Front brake fluid warning

[EAKbusa]

Two items. First off, in 15 years and with 7 bikes I have never had to refill a brake fluid resevoir. In fact I have probably never even checked. Well you might want to.

I have an '03 40th and have around 3k miles on it so far. One of the few complaints I can make about the Busa is that the brakes suck compared to other bikes I have had, strong but no feel (mushy). I just got used to it and never gave it a second though.

Well this weekend I happened to glance at the resevoir level window and low and behold the sucker is empty! Now what makes no sense is that I meticulously maintain and clean my bike. There is no leak of any measureable rate to be found, not a drop. It scared the begeezes out of me thinking what if it failed while I was out riding.

Now to the second item. I bought some DOT 4 fluid from my dealer to add to the resevoir and now I need to know can I bleed the system myself? It seems obvious to me that it never was bled properly to begin with which explains the mushy feel. Now it has settled somewhat and drained out the resevoir. Otherwise I would like to know where my fluid went?

This has got me kind of iritated because I have never ever had such a thing come up and it involves an inherintly important part of the bike. No excuse for this if it was indeed not bled by the dealer or the factory. They will hear about this but I want to get my facts straight before I shoot off at the mouth.

And lasty, everyone, PLEASE CHECK YOURS! Be safe.

 

[Revlis]

Buy a <span style='color:blue'>Mighty Vac</span> Brake bleeder....

I believe they are supposed to be the cats Ass, but I have no first hand experiance.  I think it was Icemann or Stunnah mentioned them a looong time ago...

Oh and this should be usefull <span style='color:blue'>Brake Walk through</span>



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[loboboy]

buy the speed bleeders and yes you can do it yourself. The brakes were the first thing I modded on my 03, I installed S/S braided brake lines and EBC HH pads. No brake problems here they are awesome now. I am getting ready to install the braided clutch hose also. I have had problems with my clutch but after the dealer did some work on it I don't think they got it bleed good.

 

[justintime2]

Change the lines to SS braided and yes you can easily bleed yourself.

 

[busa1300nut]

I beleive Ice.or Stuna, put a post up a while back about makeing the dealer bleed the brakes. I have 10.000 mile,s on my 02 and haven,t had any problems, yet, but I would go with the speed bleeders, or something eqv. and take care of it myself.

 

[Bence's Busa]

Yes u can bleed the brakes urself. go to hardware store and pick up some clear hose just big enough to fit ur bleeder valve. the reason is that brake fluid is corrosive, u dont want it on ur paints. u ll need to install the hose on the right bleeder valve, which is the side of the brake lever, with a retainer of some sort at the end of the hose. press the brake lever a few times and hold it in. while holding the brake lever in, open the bleeder valve and shut the valve off as soon as the brake lever hits ur bar. repeat until u dont see any bubbles left comming out the clear hose. sorry im very bad with instructions.

 

[Bence's Busa]

oh, Btw...dont forget to refill reservoir as needed.

 

[rubbersidedown]

I use a mighty vac...they R awesome. They also have tons of other uses . A guage sits on top of the unit , making them usefull for vacuum tests,etc on cars an' bikes.

Some of you may not have heard of "reverse bleeding".
When installing new brake pads you of course,need to make room for them in the calipers . You do this by squeezin' the pots back into the calipers . This also removes the unwanted air from yer system . It can be faster but you need to remove the units . I wouldn't recomend this for the newbies . If you were to push on only one side of the caliper you could cause the other side to pop out . Also you'll need to unbutton some touchy bolts , and also have some thread lock on hand for re-installation . Steel bolts into aluminum holes is always a dangerous game .

Before buying new lines,pads,bigger masters etc....I always recomend that people do a little maintanence first. I was lazy last season , didnt do my brakes at all . Rode my friends ZX12 , an' just about threw myself over the bars .
Both bikes share the same 6 pot Tokico's,same lines,same diameter master .
So, why were his brakes awesome....an' mine shid?

air in my lines....
pads a bit glazed....
etc....

Bottom line...if you've got money just fallin' from yer a$$ , go get all the trick shid...if you dont, you may be happy with just a little maintenance . 10 minute bleeding , little sandpaper taken to them pads . etc .
hav a good 1.....RSD.

 

[busaguy]

deifnatley a vac is great quick and easy ,you can flush entire lines with new fluid everycouple seasons with ease .removing any moisture or contaminates.and steel line oh yea for that great brake feel.after once your a pro .you will never do it any other way!

 

[dnolder]

Mity Vac definetly the way to go. I just installed stainless lines on the other day, waiting for a little warmer weather to try out. Go to Autozone for your Mity Vac they cost $25 there.