I've done a complete maintenance on my newly acquired 07ST. I started doing the brake bleeding. The front brakes Were easy and quick. I pulled off the left front caliper hung up by a bungee cord to get that 15ﾟ angle and started trying to Bleed the proportioning valve.It was so slow to bleed is this normal?It was really Contaminated brake fluid and I couldn't get it to flow very easily.I rehung the Front brake and started with the rear brake that was quick and easy. I got the left front brake blood it took awhile at a lot of air in it. And the rear brake with the outer bleeder was slow to bleed and full of air. I got the fluid clean but it still sucking air any advice?
Bleeding the brakes
- Thread starter Barry
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+1 on what John said. Any vacuum type bleeder will pull in air from the outside at the connection because the hose pretty much never fits air tight. You could zip tie it to help but that doesn't always work. It's just the nature of the beast so to speak. The only way to see the real air in the system is the old school way or a bleeder that doesn't use extra force in extracting the fluid. I've always used a vacuum type bleeder like the mityvac and it's always worked fine.
RobbieAG
Robert
Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but the 1300 has linked brakes (even the non ABS version) and bleeding is a bit involved. It's important to follow the procedure in the service manual and do it in the order specified. There is an excellent thread on here about it as well. I have a Mityvac, but last time I didn't use it; I just used a very simple bleeding tool which is just a small bottle and a couple hoses.
I am using a mityvac which does a good of bleeding the brakes. The mechanics are straightforward of doing it you I've got A PDF Manual and I've read The different threads on bleeding the ST brakes. After bleeding the front brakes th as that feed of the front master reserve and start bleeding the proportioning circuit it is very slow to pull brake fluid out. I don't think he ever bled the brakes in the proportioning circuit was very dirty. Is it normal for that fluid Pull out slow ? And thanks for your reply
Yes it is. Also, the center? piston on the rear can be slow so I would close the bleeder, press and hold the rear brake pedal, release the bleeder, close the bleeder, release the rear brake, repeat, repeat, repeat...
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I have a very easy to follow PDF outlining the brake fluid bleed and replacement. PM me an email address if you want a copy.
In the 13 years I maintained my ST1300 I bled the brakes about 15 times (every 12,000 miles). I rode enough I never had to do it at 24 months. I also had a second ST1300 for a while that had very old brake fluid in it when I did major service on it at 70,000 miles. I always did this job by myself.
It was my experience that a MityVac works fine but needs help on some of the longer circuits. I would pump the foot pedal to help it pull fluid through. 8 or 12 pumps then check the reservoir. You only have to pull air into a circuit from the reservoir once to carefully pay attention from then on. The first time a Mityvac or other vacuum pump is used the trick is to wrap the bleeder valves with teflon tape to help seal the threads. You only have to seal them once, or at least once in 180,000 miles. I also replaced the end hose of the Mityvac with a piece of small ID vinyl hose that fit the bleeders very tightly and did not use the adapters supplied with the pump.
Yes, the proportioning control valve can be full of jelly-like material caused by neglected or incomplete flushing/bleeding. You are on to something there. It must be completely flushed out. There is a very specific sequence to bleeding each circuit and it must be followed. Besides the PDF I used and offer there are many resources to help you.
In the 13 years I maintained my ST1300 I bled the brakes about 15 times (every 12,000 miles). I rode enough I never had to do it at 24 months. I also had a second ST1300 for a while that had very old brake fluid in it when I did major service on it at 70,000 miles. I always did this job by myself.
It was my experience that a MityVac works fine but needs help on some of the longer circuits. I would pump the foot pedal to help it pull fluid through. 8 or 12 pumps then check the reservoir. You only have to pull air into a circuit from the reservoir once to carefully pay attention from then on. The first time a Mityvac or other vacuum pump is used the trick is to wrap the bleeder valves with teflon tape to help seal the threads. You only have to seal them once, or at least once in 180,000 miles. I also replaced the end hose of the Mityvac with a piece of small ID vinyl hose that fit the bleeders very tightly and did not use the adapters supplied with the pump.
Yes, the proportioning control valve can be full of jelly-like material caused by neglected or incomplete flushing/bleeding. You are on to something there. It must be completely flushed out. There is a very specific sequence to bleeding each circuit and it must be followed. Besides the PDF I used and offer there are many resources to help you.
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The rear bleeder valve on the rear caliper In the proportioning valve in the middle of the biker the ones that run slow exceedingly slow. I don't know if there's something wrong or if this is normal the manual doesn't say thanks for the reply in the advice.
I Would like to thank everyone for their advice and input on my break issue. I re bled my brakes starting at the proportioning valve. It was still running slow in finely at chunk of something came out in it moved a little faster. I Work my way through the entire system all the air came out and it seems to be good to go. I ended up using a qt and 1/2 of ditch 4 syntheic. I'm still waiting on my water pump cover Gasket, Since it's all a part I'm going to go ahead and replace the thermostat and gasket and the lower and upper main hoses.
I followed the pdf bleeding of the brakes and it was very informative. Had a lot of bikes in the past but the ST is rather time consuming and tedious. Thanks for posting and all the help..
Much if not most of that goes away with practice. Granted it still won't be as quick or simple as most other bikes.Barry said:
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Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
First time I bled the brakes on my '06 it looked like maple syrup coming out of the prop valve and rear caliper. I almost had to entirely remove the bleed nipple to get it to "flow".
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In Articles (top ribbon menu), St1300.
Here is my attempt - which tries to explain in pretty pictures what you are doing and why - apart from blowing bubbles through a straw
Article [13] - ST1300 - Brake Maintenance - Getting all the air out of the brake system | ST1300 Articles
A detailed look at the process of getting the air out of the Honda ST1300 brake lines. A sequence of diagrams of the brake circuits, colour coded to show which parts of the system are being accessed when each bleed valve is opened and explanations of where the trouble spots are. These are just...
Hey Barry, welcome to the ST world. I just got my 2007 1300 last year and spent a lot of time going over it myself since there was a lot of deferred maintenance on mine. When bleeding my breaks for first time I encountered bad fluid like you and then learned about the Secondary Master Cylinder and how it can get corrupted (mine was). For safety sake please inspect that to make sure you won’t suffer from locked rear brakes. Lots of articles on this issue in the site.
if needed
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PM me an email address for the PDF for ST1300 Hydraulic Fluid Flush & Bleed.