Interesting post at
Link . I was reading through the
SB23 service notice posted by MidLife in post#22 relating to the SMC replacement issues on the GL.
A few things stood out.
1) Clean the reservoir hose and banjo bolt with water - NOT brake fluid. Blow it dry.
2) For some bleed valves - manually pump 8 reservoirs of fluid (about 200cc / 7 oz) through each bleed valve
3) At a number of points the procedure indicates that a vacuum bleeder should not be used.
4) A strong resistance may be felt at the brake pedal, due to the delay valve. Ensure the pedal is fully depressed.
5) The note in the side margin says that manual pumping is required to remove all of the contaminants from the brake line.
6) At one point the comment is made that the SMC for the GL has had the internal valve assembly re-designed.
All of the above needs to be taken in the context of cleaning out the old system by filling it up, flushing it out and then bleeding. The notice also mentions revision of procedures for the mechanics:
A redesigned secondary master cylinder with new internal valving is now available to correct this condition; in addition, Honda has updated its brake fluid replacement service procedure to better ensure that all old brake fluid is removed from the system.
I wonder how much of this can also be applied to the ST1300. For the brake line air bleeding, the instructions in B23 also indicate that a brake bleeder tool should not be used. I'm assuming that this is the new 'normal' service procedure. I wonder if the original instructions in the GL service manual said "Connect a commercially available brake bleeder tool" as it does in the ST1300 manual. Does anyone have a GL1800 service manual to check ?
Thinking about my own behaviour - I always pull the fluid through with a vacuum bleeder and finish off with a normal bleed tube. I'll get through about a litre of fluid for the full replace and bleed, and will get through about 3 reservoirs full just bleeding with the tube to finish off.