Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: WP2 on June 04, 2019, 02:18:41 PM
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I know that brake bleeding is not rocket science and I've done it many, many times.
But, I'm having a really frustrating time with bleeding the rear brake on my "02 Stone. Tried regular bleeding procedures and went thru a ton of fluid with no good results, Tried reverse bleeding - same spongy brake petal. Finally got tired of feeding my buddy beer for pumping the pedal so I ordered and installed a Speed bleeder so I could pump and watch. Fluid seems to be bubble free but the pedal is still spongy.
Bike has been on the lift for too long and I may have a buyer wanting the Stone in a couple weeks - needing to get this done.
Any advice? What am I missing?
Thanks.
Walt
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Master cylinder is worn out?
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It would be worse if you had linked brakes.
IMHO, reverse bleeding is the better way to go. You're probably getting air bubbles stuck somewhere along the route from the master cylinder to the caliper. Try tapping this route while applying a little bit of pressure at the caliper to dislodge the bubbles.
If this doesn't work, walk away, speak to the Guzzi gods, and then try again. Trust me, I've been there.
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Thanks for the post. After installing new clutch plates on my 03 EV with the linked system I’ve had the same experience, I can get it to be solid for a day or 2 but than goes spongy again.I tried speed bleeders, back filled it and done every thing but the fix where you take the calipers off and hang them above the reservoir, it will be the last resort. I have seen posts about hanging a heavy weight on the brake pedal over night, but this was a fix posted by a Norge owner who claims it fixes the reoccurring spongy brake pedal. I also have a Norge and have not experienced this yet, but I’m going to try it on the EV. I’ll follow this post Incase you find a fix for this.
Dave
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Master cylinder is worn out?
How would I tell if the M/C is worn out?
I'm hoping not because the bike only has 55,000 miles on it.
Walt
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Thanks for the post. After installing new clutch plates on my 03 EV with the linked system I’ve had the same experience, I can get it to be solid for a day or 2 but than goes spongy again.I tried speed bleeders, back filled it and done every thing but the fix where you take the calipers off and hang them above the reservoir, it will be the last resort. I have seen posts about hanging a heavy weight on the brake pedal over night, but this was a fix posted by a Norge owner who claims it fixes the reoccurring spongy brake pedal. I also have a Norge and have not experienced this yet, but I’m going to try it on the EV. I’ll follow this post Incase you find a fix for this.
Dave
I had a 15lb dumbell on the pedal overnight - didn't help.
I haven't tried hanging the caliper high - don't know why, it's pretty simple. It'll be in my future soon.
Guess my thoughts were centering around the M/C but wanted to eliminate all else before going into unknown territory.
Thanks.
Walt
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The rear caliper on my CalVin has the bleed port pointing down and is the lowest point in the system. Unfortunately this has allowed small air bubbles to stay lodged within the upper piston area. I needed to dismount the rear caliper, getting the bleed port pointing up and above the hose. Using a coupe of large zip ties to hold a small piece of wood between the pistons, rotating the dismounted caliper for the bleed port to be pointed up and zip tying the caliper to a frame member above the inlet hose allowed me to purge all air from the rear brake system. PITA but worked like a charm.
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The rear caliper on my CalVin has the bleed port pointing down and is the lowest point in the system. Unfortunately this has allowed small air bubbles to stay lodged within the upper piston area. I needed to dismount the rear caliper, getting the bleed port pointing up and above the hose. Using a coupe of large zip ties to hold a small piece of wood between the pistons, rotating the dismounted caliper for the bleed port to be pointed up and zip tying the caliper to a frame member above the inlet hose allowed me to purge all air from the rear brake system. PITA but worked like a charm.
This!
Also remember that it may only have 55K, but it's 17 years old. Had a rear master go bad on my '04 EVT. Only about 25K, but 15 years old.
Tom
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with mine I took the caliper off the bike so the bleed hole was the highpoint of the caliper and used a spare rotor I had to bleed the brakes
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As a few just said. Remove the caliper, block the pads, and bleed with the nipple sticking up. Mine went nice and easy.
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The rear caliper on my CalVin has the bleed port pointing down and is the lowest point in the system. Unfortunately this has allowed small air bubbles to stay lodged within the upper piston area. I needed to dismount the rear caliper, getting the bleed port pointing up and above the hose. Using a coupe of large zip ties to hold a small piece of wood between the pistons, rotating the dismounted caliper for the bleed port to be pointed up and zip tying the caliper to a frame member above the inlet hose allowed me to purge all air from the rear brake system. PITA but worked like a charm.
This,,, and before I did this,,, I went through the linked brake system fittings from start (M/C) to finish (Caliper) and loosened and bled each fitting,,, it's messy, used lots of rags and paper towels to save the paint, fwiw ymmv
If it's the linked system M/C,,, are you getting good response at the linked front caliper? If not maybe a rebuild is in order, just a wag.
Kelly
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Should've started with this question: Were you changing fluid which resulted in a spongy pedal or did the spongy pedal develop by itself after storage?
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This,,, and before I did this,,, I went through the linked brake system fittings from start (M/C) to finish (Caliper) and loosened and bled each fitting,,, it's messy, used lots of rags and paper towels to save the paint, fwiw ymmv
If it's the linked system M/C,,, are you getting good response at the linked front caliper? If not maybe a rebuild is in order, just a wag.
Kelly
The 02 stone does not have linked brakes.
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Thanks guys for all the advice They're bled and the pedal is solid.
Ended up hanging the caliper high and bled using the speed bleeder. Easy and fast - probably took 45 minutes start to finish with most of the time invested in taking the caliper off and reinstalling.
In the future, I will use this method at first sign of frustration in bleeding.
Thanks again.
Walt
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Thanks guys for all the advice They're bled and the pedal is solid.
Ended up hanging the caliper high and bled using the speed bleeder. Easy and fast - probably took 45 minutes start to finish with most of the time invested in taking the caliper off and reinstalling.
In the future, I will use this method at first sign of frustration in bleeding.
Thanks again.
Walt
Cool! It turned out on mine the pads where getting pretty bad, and the caliper slide pins were stuck so it wasn't moving.. So it was good that I pulled it to change the fluid and bleed.