wheel. This is probably why dealerships don't give it much thought if you bring it up to them.

However, mine has done this at steady straight line speeds, and the last post further evidences that there clearly is a gremlin somewhere causing this. I have also noticed the bike will read well below my actual speed randomly. This actually happened tonight as I was passing cars in a 55mph zone, and my speedometer read 39mph before jumping back up to 65.

I've read before that this bike's speed input comes from the rear wheel, which makes sense, so I'm wondering if there could be something along the speed sensor's path that is causing this.

As far as the comment about the radiator fan spinning at a higher speed, this clearly is a sign of more available current being available to the bike's electronics due to something that normally has a high draw being turned off. Im sure this would be easy to test by shutting off the ABS while the fan is running, and seeing if there is a difference in fan speed.

 

[tracattack390]

The owner's manual states this condition happens when the bike's sensors detect the front wheel moving at a different rate than the rear wheel. This is probably why dealerships don't give it much thought if you bring it up to them.

However, mine has done this at steady straight line speeds, and the last post further evidences that there clearly is a gremlin somewhere causing this. I have also noticed the bike will read well below my actual speed randomly. This actually happened tonight as I was passing cars in a 55mph zone, and my speedometer read 39mph before jumping back up to 65.

I've read before that this bike's speed input comes from the rear wheel, which makes sense, so I'm wondering if there could be something along the speed sensor's path that is causing this.

As far as the comment about the radiator fan spinning at a higher speed, this clearly is a sign of more available current being available to the bike's electronics due to something that normally has a high draw being turned off. Im sure this would be easy to test by shutting off the ABS while the fan is running, and seeing if there is a difference in fan speed.

Tried this but of no use. Today, i have noticed that the RPM is fluctuating when this happens.