kawa ninja 650r ABS problem

[meechai]

yes its sorted now but no thanks to local kawa shop who didn't even try to fix it and had no idea how to anyway.

it is a worry having anything of hi tech componentry in this country, ...always makes me worry about glorified scooter mechanics [possibly] working in aviation!!

I do not know that it would have been handled any differently

at any Kawasaki shop in the world.

It is an ABS pump. If it fails I almost guarantee no dealer would take it apart

& dink with it. If they did they would be liable for tinkering with the unit should

a failure later occur.

Aviation airframe & power plant mechanics operate thankfully in the exact same way.

If a part shows symptoms/failure they do not try to patch it back they replace it. Thankfully

because lives depend on it.

Of course it is good you had a friend that was able to tinker with it & get it going

for now. But I do not think Kawasaki handled that any differently in Thailand than anywhere else in the world.

More so anywhere else where liability law suits run rampant

Happy for you though that you were able to get it going.

Edited December 20, 2013 by meechai

[illy]

yes re law suits...

I spend 2 months of the year in Australia where I have bike too,

and i asked the dealer down there about this whole issue....

and they indicated that is the reason why they would not take it apart exactly.....for fear of law suits.

[meechai]

yes re law suits...

I spend 2 months of the year in Australia where I have bike too,

and i asked the dealer down there about this whole issue....

and they indicated that is the reason why they would not take it apart exactly.....for fear of law suits.

A good indicator would be the full service manual.

If it is possible to service then it would have an exploded views in that manual.

It does not have any & also on page 416 it specifically warns not to disassemble or try to repair.

So cannot blame them

[Beardog]

Congrads on getting the job done on the cheap. I worked a lot on autos with ABS & your case is still pretty rare.The ABS units are actually designed to have around a 12 year life span(or at least on cars & trucks) It sucks that this country lacks any creativity when it comes to fixing parts . They all just wanna bang you for new parts. Still the ABS issue is pretty uncommon. I have buddies that owned ER's I own a 2011 as well & out of 12 of us none ever had problems with ABS. But if it was built on a Friday ( looking forward to the hangover) or Monday (Head pounding from the hangover) anything can happen.

Plus too Thailand or China for that matter is no where near as anal as the U.S. - Europe or Australia (& all other western countries) when it come to watching the parts that get flags from plastic molding injectors or even crankcases so your chances of failure are greatly compounded here in LOS . But you get what you pay for. Big difference in the tech that gets paid accordingly in a western country & a soup kitchen kinda maybe a real mechanic for 400 baht a day.Not much incentive to do a great job.

Actually if you compare a non ABS to an ABS on the ER6n's Ninja or the Versys the brake system is way more responsive & keeps the front end from diving down hard when you hit the brakes hard. I know I sure noticed a huge difference & would rather have the ABS over the old school brakes. Unfortunately technology costs when it goes out.

Nice to see a happy ending!

[paz]

UPDATE:

hi to all you guys who tried to help with this topic and just for any concerned kawa ninja 650 owners ,

I DID FINALLY get the ABS fixed.

Well done, your friend for fixing it and you for letting him do!

[liddelljohn]

Someone earlier said ABS rarely fail; totally but VW have had massive problems with ABS in Europe usually costing owners over 2009 euros to fix and VW wont admit the problem but in the trade its well known issue , amazing thay have got away with it ,,,apparently over 600,000 replacement units have been sold due to faliure outs ide warranty and over 300,000 replaced in warranty

[Beardog]

Someone earlier said ABS rarely fail; totally but VW have had massive problems with ABS in Europe usually costing owners over 2009 euros to fix and VW wont admit the problem but in the trade its well known issue , amazing thay have got away with it ,,,apparently over 600,000 replacement units have been sold due to faliure outs ide warranty and over 300,000 replaced in warranty

That is because the Volswagen's are made to break . Since 1976 That fine auto or van has made me more money as a mechanic than all the brands combined. I never seen planned obsolescence at such levels.To this day I wont set foot in a VW. I can't tell you how many camping trips got ruined having to fix bogus vans while my SUV at home was always ready to go & never broke down. 6 Fords never had a problem Saab is the only company right behind VW. Bikes are built to last more than autos & vans anyway.

[nikster]

UPDATE:

hi to all you guys who tried to help with this topic and just for any concerned kawa ninja 650 owners ,

I DID FINALLY get the ABS fixed.

Well done, your friend for fixing it and you for letting him do!

Congrats on the cheap fix.

Can't blame Phuket Kawasaki in this case though, in fact you could say they handled it professionally. They diagnosed it correctly, and followed the correct fix procedure (replacement of the entire ABS unit). You may still need to get it replaced eventually.

Thai mechanics do not "lack creativity", the opposite really, just heard the story of how one street mechanic fixed a broken and bent front wheel of an R6 with a pressing machine, toilet paper, and glue... . Well it wasn't really fixed but good enough to get to the next major city.

If part of your braking system isn't working correctly, you really don't want them to get creative though. Just do that by the book.

[illy]

UPDATE:

hi to all you guys who tried to help with this topic and just for any concerned kawa ninja 650 owners ,

I DID FINALLY get the ABS fixed.

Well done, your friend for fixing it and you for letting him do!

Congrats on the cheap fix.

Can't blame Phuket Kawasaki in this case though, in fact you could say they handled it professionally. They diagnosed it correctly, and followed the correct fix procedure (replacement of the entire ABS unit). You may still need to get it replaced eventually.

Thai mechanics do not "lack creativity", the opposite really, just heard the story of how one street mechanic fixed a broken and bent front wheel of an R6 with a pressing machine, toilet paper, and glue... . Well it wasn't really fixed but good enough to get to the next major city.

If part of your braking system isn't working correctly, you really don't want them to get creative though. Just do that by the book.

well, 'yes and no' on that one...

when the problem first started they 'serviced' the brake system [what they actually did I do not really know] then they changed the callipers, then they ordered and replaced the master cylinder...of course none of this worked at until finally they declared that it must be the ABS...

now granted all of this was by no means expensive compared to the 'west' but their ability to troubleshoot a non usual and intermittent problem was rather limited shall we say...when I discussed the problem with the mechanic in aust they immediately narrowed it down to the ABS unit without even seeing the bike... however had the bike been in aust it would have cost me about 60000 bht to fix with the same ABS unit there being way more expensive and the labour costs over the top [$110au per hour...3300bht] to pull the bike apart and reassemble.

so yes the kawa boys finally DID identify the problem but only thru trial and error and replacing parts that didn't need replacing...but granted this problem seems to be relatively rare on the kawasaki bikes..but it shows their lack of real knowledge and training...I would hate to have a problem with a ducati or BMW or even high end KTM in Phuket..there just isn't the knowledge to repair the hi tech products here.

[TurboBul]

My wife have the same problem whit here ER6F

Almost cracht the bike

See this topicin Holland http://www.motor-forum.nl/forum/list_messages/369849/last

Kawa say bay bay

1500€ cost to replace by a motorcycle dealer

I doe it my self 200€

ABS pomp on Ebay

[ll2]

My wife have the same problem whit here ER6F

Almost cracht the bike

See this topicin Holland http://www.motor-forum.nl/forum/list_messages/369849/last

Kawa say bay bay

1500€ cost to replace by a motorcycle dealer

I doe it my self 200€

ABS pomp on Ebay

not good. i hope this will not a common problem.

which model year?

[wantan]

I ask myself if this problem could be caused by deposits/sediments in older brake fluid. E.g. aluminum oxide caused by water in the fluid. I found a report of a BWM rider who had a similar problem and solved it by flushing the hoses and the ABS system with fresh brake fluid. Then he did a lot of hard braking to get the ABS valves free again. Then again new brake fluid and the problem was gone.

His tip is to change the brake fluid more often (every year) and to monthly let the ABS system do some work (hard braking at low speed of course).

[illy]

bike is still running [or should i say stopping] well now.

ABS light even goes off on the dash. ABS is definitely working as can feel the rear brake pedal 'kicking' when under hard braking.

the idea of changing the brake fluid and keeping any sediments out is noteworthy

[TurboBul]

The brak fluid new every 2 jears

The bike is from 2006

I am a car mechenick and now what to do

Bild my own ZZR1100Turbo 212 Hp/Back wheel