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2007 F800ST speedometer, odometer, and ABS not working

4K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  gte1978 
#1 ·
First time posting, hoping someone else has had my same issue... get ready for a downer.

2007 BMW F800ST with ~35,000 miles

One day after a wash, I noticed the my ABS light was on and my speedometer was not clocking miles. Later I realized that the odometer was not clocking miles. Thought this was a fluke and put the bike in the garage, sat for a few days, took it out again and everything functioned properly.

Fast forward about 3 weeks later (as soon as I'm firing up the bike to take a trip down to Austin no less) and what do you know, ABS light on and miles aren't being clocked. Oddly enough, speedometer is working. After power cycling the bike many times for fuel ups, lunch, etc. on my 600 mile trip I notice that either immediately after startup or within the first ~two miles of riding the ABS light comes on. 9/10 times the odometer will not work. About half the time on startup the speedometer will work, the other half it will not budge. Rarely the speedometer will not work, but during my ride it will "come alive" and start working. There is zero consistency with any of these problems which is very aggravating.

So, I take the bike into Freedom Powersports (who has historically done a great job serving my other bikes) to have them diagnose my issue. They tell me it is the rear wheel speed sensor so I give them the go ahead and $437 and a week later I get the bike back. Pull it out of the lot and what do you know, ABS light is still on but speedometer is working. I did not take the bike immediately back to see if they had fixed at least part of the problem but nope, same intermittent problems as before. I take it back as soon as they are open again. They kept the bike for 4 weeks after that and was in contact with BMW troubleshooting the issue. They have told me that it is either a $1,500 part or a $2,000 part but they are not sure if either part will fix the problem. I have a trip coming up to Tail of the Dragon, Blue Ridge Parkway, etc. so obviously I had to get the bike for that. I'm also not willing to spend over $1,000 on the bike considering the age/miles. Anyway, I took the bike back "as-is" and will go with no miles clocked, no speedometer, and no ABS [:(]

My question is, has anyone ever seen the problems I have been encountering? To me it seems like a multi faceted problem where multiple parts could be causing the issue. Any DIYers around that could send me some info on some things for me to try?
 
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#2 ·
First, welcome to the forum. BTW, you might fill in your location on your profile. I'm guessing you are somewhere near Texas, but "Freedom Powersports" is in three states in the south. ;) Someone might live nearby who could take a look at it. :)

I'm not a mechanic and I hope someone with more experience can chime in. There's an ABS sensor on both the front and rear wheels. That's picking up the rotation of the wheels as the wheel turns. You might look closely at them to see if something was moved out of place.

When you washed the bike, did you use a hard spray or just let the soap and grime rinse off? Sometimes, people will use a hard and high pressure spray for rinsing and water will get in places where it shouldn't. Usually, I'm thinking in terms of places like wheel bearings where it causes them to fail eventually, but in your case, I'm wondering if it got into some electronics somewhere.

What are the two parts they think is the issue? That might give us a clue.

BTW, do you have a GS-911? Or know someone nearby who has one? That'll read the fault codes.

Chris
 
#3 ·
Is the ABS light just on, or is ABS also disabled/not working now?

Any part > $1500 might not be worth it, in my opinion. Did they mention what parts they are thinking of replacing?
Might check the motorbike graveyard / parts dealers to get these parts for a lot less.

And I agree with Daboo: if water got into places where it should not be, it might cause strange and inconsistent issues.
You could check wires one by one and spray them with a water repellant spray. Did the trick for me once (but on a bike with very little modern electronics)
 
#4 ·
Checking recorded faults would be my first step, too. Otherwise you could look into used parts. As long as it's not the ECU or the ZFE cpu anything else should be reasonably priced on the 2nd hand market. ABS pump is thankfully replaceable without need of coding. Just need to make sure it's the same unit.

If I were to guess I'd still think about one of the ABS sensors (sensor itself, it's position relative to the ABS ring and the ABS ring itself) or a wiring issue somewhere.
 
#5 ·
Yep - been there, had that.
Are the self cancelling indicators and fuel gauge not working either?
If so then 9 out of 10 says it the ABS module itself that's faulty. Mine started playing up like this just a week or so before a European tour, then failed completely on the first day out.
Rode the 2500 mile tour without them all.....then got a good 2nd hand ABS unit for £99 from ebay, swapped it over (bit of a pain to access...) and all is good again.
 
#6 ·
I recently bought a 2008 F800ST, and the trip meters, odometer, distance to empty, and averages were not working.
And the ABS light was steady on. Based on research, I made a list of 3 possible causes (in descending order of cost...).
1) rear wheel bearing, 2)ABS modulator, 3)rear wheel speed sensor.

I hooked up the OBDLink LX with Motoscan, and noticed my rear wheel speed sensor didn't show its live data.
So I bought a used rear wheel speed sensor for €30, replaced it, and the problem was gone!

My main concern is now that the bike has been used for some time without the odometer...
The belt seems quite worn, while it should be replaced only in 16,000 km.
But hey, with 104,000 km on the odometer, and the last service at 102,000 km (1 year ago), what is the worst that can happen? :)


By the way, has anybody ever replaced the rubber dampers in the rear wheel?
 
#7 ·
I'm glad you have it fixed now. My guess would've been the speed sensor too, since it is providing data for the others to work.

I would look at the belt as is, regardless of miles. My GT's belt has 44,000 miles on it and loooks great. When it needs replacing, I'll do it. If it needed replacing at 30,000 miles, I would've done it back then. It is a consumbable and you simply change those as needed.

I hope someone who has changed their rubber dampers replies. I want to look into those more. BMW charges a lot for them, but some people have used rubber from bicycle inner tubes or tires to do the same thnig at a far lessor cost. If you do some searching, you might come across the proper threads.

Chris
 
#10 ·
50,000km

I had replaced the belt and was doing some general cleaning and torque checking. I was curious and decided to take a look. The old dampers came out pretty easy which made me think there was wear. The new ones are a really snug fit.

I can't say what the difference is while riding. I didn't notice anything but at least I've got some satisfaction from completing the task!
 
#11 ·
Mine were bad when I bought my bike 6 years ago. I couldn't get them apart either. I ended up taking the pulley and new rubber parts to the shop so they could use their press.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 
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