My older sister gave me her 66 Mustang when I was old enough to drive, things were more simple then, albeit a bit more dangerous.

 

2008 Vstar 1300 tourer
N0 ABS

Issue was complete loss of rear brake. Petal went right to the metal. (no pun)

(my own calculation based on other people in the Vstar forums experience)

Old break fluids becomes laden with moisture. Brake fluid absorbs moisture and must be changed.
Motorcycles have naturally very limited amount of fluid to absorb that moisture as the system is so small.

Wife and I, mountain roads, much of the day, heading back to motel on a large mountain, using rear brake at times to stablize the bike going through the curves/twisties (always in mind we dont want to use brakes too often)

Make it to top of mountain, start descending, first curve, rear brake petal goes all the way down, in disbelief, I try again, all the way down, no brake, front still working, NO place at all to pull off and so steep, even if there was, not sure I would have the stopping power or not.

5,10 minutes seemed like eternity, trying to balance engine braking and front brakes to keep the bike up and my wife on the back alive.
Also note at the time, I had no idea what was going on and if the front brake would go out, if it did I knew I was screwed.

Bottom line, once at the bottom, maybe 10 minutes later, rear brake started working again.

Reason, based on vstar forums from our hotel room and I agreed.

Brake fluid was never changed, laden with moisture the fluid got hot on that day and the moisture in the fluid boiled/turned into water vapor creating vapor lock, once the fluid cooled down, vapor absorbed back into fluid and brakes started working again.
I rode home from the mountains, issue didnt repeat and as soon as I got home, checked the manual and required 2 year change was buried in the manual, changed the fluid, fluid came out black, new fluid was crystal clear. never had another brake issue with the bike.

This can happen on ANY bike and why they all call for a 2 year replacement of the fluid. Also, its to the owners benefit in another way, keep the fluid changed/mositure out of the system and you wont have issues with bad calipers/master cylinders etc.

(this is a direct answer to your question, not the issue with the HD ABS recall)

IT IS STUPID THAT MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURERS DO NOT BOLD TYPE THIS FLUID CHANGE REQUIREMENT IN BOLD TYPE AT THE TOP OF THE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE.

 

That got Ford put on trial for murder at the time, in Indiana, with a building full of imported defense lawyers.

 

Whatever happened to this particular bike. OP, where are you...

 

I started a thread here

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/frame...l#post17218352

Post 10 will sum it up for now. I went in for the ABS recall on 3-11-18 with working ABS and no problems; 45 minutes later I had no ABS, the day before I left for Daytona. I went anyway and post 10 covers what happened after that. Spoiler alert, the DT-II connection apparently caused a failure in the electronic control unit. Harley wants me to pay for it.

I filed complaints with HD Customer Care, NHTSA and the Ohio Atty General's office this morning. I only mention this for those that have working ABS and are considering having the recall done. Had I known I was going down this rabbit hole, I would have thrown the recall notice in the trash.

 

FYI - All producers of DOT 3-4-5.1 glycol based brake fluid recommend changing the fluid every two years and have done so for decades.

The difference in the DOT ratings is the higher the number the less initial moisture in the system.

DOT 5 is a silicone based fluid. Never used it so I never read the label on the container. I change the 05 and earlier bikes to DOT 4 because it is at Walmart and cheaper. But the main reason is to only have one type on the shelf so I don't make a mistake and grab the wrong one which I am capable of doing.

For the few that thought H-D should have done it when the bike came in for a periodic service. No dealer can do a service without an express request from the owner. If they do it is consumer fraud. So If you take the bike in for the 15K service and tell the service writer that. They can only do the 15K. They do not know for the most part when a two year interval comes into play or that it was or was not done. They are not mind readers.

Some try to portray that they are victims when the reality is they are negligent. Man up and as Elvis said "TCB". Take care of business.

 

I agree with your comment except that dealerships have the capability of testing the contamination levels of brake fluid. In our shop, we open and test all master cylinders during a full service. Then we report our findings to the customer and they decide to opt for a brake flush.

 

And like most customers in automobile shops they decline a brake fluid flush when suggested. I was a tech in dealerships since 86 until I went out on my own and its seen as a money grab. Based on how cheap I see many of the owners are on this site it would be a near impossible sell and most don't have services done by the "stealerships". They should be crying to their independents or themselves for not doing it. In my opinion its not a design flaw in the HCU otherwise there would be a recall, the valves aren't sticking and blocking a port, its not mechanically failing, its getting plugged with contaminated fluid due to lack of maintenance and there's no fail-safe that can account for that. As for the failed ECU after the tech hooked up to it, that stuff can happen. If something is going to fail (and everything does eventually) who's to say its immune to failure in the shop? Its happened to me before as a tech. If the ECU failed 2 days after the flush it would still be the techs fault im sure.....

 

It's hilarious to me how easily (willfully?) some of you avoid or misconstrue the real issues at hand.

1) ABS systems should ALWAYS fail "safe", regardless of ANYTHING, including an owner's failure to have fluids flushed. For an ABS system to fail in such a manner as to disable your brakes entirely,leaving you with no control of your vehicle, is pure criminal negligence IMO.

2) Harley to at least some extent created this entire fluid flush problem by making it impossible to fully flush the brake fluid at home. Lots of owners would rather have the bike sit rather than take it to the dealer shop. Basically H-D tries to hold our bikes hostage for service by locking us out of basic maintenance ability.

 

When a master cylinder is blocked off from the caliper, that's pretty much a text book example of a mechanical failing.

The cause invariably seems to be the 1st valve sticking. Could it be sticking from contaminated fluid? Yes. Be it sludge or corrosion. Should this valve fail in the closed position? No.

Other manufacturers abs failures result in a skid, while Harley's results in brake loss. While you might not see that as a flaw or a problem, others do not share your opinion.

As for recalls, there's many out there that should be recalled, but aren't. The Goodyear G159 tire, BMW 1200 front forks, BMW front brake line, Volvo P2 gas tanks, as just a few examples of recalls that should have happened, but haven't.