Do you think riders should be allowed to clear the wrench light?

I‘m a car mechanic by trade, but I only practised in this profession from 1986 to 1990. Thx Mike for bringing this subject on the table, i‘ts at the moment my concern to bring a car and a bike this month to the dealership for brake fluid flush, and also me, sometimes lazy, was thinking about to extend the service. A lot of people have no clue, how important it is to change the brake fluid regularly all two years. For my peace of mind I‘ll do it, it saves the ABS system the calipers and prevents brake fading. Everyone is responsible for himself, so clearing the wrench symbol by yourself should be possible, as in my BMW car with one click.

Just had to bring mine in a couple months  ago to get rid of the wrench.  I live in Minnesota where we don't really get a whole year of riding and I have 22k miles on it.  The service techs at my local dealership even told me they didn't think it even needed it more than once every 3 years in my area.  I just was so bugged by the light that I had it flushed when I had it in for something else.

I’m ran into the exact same thing, I won the 2024 Bikefest white onyx pearl street glide bike this year , three days after owning it the wrench came on for a brake flush , I do all my own services and I own the air operated vacuum to pull the new brake fluid through the system. I am a freedom of road rider local 12 , and I have done all my buddy’s flushes . I called several dealers to reset the light and no one would reset it for me

I just got an ABS brake flush on my 2023 FXST. The bill was outrageous!😮

Great video, I own 2025 Road Glide CVO ST. The Gen 2 M8 skyline os computer system has clinches. My wrench light came on last week after starting it, then I removed the main fuse for 10 seconds and installed  back. Never came one again. Back to the ABS, looking for a scan tool to do diagnostics on my bike.

I’m a service tech at a local Harley dealer and that wrench is a pain for someone that does their own work.  If I didn’t have the proprietary software Digital Technician II then I would live with it.

I worked in car dealerships and service departments for 20 years and I know on the cager side one of the big things that we would bring up is that with the owner's manual, the manufacturers publish what their maintenance schedule is for both standard and severe duty and that does one of two things. Because all the maintenance is published. They don't need to worry about liability if people do not do their maintenance and also because the maintenance is been published and people don't follow the maintenance schedule and it leads to issues that's on the customer. The one thing that I do have a problem with is because it's not a SAe regulated light I feel like there should be a way to turn that off in the menu if we don't do the maintenance that's on us, but if they have it published in their owner's manual and in their service. Paraphernalia then that should be on us and we shouldn't have to go to the dealership in order to get that service done and that light cleared. I can see where they're going to run into some legal issues with this

I flushed my brakes myself using a vacuum pump.  Had the pump and it cost me one bottle of fluid $12.  My dealerships in the area wanted $250 or more to do the service and did offer to reset the light for $100.  Interestingly, my previous 2015 Ultra Limited had ABS and no service light….and the manual stated that when flushing you did NOT have to actuate the ABS valve unless you introduced air into the system.  The 2015 Ultra also had a built in way to actuate the water pump when you flushed the radiator fluid.  Most riders do like to do the “routine” maintenance on their bikes….this is a huge part of the Harley culture and I find it disappointing that corporate doesn’t honor that.  If they have discovered that their new ABS module is somehow failing if not exercised, then they should have a built in method that the owner can use to actuate the unit…..IF they truly believe in the Harley customer culture and put the customer first.

I’m very fortunate, my Indy used to be a Harley tech at my dealership. He and another tech started their own business and can do everything a dealership can do at a much better price.

I did it on mine right before going to Sturgis. I needed my bike checked for a recall so i had them do the oil while it was on the lift. The who thing was around $300...

Well, you can do a brake flush what you can’t do at home is  exercise the ABS control valve, and reset the service icon.
But you can take it to your local independent shop with the right equipment and they can do the brake flush and reset the icon

I don't mind the wrench light as long as my dealer properly does the brake flush. This means the abs module is cycled during the bleeding process so that the abs module is cleared of moisture.

AMSOIL Adam can clear the wrench light off the dash chesp

I'm sure Harley have the best engineers in India working on this issue right now. Please wait two weeks for the needful to be completed.

I agree this is totally opposite of right to repair. I take my bike to friend who does service work, I don't have tools nor the space to have them and I am not much into wrenching.

Hey Mike, I need to put my two cents in here as well. As a technician, I have a different point of view on this. For one this doesn’t even apply to the Magnuson Moss act. A lot of that was even about having specific branded oils and other parts. And basically said that if Harley Davidson would require you to use Harley Davidson oil to make you warranty compliant, then they would have to supply the oil to you free of charge for the remainder of the warranty.. But yes, you can do your own work without worrying about voiding your warranty because of that act. This also doesn’t fall under right to repair because you can do the service yourself if you wanted to, however understand that you must have the computer system so that you can go in there to turn off the light which you would need anyways in order to properly do your brake flush. The average person at home does not have the proper software to even do a brake flush the right way. You have to hook a computer to it and Cycle the valve in the ABS unit. Obviously non-ABS BIKES this wouldn’t apply. But if you wanted to buy the software, you would be able to do the service on your own properly, Cycle, the ABS unit and turn off your wrench light. And not void your warranty. But most consumers don’t want to spend the money on the computer system. I have the proper software and I’ve been providing the service to my customers for quite some time. And with the new motorcycles, they recently updated the software so that I can now turn off the Service wrench light. Now with that said, I think this is a great idea because as a technician, I can honestly say that brake fluid, and even clutch fluid on models that apply are one of the most neglected fluids on the motorcycle or even cars and trucks for that matter. And the problem is if you neglect it too long, you get a lot of gooey gummy buildup inside the brake system and then eventually the brakes will fail. This becomes a safety related issue. At that point, you would have to remove the brake systems and rebuild them to make them functional again. We see it all the time. Now the fluid itself may not have to be done every single two years, but that really depends on the moisture content. If you live in Florida, it might need to be done every year, if you live in Arizona, it might only need to be done every four years. But the two-year recommendation is a cover your butt that you can pretty much guarantee to eliminate brake system failures if you follow that schedule. And if you have to replace that ABS module on your motorcycle, it is stupid expensive.

So in short, I think this is a great thing and I don’t see any lawsuits coming because you do not have to go to the dealer for it. It wouldn’t apply.

If you can afford the bike the service cost being at that price is a steal live with it !

My brake flush was about $200 with fluids but I was getting maintenance too

Hello Mike. Customers should be able to clear/reset without going to a dealer. Since Skyline OS has OTA updates, maybe HD should incorporate the liability release and allow customers to submit the waiver this way. Once the customer acknowledges, HD will clear the wrench. This keeps liability away from the dealer.