installed galfer steel braided lines BLEEDING QUESTIONS

[mitchberry]

i've bled brakes on cars more times than i can count, but this is the first bike i've ever had with disks on it, thus, the first time i've ever had to bleed them...


so, i installed the new lines, torqued to spec, filled the fluid until the lines were dripping fluid, put them on the calipers, had my girlfriend squeeze the brake lever 5 to 10 times, hold, then i opened and shut the bleeder valve, just like you'd do on a car and repeated that about 15,054,982,904,242 times until she was going to kill me for making her do it......

After about 20 minutes of this, it was more than apparent that it IS NOT BUILDING PRESSURE now...

what's going on?

every time i open the bleeder valve, more fluid comes out, but, there's still no pressure...

what am i doing wrong? unfortunately, i don't have a manual to read up on things like this. but... for what it's worth, as noobish as this question sounds, i have to let it be known that i built my last 3 bikes from the ground up lol.... i just... don't know much about sport bikes or their brakes..

help is appreciated...

 

[mitchberry]

P.S. i don't have any fancy bleeding gadgets... so... wth can i do to get this thing back on the road -tonight- ?

 

[IG.]

Hard to guess without seeing exactly how you did it, but obviously you got air in there.

So, here is an easy way. Get a syringe like the one from filling ink into the printer cartridge or something like this. Autozone might have a bigger syringe to mix oil and gas for two stroke engines. Use a clear hose which you would connect the syringe with a bleeder screw.

The idea is to fill the syringe and the attached clear hose with the fluid to the top, carefully attach to the bleed screw and fill the system from the bottom up. This way the air gets pushed up where the air wants to go anyway. You have to do it on bith calipers of course. This way you get practically no air in the system. The way you did it, if you got a little bit of air in the caliper when changing lines, you could've pushed it inside the caliper and it's trapped there.

After that, you can bleed as usual just to get rid of any smallest amount of air. You know open bleed screw, squeeze the lever once and hold. Close the bleed screw. Pull the lever back. Open the bleed screw. Squeeze and hold again, etc.

But honestly, I prefer to use mighty vac or something similar. Best $25 I spent.

In any event watch the reservoir during the first step so it doesn't overfill. Suck some fluid out of it. Watch it for the second step so it doesn't become empty, otherwise you start sucking air into the system. If this accidentally happens, just use the syringe method to pump more fluid from the button, so the air on top will be displaced with the new liquid.

Let us know.

 

[1styearbusa]

my buddy has an air compressor driven power bleeder thingy made by Mac tools .
without that , I have no idea how we would ever get our motorcycle front brakes bled , they are a *****

 

[mitchberry]

i have an air compressor and some hose, but... no fancy bleeding systems like i said before.. but.. given that, i figured it out and got it taken care of.. thanks for the info..

consider this post closed. monday my boss is helping me stick the pads on it and will help re-bleed it at that time.

for what its worth, i recommend the galfer steel braided lines to anyone who doesn't have them... im sure it will be like a totally different bike once i get the pads n wave rotors on it. 1 finger stoppies on a busa..

 

[micbusathens]

This is equal for both front and rear brakes...Find a clear(transparent) tube that fits on the bleed valve.Deep the oposite end of the tube into a clear bottle containing brake fluid.Leave the bleed valve open and start pressing the pedal repeatedly .You must see liquid transfering from mastercylinder to the bottle.When you'll see fluid free of bubles coming out of the tube into the bottle...then you can tighten the valve no matter where the pedal is.Remember to keep the container of the master cylinder always filled.If that procedure is ineffective then your master cylinder is damaged

 

[micbusathens]

Disregard the last paragraph.Don't forget to keep the pump always filled up through that procedure

 

[busaboy33]

I am currently banging my head on the floor of my garage I just installed steel braided brake line kit front and rear the rear bleed not the front no pressure building

 

[skydivr]

Is the fluid i'n the resivoir dropping? If not are the lines on backward ? Don't know if that would make difference or not. What I do know is u need to keep lever fully compressed until AFTER u close bleeder valve; letting off early while bleeder open is counterproductive

 

[BigBadDodge]

Guys when i did my lines i still wasnt pleased and after the bike sat the lever would go soft, ended up rebuilding the master and went to bleed couldnt build any pressure, out of sheer "trying to make it work without tearing everything apart" chance (you've all been there)

Take the master off the bike, hold or put it vice, put finger over outlet hole(where banjo attaches) press lever letting fluid out between finger and master then tighten finger so it doesnt suck air back in, do this till the levers firm then put back on bike and proceed with bleeding, i've never had a lever on this bike that firm, been sitting for about 4 hours now and still rock solid.

 

[lifeofbrian]

Air can get caught in the Banjo fittings, unbolt the complete brake reservoir, point the lever skyward, leave it in that position overnight and the air bubbles will rise to the highest point (the Brake Fluid Reservoir) .
Make sure the reservoir cap is sealed tight or you will have a mess to clean up.

 

[AJAY]

Note: I have not done this to my busa, but have done many hydraulic systems over the years (brakes, clutch, bicycle brakes, even airplanes ).

Sometimes getting these d@mn things to bleed is a huge challenge. The miteyvac helps a ton to get the big air out, but I have never gotten a full bleed using one and always needed to use the traditional pump, hold, release, lock, pump approach you are trying.

I assume you are always locking the bleeder valve with each cycle since it sounds like you know what you are doing. Using a clear hose holding a column of fluid above the bleeder fitting helps keep air from going back into the bleeder valve. Be sure to only open the bleeder valve just a crack to release pressure and lock it quickly, or sometimes they will suck air back in at the threads.

The post by IG where you fill the system from the calipers up is the only way I can get the hydraulic brakes bled on my mountain bike. By pressurizing the system, you basically blow all the fluid (and air!) out, with no chance to suck air into the system when the master cylinder tries to refill. Get someone else to suck fluid from the master cylinder reservoir while you do this or you will make a mess.

BigBadDodge has a good idea to get the fluid initially pumping, but should not be needed unless you pumped the master even once without lines connected. Lifeofbrian's post also makes sense.

Last trick that is motorcycle specific: Very lightly tap the brake lever, and I mean very lightly, just enough to open the little port where the replacement hydraulic fluid is sucked into the piston. This will let tiny air bubbles trapped in the master cylinder escape through the top instead of pushing it through to the bottom. You really can get a lot of air out this way and it's a lot easier than other methods. I do this sometimes even after a day of sitting to find more air released.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck!