trying to bleed the brakes?

[yz2stroke]

new to all of this im trying to bleed my brakes because i loosend the line and the fluid came out during the rebuild process..but every time i put fluid it in loosen the nipple and hold the brake down nothing happend.

[honda400ex2003]

im buying a tool to do them the next time i have to. I never get brakes to bleed properly doing the old pump up the lever, hold, bleed routine.

subscribed.

steve

[CJM]

mitey vac brake bleeder tool, I couldnt get my brakes bleed with the pump method no matter what till I used the brake bleeder pump.

Its like 20 bucks and well worth it. you open the bleeder and pump like a good 5-10x or so (watch the master cylinder to make sure it doesnt go to low) and close the bleeder. Keep doing it till you get a firm lever.

[honda400ex2003]

much easier with a tool thats for sure! steve

[CJM]

Originally posted by honda400ex2003
much easier with a tool thats for sure! steve

I couldnt get a firm lever without no matter how hard i tried. DOT4 is $$ and I used half a bottle before i began to recycle it that day lol.

[honda400ex2003]

been there done that. dropped off at the dealer...

lol
I wasnt gonna buy the tool to do it after the irritating bull that we went through on it.

that was with our rincon though. ive never done anything with my brakes at all. steve

[trailrider894]

I actually managed to gravity bleed mine. lol It was quite the ordeal though... lol I would not suggest it to anyone... just buy the kit as mentioned above...

[2001400exrida]

i bled my 450r brakes that i put on my 400ex.

If you're patient you can do it. Mine are pretty stiff and i let them sit for a few hours and gravity bled once i got most of the air out with the pump method.

Just do the pump and close method, you will get it with patience. If you want to make things easier then just get the tool that CJM has suggested, i've seen them used at the dealership and they're pretty quick and pretty darn good.

My dot4 only cost me 6 bucks and i barely used a quarter of the bottle, if you're squirting it like crazy and it's not getting any tighter than you need to check your lines make sure they are all sealed.

don't forget those little brass washers too they are crucial!

[sixer3]

-VERY slowly depress your brake lever 15-20 times, you should see some little bubbles coming up if you look inside your master cylinder.

-On that 15 or 20th, HOLD the lever all the way down. Keep holding and unscrew your bleeder screw at least one full turn. Make sure to keep holding that lever tight and tighten your bleeder screw back up.

-Release after you've tightened the bleeder screw and repeat.

-As you start gaining some resistance in the lever, You'll notice it doesn't go down all the way. that's ok...continue as you were and hold the lever tight, open the bleeder and keep pressure on the lever as it collapses. tighten and repeat

**Repeat this until you get the feel you want. Usually needs at least 5 repetitions before you get feel depending on the amount of fluid that was already in your master cylinder.

NOTES:

-Make sure to unscrew your bleeder at least one full turn. If the screw is not all the way open there is absolutely no point in even trying any of this.

-Make sure not to let go of the lever before tightening your bleeder screw back up....again it defeats the purpose..

-DO NOT let your master cylinder run out of fluid during the process or you will start over..

-If your master cylinder had NO fluid in it to begin with do not be surprised to repeat these steps as many as 10-20 times before getting the feel you need.

-At first fluid should just dribble out but as you gain feel it should start to squirt out.

[AtvKid4Eva]

the little hand vac tools really do help and are cheap! that little master cylinder pumps fluid so slow that it takes a lot of patience in order to get fluid from once end to the other lol. harbor freight has the tool for cheap and ive used it a bunch of times without any problems.

[honda400ex2003]

very nice writeup sixer! steve

I had the same problem, just keep on pumping.. i had to repeat the process probally 10 times or more before i got them with enough pressure. Just keep pumping, and make sure you open the bleed screw all the way and tigten it before you let go of the lever.

[06typeS]

i use a mity vac to pull the fluid through the lines and the calipers then i go to the pump and bleed method to finish up.

[rubbersdown]

mityvac is the ish! I got this nice pneumatic one that was like $150 (you can get cheaper hand pump ones for like $35 though) but it works on EVERYTHING big and small. Ive bled brakes on everything from my cousins 70cc pit bike to my friends Lamborghini and it works amazingly well.
http://www.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://www.mityvac.com/hq_images/MV6835.jpg&sa=X&ei=7FwnTaeBIYz0tgPCqpiPBw&ved=0CAQQ8wc4KA&usg=AFQjCNEwzZDYbtKRzvqmzmkCFMIGn7WnhA

[killer454]

i have a 2000 400ex and 6 months ago i tryed and tryed to bleed my rear caliper.i would loosen the rear bleeder but could not get no fluid to pump out of the bleeder.

this was the problem:the bleeder valve on the rear caliper did not have the small hole in it!!!.i took a small drill bit and put a small hole in the bleader and my rear caliper blead like it was suppose to.

its crazy i messed with this thing for 3 days and thought it was the master cylinder and even bought one off ebay.put the new one on from ebay and same thing this is when i found the rear bleeder did not have the hole in it.

i even posted it on this forum i do beleive

[mattl31]

This is the cheapest, quickest way I have found to do it:

Go to your local Tractor Supply, Orchelns or other farm supply store and get the biggest livestock syringe you can find, and about a foot of 3/16" inside diameter clear tubing. Put the tubing on the end of the syringe and push it on, making sure it will stay and doesn't leak.

Now, you'll be REVERSE bleeding your brakes. Pick one of the front calipers, and loosen the bleeder screw about a half turn from tight. Insure that all the bleeder screw on the other caliper is tight. Now fill your syringe (using the tube also) with fresh brake fluid. Once its full, turn it upside down (hose pointing toward the ceiling) and purge any air out of it (just like in the movies :eek2: ). Now press the other end of the tubing over the bleeder screw (itll be tight) and when its secure, slowly being to force fluid out of the syringe and into the brake system. Its best to have a buddy keep an eye on the master cylinder, as eventually the level will begin to rise as you add fluid. You'll want to keep forcing fluid in until you begin to see "foamy" bubbles as opposed to big air bubbles in the master as you inject brake fluid. Once the syringe is empty, close the bleeder valve to insure no fluid is lost. Repeat this step until desired bubbles are achieved.

Repeat the above process for the other front brake. After doing so, I like to do several rounds of traditional bleeding (pump slowly several times, hold, open, close, repeat) to further bleed the lines. The syringe method will just get you to the point where your lines and calipers are full so you dont have to pump forever.

Hope this helps, as I bled my fronts (dry, calipers completely empty, brand new stainless lines) in about 10 minutes.

All said, I had 2.19 wrapped up in the syringe and hose, then factor in a quart or so of brake fluid and this is a pretty cheap job!

If anyone needs help please dont hesitate to PM me or ask!

[honda400ex2003]

very interesting way to do it... Ill keep that in mind to give it a shot. sounds like a good idea to me.

have you ever tried sucking it like that? if so how did that work?

I guess that is the same way as using the pump discussed earlier but would be cheaper than buying a full pump and such i would think.

steve

[honda400ex2003]

very interesting way to do it... Ill keep that in mind to give it a shot. sounds like a good idea to me.

have you ever tried sucking it like that? if so how did that work?

I guess that is the same way as using the pump discussed earlier but would be cheaper than buying a full pump and such i would think.

steve

[mattl31]

Originally posted by honda400ex2003
very interesting way to do it... Ill keep that in mind to give it a shot. sounds like a good idea to me.

have you ever tried sucking it like that? if so how did that work?

I guess that is the same way as using the pump discussed earlier but would be cheaper than buying a full pump and such i would think.

steve

I dont see why that wouldnt work, other than holding vacuum on the syringe would be kinda difficult with all the other things you have going on lol.

In fact, on my rear brake I had to do exactly that. For some reason it wouldnt allow me to reverse bleed, so I filled the reservoir and vaccumed the fluid through the bleeder and into the syringe.

Should work either way, experiment and tell us what seems to work best!

[honda400ex2003]

lol im not doing either to my machine for a while. lol theres a reason i have stock lines still. it is the dreaded brake line bleed that never works for me and my dad. lol one day i will break down and buy a pump to do it. steve

[jcs003]

here is how the pros do it:

http://www.gtthunder.com/HowTo.htm

[rubbersdown]

Originally posted by jcs003
here is how the pros do it:

http://www.gtthunder.com/HowTo.htm

haha not really, thats how pros tell people to do it that dont have the right tools. I doubt the guys at gt thunder really suck on a length of tube to bleed their brakes lol. Id be my bottom dollar they have a pneumatic bleeder like most real pros do.

[2001400exrida]

that's essentially how i did it, i gravity bled after i got most of the air out. then it was tight.

[jcs003]

Originally posted by rubbersdown
haha not really, thats how pros tell people to do it that dont have the right tools. I doubt the guys at gt thunder really suck on a length of tube to bleed their brakes lol. Id be my bottom dollar they have a pneumatic bleeder like most real pros do.

i will have to agree.lol. but they wouldnt have put it on their site if it didnt work.

[rubbersdown]

Originally posted by jcs003
i will have to agree.lol. but they wouldnt have put it on their site if it didnt work.

Haha I know, just thought it was funny how they said to do it. I would be afraid to get that crap in my mouth! Its much more corrosive than gasoline or even paint stripper. Ever seen what it will do to powdercoat? I needed to strip part of a 250r frame one time to do some welding on it and it wouldnt fit in my blast cabinet. So at the urging of my auto body friend I actually went to wal-mart and bought a $4 bottle of dot3, poured it in a cup and painted it onto the frame nice and thick where I needed to remove it and let it sit over night in my hot shop. In the morning it was 100% bubbled up and I literally just took a plastic putty knife and could scrape it off with no effort what so ever. From that point on I always make sure if I spill some on my bikes while bleeding brakes I wipe it up ASAP!

[jcs003]

Originally posted by rubbersdown
Haha I know, just thought it was funny how they said to do it. I would be afraid to get that crap in my mouth! Its much more corrosive than gasoline or even paint stripper. Ever seen what it will do to powdercoat? I needed to strip part of a 250r frame one time to do some welding on it and it wouldnt fit in my blast cabinet. So at the urging of my auto body friend I actually went to wal-mart and bought a $4 bottle of dot3, poured it in a cup and painted it onto the frame nice and thick where I needed to remove it and let it sit over night in my hot shop. In the morning it was 100% bubbled up and I literally just took a plastic putty knife and could scrape it off with no effort what so ever. From that point on I always make sure if I spill some on my bikes while bleeding brakes I wipe it up ASAP!

it definitly is some corrosive stuff. i heard about an angry woman pouring it on her boyfriend/husbands antique car and it dissolving the paint. im assuming that relationship didnt last.lol