ABS unit empty

[Error]

In the process of putting my bike back together, I pulled the rear calliper off and cleaned it up, and swapped pads. While the bike was apart, I also had the rear brake line disconnected, and I’m sure pressed the brake a few times.

Now that I’m putting it all back together, I have no brake pressure in the rear. I can hear that that ABS module is empty, getting some “not enough fluid” noises when the pedal is pushed.

No matter how I try to bleed them, I can’t get pressure as the module won’t fill.

The only thing I can find on line says holding the calliper above the module may work. This would be a nightmare to do in practice. Anyone else run into this, any fixes?

Bike is a 2016 V7ii.

[Motormike]

Without fancy pressure bleeders or reverse bleeding, having to elevate the brake caliper above the ABS unit is pretty normal I'm afraid.  I have a Ducati Mulitstrada, and removing and hanging the rear brake caliper above the bike is the only effective way to get all the air out of the line.

[Error]

I’ll give it a go shortly. If I just have to hang it off the line, easy. But I’m not sure the brake line is long enough to hang high enough. I’ll report back.

[Dirk_S]

I’ll give it a go shortly. If I just have to hang it off the line, easy. But I’m not sure the brake line is long enough to hang high enough. I’ll report back.

Many a folks have done it that way. You should raise it AND flip it upside down, so that the bleed nipple faces up. Otherwise, air could potentially be trapped. I learned that bit of info back in 2014 when I spent all day trying to bleed my Honda CX500’s rear brake.

[jhem68]

If you remove the caliper and line mounts, then feed it between the rear tire and frame to the right side of the motorcycle, you should be able to hang it high enough to bleed it easy-peasy. Basically, just follow the path the brake line takes back closer towards the master cylinder then elevate to about the height of the right rear shock. Wedge something in between the brake pads and bleed it as you normally would.

Worked for me after installing Sato rear sets (which require a pressure switch on the master cylinder for the brake light) on my V7 III.


John H

[Tom H]

IIRR the ABS unit is not needed for your brakes to work. You should have brake pressure if bled properly. Follow the above suggestions.

IIRR Guzzidiag can cycle the ABS unit to get the air out as well as when you change fluid.

Tom

[Bulldog9]

As others have said, removing and inverting the bleeder works.

A cheap vacuum bleeder $16 on Amazon with overnight delivery is the best way to go. Very helpful and makes bleeding and fluid changes a breeze.

[Error]

The suggested above setup worked. For anyone ending up here looking a picture of the setup I used below





Back to putting the bike together. I may actually have the time to get it sorted next week.