Brake Bleeding Gone Bad: No Rear Brake

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Aug 22, 2013
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Wichita, Kansas
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2004 ST 1300
My first service to my 2004 ST 1300 has gone seriously bad. The clutch bleed went fine. The brakes went seriously South as I had no rear brake pedal when I got done.

Here is what may have happened. I compared my brake bleed cheat sheet with the more detailed printout and here is what I found. When it came to the fourth bleed, rear center, the cheat sheet said is was fed from the front. The more detailed instructions claims the rear center if fed off the rear master. So, I am using a motion pro and squeezing the heck out of the front brake and hardly anything comes out. I go thru the rest of the bleeds and as I top of the rear master, it belches up a few bubbles. I put the cap on and check the brake. No pedal. I try to run thru the rear bleeds again, but there is not enough pedal to get anything. I am screwed.

I should not have followed the cheat sheet if the rear center if fed off the rear master. I was working with confliction instructions and this was critical because I was using the motion pro.

Any Ideas? I think I may have to get a Mighty Vac to get things flowing again.
 

Kevin_56

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Even using a vacuum pump, you still have to follow the correct steps and keep that rear master reservoir full of fluid, Strange that you have no resistance on the rear pedal. All you did was attach the motion pro and open it, then closed it. It is NOT suppose to allow air back into the lines, unless you loosened the bleed screw so far air passed by the threads. Good luck.
 
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Bleed the PCV again, since it is the highest in the circuit, the bubbles probably when to that point! Be sure to position the secondary master cylinder at a 15 degree angle....
 

dduelin

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The rear caliper is fed from the rear reservoir. Did you pump the rear brake pedal bleeding the PVC and rear circuits and pump it dry thus pulling air into the rear master cylinder?
 
OP
OP
SainT 1300
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Go to the "articles" section at the top of the ST page and you will find "ST1300 - Brake Bleeding Sequence Cheat Sheet".

The Cheat Sheet is an attached file. I could only open it and print it. Could not copy and past for this post. It clearly indicated the rear center bleed is fed from the front, so I was using the front master, with no results, during the bleed. That is what screw me up, and I think that's when the air was getting in. I will try to get the brake fluid up to the PVC and get it flowing again. If I can get somewhat of a feel in the pedal and get the fluid flowing again, I will go thru the entire sequence again, the right way this time.
 

RCS

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Some swear by the motion pro. I use the $35 mity vac and the service manual. It is a linked braking system which makes it more complicated but not hard if you follow the instructions. No short cuts.
 
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Email sent...standing by the white courtesy phone :call: if needed.
Igofar
 

Mellow

Joe
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Go to the "articles" section at the top of the ST page and you will find "ST1300 - Brake Bleeding Sequence Cheat Sheet".

The Cheat Sheet is an attached file. I could only open it and print it. Could not copy and past for this post. It clearly indicated the rear center bleed is fed from the front, so I was using the front master, with no results, during the bleed. That is what screw me up, and I think that's when the air was getting in. I will try to get the brake fluid up to the PVC and get it flowing again. If I can get somewhat of a feel in the pedal and get the fluid flowing again, I will go thru the entire sequence again, the right way this time.
Just looked... and further down in that thread Fred corrected the sequence by the original poster... so I'll move his to the top and delete the original stuff. Actually, I'll just delete the whole thing, I always refer to the one by MileHigh when doing brakes.
 
OP
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SainT 1300
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2004 ST 1300
Thanks for the replies. I will try doing the bleed again this morning, starting with the PCV. I did have Milehigh's instructions as well and studied it beforehand. What got me in trouble was using the cheat sheet during the bleed process. I had them both printed out for the bleed. I discovered the discrepancy after I got in trouble. I was wondering why the rear center was not bleeding during the process. Now I realize it was because I was pulling on the front brake lever, not pushing on the rear pedal. Geezy. I hope I get some feeling on the rear pedal so I can get the air out of there and bleed the system again.
 
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Do the entire sequence in the correct order or you'll end up with a less-than-perfect bleed.

--Mark
:plus1:
Start over, and just one at least 1 master cylinder of fluid through each circuit to get ALL the air out, or as Blrfl stated, you'll end up with a less that perfect bleed, with air in your system.
Igofar
 
OP
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SainT 1300
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Thanks for all the help. I did it all over and got the air out. Lesson learned. It was good to walk away from it for a day and start over fresh. The rest of the work went well...
 

Mellow

Joe
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Excellent, glad to hear it. It's really not bad once you get the sequence of course. It's still involved and I do wish Honda would have made a less involved linked braking system.
 
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Thanks for this thread! I am just about to do this for the first time and I had printed out the old 'Cheat Sheet' some time ago for reference. I will now reference milehigh's version. You guys are the best.
 
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