GL1800 Brakes locking on while riding

[bonobo]

I live in Alberta Canada and bought a 2008 Goldwing in April of 2012. It was originally from the US. It only has 10000 miles on it. A few months ago the brakes started acting like they were seizing on. Sometimes it would happen after I had ridden it and when I went to ride it again it wouldn't move. Then other times the brakes would just start grabbing while I was ridding it. It seemed like I just had to wait for a while and they would straighten out and it could be ridden again. I searched the internet and found out about the recall. Talked to a dealer up here and they ran the VIN and told me the bike was covered under the recall so I took it in. They did some kind of test and said it failed. It took almost a week to get the part but it was replaced and I picked the bike up. About an hour from the dealer and still 45 minutes from home the brakes seized on again the same as they had been doing before the fix. Sat on the side of the road for 20 minutes and they fixed themselves and I was able to ride the rest of the way home. Now I don't know what to do and the dealer hasn't got a clue short of having me bring the bike back in so they can spend hours trouble shooting at over $100 per hour. Anybody got any ideas before this costs me a small fortune.

Thanks

Rob H

[Viking]

I live in Alberta Canada and bought a 2008 Goldwing in April of 2012. Anybody got any ideas before this costs me a small fortune.

Thanks

Rob H

First thing you should do is open your own thread on this matter. Not as many people will read this in someone elses thread that was solved months ago. Your chances of an answer are better in a brand new thread. The only suggestion I would have would be to firstly, do as the previous poster in this thread did and flush your fluid. If that does not solve the issue, then the dealership might be your only recourse depending on your comfort level in tearing into your brake system. For some reason, it appears when your brake fluid gets hot and expands, it has nowhere to go. This might indicate that you have too much brake fluid in the master cylinders, or it could mean dirt in the system blocking the return venting. Flushing the system 'could' get rid of any dirt as well as the old fluid; rebuilding the system 'would' get rid of any dirt. It could be as simple as a master cylinder rebuild also, but which one?

[WingAdmin]

First thing you should do is open your own thread on this matter. Not as many people will read this in someone elses thread that was solved months ago. Your chances of an answer are better in a brand new thread.

I've taken care of this for you.

[thrasherg]

Firstly, is it the front brakes, the rear or both that are locking on? This probably means riding it until the problem occurs again, then try to get it on the center stand and then try turning the back wheel, then have someone (Or something heavy) on the passenger seat to lift the front wheel and see if the front wheel turns. Once we know which brakes are locking on we can start to offer suggestions. I would also carry a few tools as I suspect it will be the front brakes that are locking on, but we would need to know if it is both calipers or just one that is locking, to do that you will have to put the bike on it's center stand, remove the front mudguard and try to loosen each caliper to see which one is causing the issue. Not much help, but its a start!!

Gary

[WingAdmin]

Much easier way to figure out which one is locking up, front or rear: After it has locked up again, figure out which one is baking hot (don't touch them, you'll burn yourself - but you'll feel the heat coming off it).

[BrianD]

I had the problem where the rear brakes were locking. Had not realised it but did wonder why the brake pads always needed replacing. Then there was a service recall and when I took it to the dealer, mine was one of the bikes affected so they had to get some replacement parts and fix it. Have not had a problem since with it.
The dealer said not all bikes were affected. In over 25 checks he had only seen 3 that needed fixing, but that is still a 10% problem rate.

[bonobo]

First of all thanks to everyone for their thoughts and suggestions. This has hopefully been resolved. Sorry it took so long to let everyone know. So in the end it turned out to be 2 separate yet related issues. Or maybe one was overshadowing the other. Anyway the bike failed the recall test so the work was performed to replace the secondary rear master cylinder. The problem still persisted however and since I was not totally happy with the experience I had at the fist dealer I took it to the bike went back in to another dealer and they discovered (nobody seems to know how this could have happened) that the splined shaft that comes out of the bike that the rear brake pedal is mounted to had somehow gotten pushed further inside the bike and was therefor putting undue stress on the caliper and piston every time the brakes were applied causing them to eventually lock on. I am sure a mechanic could explain it in a more technical manner but that is the basics. The bike has had just about the entire rear brake system redone including fixing the shaft, new pads and rotors as well as a flush and new fluid. Time will tell but considering prior to the work being done it would seize up every 50 miles or so and since getting it back I have put 150 miles on it with no problems yet. Now I'm planning a little trip (not too far, still a little gun shy) this weekend so I am hoping for the best.

Thanks again everyone.

[thrasherg]

Glad to hear that it has probably been addressed.. Fingers crossed the gremlins have been banished..

Gary