View Full Version : brake caliper interference recall


algs26
December 8th, 2013, 02:17 AM
I found out on another forum that there's another recall for brake caliper interference on the rear clamp that's welded to the swing arm. ABS bikes also have an issue with the ABS sensor bracket. My VIN tested positive.

http://www.kawasaki.com/site/kawasaki/techpubs/English/FDMS/MC13-05.pdf

tfkrocks
December 8th, 2013, 02:42 AM
algs26 you finally got a bike? Time to update your user profile :)

algs26
December 8th, 2013, 12:52 PM
algs26 you finally got a bike? Time to update your user profile :)

Happy now? ;)
Nobody else noticed so I never bothered.

tfkrocks
December 8th, 2013, 01:17 PM
Happy now? ;)
Nobody else noticed so I never bothered.

You're supposed to announce it to everyone and spam pictures of it everywhere haha

alex.s
December 8th, 2013, 02:00 PM
they are like children. you're supposed to mail out annoying photos and call people in high pitched squeals to inform them about your precious delight

algs26
December 8th, 2013, 04:52 PM
I took a look and the caliper is pretty close to the brake line bracket/guide.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7393/11279877624_0887227d1f.jpg.

Loadthis
December 8th, 2013, 06:21 PM
Looking at my bike, there is no contact at all between brake lines, guides, or components. Everything is free and clear.
Am I required to take my bike in in order to retain my warranty?

Reason i ask is because when I had the ECU recall work done, I was without a bike for nearly 3 weeks. Also, (and the worst part) the local dealer elected to perform an oil change without my permission. They put Dino oil in after I'd been running synthetic for nearly 1500 miles. I had also just done my own oil change. They tried to charge me $110 for the oil change at which point I told them to F off. The bike came back filthy to boot.
Anyway, I'm reluctant to take my bike to the local dealer. Nearest alternate is about a two hour drive.

Thanks in advance.

tfkrocks
December 8th, 2013, 09:21 PM
Loadthis Go call the dealership that's further away. It might be worth your while if you don't have to leave your bike with them. My dealership didn't have to keep my bike while ordering the parts. They just asked me if I wanted them to order it and then I just had to bring in my bike when the parts came in. Since it's pertaining to the brakes, it's probably to err on the side of caution too.

Loadthis
December 9th, 2013, 07:13 AM
Loadthis Go call the dealership that's further away. It might be worth your while if you don't have to leave your bike with them. My dealership didn't have to keep my bike while ordering the parts. They just asked me if I wanted them to order it and then I just had to bring in my bike when the parts came in. Since it's pertaining to the brakes, it's probably to err on the side of caution too.

Yeah I probably should do that. I'll be in Lubbock on Thursday so I may be just to trailer it down for the inspection. The weather has been too crappy to ride lately otherwise I'd take a road trip. Im not set up for sub-freezing rides.

Reading the recall notice it looks like just a visual inspection and adjustment as needed. I wonder if the local Honda dealer can do Kawasaki recall work??:ashamed10:

tfkrocks
December 9th, 2013, 11:05 AM
Yeah I probably should do that. I'll be in Lubbock on Thursday so I may be just to trailer it down for the inspection. The weather has been too crappy to ride lately otherwise I'd take a road trip. Im not set up for sub-freezing rides.

Reading the recall notice it looks like just a visual inspection and adjustment as needed. I wonder if the local Honda dealer can do Kawasaki recall work??:ashamed10:

If it's just inspection and adjustment, then you should be fine taking it to the local dealership. Based on what other people have noticed with this recall, it's probably just manually bending the brake line bracket away from the caliper lol.

Lychee
December 9th, 2013, 03:59 PM
My VIN tested positive.

Sounds Serious. Better have that "VIN" checked out. :p

allanoue
December 9th, 2013, 04:25 PM
Just got a letter from Kawi asking me to have the dealer inspect and if necessary adjust my caliper "at no charge". The danger is the brake pad may were faster on he outside then the inside.

eddiekay
December 17th, 2013, 10:47 AM
Been off board lately...any thread opened on this ? Got letter from Kawi...guys on 300 board are all aware of it. I looked at my hose guides and nothing touches caliper ?

allanoue
December 17th, 2013, 01:34 PM
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=161600

JohnnyBravo
December 17th, 2013, 01:46 PM
:thumbup:

allanoue
December 21st, 2013, 08:18 AM
I took it in this morning. Done and out in 15 minutes.

JohnnyBravo
December 21st, 2013, 11:01 AM
I got the letter... May take it in today

Alex
December 31st, 2013, 03:40 PM
Got mine done today, took just a minute or two. I think it takes longer for the ABS bikes as they have to replace a part, but for the non ABS all they really do is use a hand tool to bend the hose guide further away from the brake caliper, and then re-measure the gap to make sure there is enough clearance. Easy-peasy. :thumbup:

alex.s
January 1st, 2014, 10:25 AM
if you bend the mount yourself can you charge kawi a service fee? :)

Alex
January 1st, 2014, 10:36 AM
Worth a shot!

ally99
January 1st, 2014, 03:25 PM
I got the letter too. Guess I'd better take my bike in. I hope it's quick for me too. I never got a letter about the ECU recall. Does that mean the dealer most likely took care of it since I just bought my bike? Seems like they'd have to fix any known recalls before selling a bike, but I know assuming such isn't a wise idea. So I come to the experts and ask you guys! :D

allanoue
January 1st, 2014, 03:30 PM
If it were me, after checking like you did, I would not give it one more thought.

Has it stalled again?

Sirref
January 1st, 2014, 04:15 PM
I took it in this morning. Done and out in 15 minutes.

good to know, I haven't taken it in yet since last time I was without a bike for 1.5 weeks of warm sunshine.

allanoue
January 1st, 2014, 04:23 PM
good to know, I haven't taken it in yet since last time I was without a bike for 1.5 weeks of warm sunshine.

Where did you take it? Don's in Hellam Pa (not that far for you) took about 30 minutes for my ECU

Sirref
January 1st, 2014, 04:26 PM
I took it to Pete's cycle in baltimore where I got it, and the ECU was fine the problem was with the ABS unit that they had, somehow they had gotten a faulty replacement from kawasaki. Unfortunately they didn't lend/rent me a bike from their used section for the week (all of those bikes are still there waiting to be sold (they have a 2008 cbr600rr with 5xxx miles going for almost $500 more than a 2013 cbr600rr O_o)

ally99
January 1st, 2014, 06:17 PM
If it were me, after checking like you did, I would not give it one more thought.

Has it stalled again?

Nope, it hasn't, but I haven't railed it like I want to. After this oil change, we're gonna have some fun. :D

allanoue
January 1st, 2014, 06:34 PM
Nope, it hasn't, but I haven't railed it like I want to. After this oil change, we're gonna have some fun. :D

I think the stalling happened more to noobs so that will just make it less likely to stall

ally99
January 1st, 2014, 06:40 PM
It's like an Italian tune-up with every ride. :thumbup:

treecat
January 2nd, 2014, 04:30 AM
has someone got a photo of the replacement abs bracket?

algs26
January 4th, 2014, 10:06 PM
Took a pic while I was at the dealer. Unfortunately, I don't know what to look for since I don't have abs. I don't even know if this bike has had the recall work done.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7339/11767952273_aa5d0a18d0_c.jpg

treecat
January 5th, 2014, 04:34 AM
:happy100:

thanks

Midnight_tinkerer
January 6th, 2014, 01:00 AM
Took a pic while I was at the dealer. Unfortunately, I don't know what to look for since I don't have abs. I don't even know if this bike has had the recall work done.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7339/11767952273_aa5d0a18d0_c.jpg

The part that gets replaced is the little bracket that holds the ABS wire. It sits between the two main bolts that hold the caliper to the forkleg. The original one was too close to the caliper, and as the pads wore down a bit, the caliper would slide outwards on its pins and hit the bracket, which would then cause more pressure to be applied to the outer pad, generally interfering with normal brake operation.

Alex
January 6th, 2014, 07:00 AM
For the non-abs bike, this was for the rear caliper. Was the abs recall one for the front caliper as well?

tfkrocks
January 6th, 2014, 09:53 AM
For the non-abs bike, this was for the rear caliper. Was the abs recall one for the front caliper as well?

Yep. Required a bracket replacement.

Alex
January 6th, 2014, 10:39 AM
Makes sense. :thumbup:

Xtina
January 6th, 2014, 12:06 PM
Unless you have abs don't bother taking it in. It's easy to bend the bracket out. You won't void your warranty.

JBinSD
January 6th, 2014, 05:25 PM
Funny thing about this is that I posted months ago about my rear brake failure, couldn't figure out why it wasn't working (at all), but I never used my rear brake anyway. I was concerned about passing tech for race weekends, but they didn't seem to catch it either.

Finally got pissed enough and took it to stealer, who grinded off the brakeline guides. I think I paid $40 for them to diagnose and remedy it, but I guess it shoulda been free. the brakeline guides on my bike were already up against the rear caliper, and a lowside didn't help matters. Always better to just get rid of unwanted stuff, anyway. . . .

Alex
January 6th, 2014, 05:34 PM
I took a look at that thread (http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=127065), and I'm wondering if it really is the same problem. With the caliper not being able to move freely, it can cause uneven wear on the outside brake pad. Moving that bracket a few mm outwards keeps the caliper from touching it as it moves around, allowing the brake pad wear to be more even on both sides of the disk.

I don't see how that has anything to do with the brake system itself losing pressure and causing a soft pedal. What did ultimately fix the problem for you, was it rerouting the brake lines to make sure they weren't kinked and the curved parts were gentle?

JBinSD
January 6th, 2014, 08:59 PM
My problem was that in place, the calipers was pressed against the brake - hose guide, which did not allow expansion/contraction of the whole caliper body. I replaced the brake lines with shorter S'S and grinder off the hose guides so the calipers could expand and contract freely, and haven't had a problem since (although I still don't use my back brake).

Alex
January 6th, 2014, 09:02 PM
Makes sense - sounds like it must have been snugged up there pretty tight against the caliper to be causing such issues.

JohnnyBravo
January 15th, 2014, 09:43 PM
I think the stalling happened more to noobs so that will just make it less likely to stall

Got mine done today, didn't look like I had a problem, but might as well get a local shop a buck or two, didn't cost me nothing.

antiant
March 2nd, 2014, 10:12 AM
I got mine done last Thursday. It literally took them 10-15 minutes.

Byakkotai
March 2nd, 2014, 11:54 AM
Procrastination can't be good on my part...at this rate I'm going to get letter #3 :doh:

Sirref
March 2nd, 2014, 11:59 AM
hahaha, you should probably get on it since it doesn't take long. I got my letter after I took it in and got it done since I learned about it on the forum quicker than the mail.

tfkrocks
March 2nd, 2014, 12:20 PM
Procrastination can't be good on my part...at this rate I'm going to get letter #3 :doh:

Or the dealership might call you. They called me some time after letter #2 :lol:

Byakkotai
March 6th, 2014, 08:32 PM
Or the dealership might call you. They called me some time after letter #2 :lol:

I was almost contemplating waiting for that call :D Guess I'll swing by there this Sat and get the recall done, haven't seen them for a while haha

CZroe
May 13th, 2014, 05:14 AM
Don't forget that the brake caliper slides forward and backward with the wheel when you do a chain adjustment. Having clearance now doesn't mean you always will.

mania
May 13th, 2014, 05:23 PM
Taking my 2013 in today

When I went last week to ask what it was all about & they showed me
I assured them I could check & fix if need be but they said please bring it as
they need to officially check it off & send in a form.

No problem though nice folks & I always enjoy hanging out & seeing what pulls in.