"BRAKE FAILURE" Light

[skidgillen]

Has anyone ever had the "Brake Failure" light come on and stay on due to a poor battery? Brakes work fine, i.e. servos, abs, light, pads within spec. But my battery is five years old, and the volts just don't seem to be there. 13.9 at idle, and when I kill the motor and leave the ignition switch on it drops to 11.7 in a few seconds.

[boxermania]

Based on yur post, it appears that the battery is on it's last legs. Does the bike start easily?

On the other hand you might have the dreaded "nylon tie induced short" This usually happens at the top of the wire harness located on the right side of the bike, by the tank, check the nylon ties to see how tight they are, as they have been known to cut off wires.

[CorvuS]

If i remember it correctly, yes it could be caused by a bad battery. the guy i bought my bike from warned me for this and my dad, who has had a few EVO-boxers also told me about this.

[skidgillen]

Yeah, I had the wire tie problem back in 2003 when the short caused the wiring harness to catch on fire. Luckily, it was under warranty at that time. That is when I got the new battery. If the temps dip below 45 F, the battery barely cranks over enough for it to start. I think my battery tender has been keeping it going for such a long time. I think I going to go with a new battery and hopefully that will clear it. Thanks, guys I'll keep you posted.

[skidgillen]

Convinced it is the battery. Put a charge on it for two hours last night, and checked the voltage. It was at 13.7 last night and now it is at 12.4 after just sitting there. Thats a 10% self discharge! Next question is that when I disconnect the battery and put in a full charged new battery and ride it will it reset or do I need to have a dealer clear the fault code?

[sweatmark]

Just checking: is the ABS warning lamp continuously flashing, or is it steady-on? If the latter, might it be the fluid level warning?

[skidgillen]

New battery did the trick! No more fault light. Replaced it with an Odyssey PC680. The engine also cranks over faster as well. Thanks to all.

[skidgillen]

"BRAKE FAILURE" Light is back! Thinking it has something to do with moisture, as the bike was wet from sitting at work in the rain. The first time the light came on, I was riding home from work in the rain. I don't have the rear pillion seat on right now as I am patiently waiting for Rick Mayer to ship my new custom seats and backrest to me. The fuse box appears to be tight and dry under the rider seat, so I'm not seeing anything obvious right now. Probable cause number two is the rear organic brake pads are very close to being out of spec and the computer might be able to read something wrong with it somehow. Probably going to have to bite the bullet and have it serviced by a dealer.

[snowprick]

Could there be an intermittent problem with the brake light or wiring. Brake light connector..... is it a good tight fit?

[celticus]

Are there any new thoughts on this? Once this weekend at a rally the brake failure light was blinking and I stopped the bike and restarted and all was cool and rode for a day and a half then this morning the light came on solid non blinking. The brakes work fine and the brake light bulb is good.

Mark