so, got all my bike buttoned up and i cannot get the front or rear brakes to bleed. i have replaced the oem brake lines with ss 1/4" teflon lined lines.
i let the front gravity bleed for a while and still got nothing. did the ol pump, hold, open close for ever. i have been threw about 4 reseviors of fluid. so tonight i got a mac tools speed bleeder, it hooks to the bldder screw and and should work pretty quick. got nothing. there is no leaks, there are bubbles when i press the handle in the mc, but they are small and stop after the 3rd or fourth squeeze. i worked as a mechanic for 5 years at a firestone and i have tried everything i know to do. it is a factory mc, factory caliper...wtf else do i do.
you need to pressure bleed them from the ground up. Hook up a syringe filled with fluid to the bleeder screw, start depressing the plunger and crack the brake line banjo first, when fluid flows cleanly close it up and watch for fluid to start filling the master cylinder reservoir(make sure you start with an empty reservoir and put a towel over top of the master as the fluid will shoot clear to the ceiling). Do that a couple of times and you should be good.
Take the top off the master and cover the pinholes where the fluid draws in. Squeeze the lever and cover those holes..release lever...uncover holes...Repeat several times. Then uncover pinholes and pump lever. I've had moderate success doing this. Hope it makes sense to ya. Disclaimer: repeat process doing opposite..finger plugging on squeeze of the lever. Been where yer at, hopes this didn't screw you up to bad...
You have fluid coming out the bottom but can't get pressure right? Take your caliper off and compress the piston with a c clamp. Pump the lever and push the piston out, compress with c clamp, do it a few times. That's what I did last month when I was in your shoes and it pressurized right up.
Take a small plastic hose, like the one on your battery, and run it from the bleeder on the caliper up to the MC. Fill the MC with brake fluid and pump pump pump. The fluid will travel up the hose into the MC and all the air will get pumped out. When you stop seeing bubbles you are done. Make sure the top of your hose is always submerged or you'll be putting air back into the system.
you need to pressure bleed them from the ground up. Hook up a syringe filled with fluid to the bleeder screw, start depressing the plunger and crack the brake line banjo first, when fluid flows cleanly close it up and watch for fluid to start filling the master cylinder reservoir(make sure you start with an empty reservoir and put a towel over top of the master as the fluid will shoot clear to the ceiling). Do that a couple of times and you should be good.
You have fluid coming out the bottom but can't get pressure right? Take your caliper off and compress the piston with a c clamp. Pump the lever and push the piston out, compress with c clamp, do it a few times. That's what I did last month when I was in your shoes and it pressurized right up.
I basically do this on every brake I bleed at work. Tapping the line to get the bubbles to rise up also helps as well as lightly squeezing the lever repeatedly about a 1/2" to release the air bubbles into the m/c. Air likes to rise. I've tried the syringe thing but a bit messy if you aren't careful. Just be careful not to get fluid on your pads or scar your pads while pushing them out.
you need to pressure bleed them from the ground up. Hook up a syringe filled with fluid to the bleeder screw, start depressing the plunger and crack the brake line banjo first, when fluid flows cleanly close it up and watch for fluid to start filling the master cylinder reservoir(make sure you start with an empty reservoir and put a towel over top of the master as the fluid will shoot clear to the ceiling). Do that a couple of times and you should be good.
I had the same issue about 2 weeks ago. No matter how much I bled couldn't get any pressure on the lever. Went to my friends shop because they have a vacuum bleeder.
Before I used that, my buddy pumped the lever a few times and lightly tapped the banjo bolt and MC. He cracked open the banjo bolt at the MC just so a tiny bit of fluid came out. He said its an old mechanic trick. After he did that, I immediately had pressure on the lever and was able to bleed the last bit of air from the bleeder on the caliper. He topped off the resevoir and its been fine ever since. Not sure if it will work for you, but it cant hurt to try it. Good luck.
you need to pressure bleed them from the ground up. Hook up a syringe filled with fluid to the bleeder screw, start depressing the plunger and crack the brake line banjo first, when fluid flows cleanly close it up and watch for fluid to start filling the master cylinder reservoir(make sure you start with an empty reservoir and put a towel over top of the master as the fluid will shoot clear to the ceiling). Do that a couple of times and you should be good.
Take the top off the master and cover the pinholes where the fluid draws in. Squeeze the lever and cover those holes..release lever...uncover holes...Repeat several times. Then uncover pinholes and pump lever. I've had moderate success doing this. Hope it makes sense to ya. Disclaimer: repeat process doing opposite..finger plugging on squeeze of the lever. Been where yer at, hopes this didn't screw you up to bad...
You have fluid coming out the bottom but can't get pressure right? Take your caliper off and compress the piston with a c clamp. Pump the lever and push the piston out, compress with c clamp, do it a few times. That's what I did last month when I was in your shoes and it pressurized right up.
did this and cannot get enough pressure to compress it back....
Take a small plastic hose, like the one on your battery, and run it from the bleeder on the caliper up to the MC. Fill the MC with brake fluid and pump pump pump. The fluid will travel up the hose into the MC and all the air will get pumped out. When you stop seeing bubbles you are done. Make sure the top of your hose is always submerged or you'll be putting air back into the system.
i did this but i am getting a few bubbles and the fluid never reaches the mc. i am getting really irritated. i thinking it could be possible pin holes in the teflon liner of the hose. i dont know how but who knows at this point
i even used a mac tools vacuum tool with no success.....
Yer problem is now pissing me off...Do a conventional bench bleed. Run an old brake line directly into the full reservoir and pump. It should start circulating juice...Dammit!
You just have to keep bleeding it. The line is fine. If the pistons aren't all the way out it is going to take a long long time.
These masters move such a tiny amount of fluid at a time, and even less air.
Just keep going. It's gonna take what seems like forever, but it will eventually bleed out. And forget the vacuum bleeder. All that is gonna do is suck all the fluid out of the caliper. Never had luck with those on HD brakes. Work great on the jap brakes that are on my bike now, though...
Tobiisms idea is the best, but even that won't work unless the pistons are already pushing the pads against the rotor.
If you can, pull the caliper off and pull the piston(s) out as far as you can. Then push them in just far enough to get the caliper back on, then you can reverse bleed it and it shouldn't take much normal bleeding after that.
I once spent 5 hours bleeding my rear brake before it pumped up. The jap stuff though, takes minutes.
Easy button: fill with fluid and let it sit overnight. Next day whack the line from the bottom up to release air bubbles. Crack it at the bottom and continue to whack while working the lever until all bubles are out. re-fill as necessary. Easy as pie. No need for pumps. It's how I've been doing it for years. It just takes a whole night to sit, then 5 mins and it's done!
I had this problem with my softail last year. If i remember right i actually either loosened or removed the banjo bolt a couple times, moved fluid, then retighten, refill, and bleed from the bleede? You may have tried that already? Worked for me.
Linear Mode
