Brake caliper issue...

[argentum40]

I went to change the pads and as they wouldnt pull out i had to remove and split the caliper..after much faffing about with the pads to make em fit and re-assembling the caliper i cant get the brakes to bleed... tried alsorts and still no lever pressure... its as if iots blocked somewhere or drawing in loads of air yet theres no fluid leaks at all....

any ideas lads

[Guest]

Pump the lever a good few times, after that hold the brake pedal all the way down for a good few hours, come back and open up the reservoir to let the air out (all should rise to top). That should sort it.

If not, you be f**ked

[argentum40]

already fooked mate 2 bikes and non of em roadworthy lol... i will give it a go and see what happens... if its no better then i may have to strip the caliper again and see if i can find out why it doesnt want to play

[megawatt]

I had this with my Blade calipers last spring . Only sorted by borrowing a Mity Vac vacuum pump off a mate.

[Guest Hodgy]

If you split the callipers, are you sure the seals that go between the two halves went back in and are in good condition?

If so, get a syringe and some tubing, put it on the bleed nipple and try sucking the fluid through, close the nipple each time you stop, to make sure air doesn't go back into the system.

This usually works for me without any problems

[argentum40]

funnily enough when i split the caliper there were no seals at all... however the caliper worked perfectly before i split it... the tube and syringe idea sounds good of i can find a piece of tubing to fit the caliper and a syringe thanks for the tip mate

[Guest Hodgy]

The seals are normally just little rubber 'O' rings on the channels where the fluid passes from one half of the calliper to the other, unless your callipers only have 1 piston, and then the fluid would not need to go into the other half?

[argentum40]

its dual piston i think... hhmmm u got me thinkin now and i wonder if the o ring fell out and i simply didnt notice it... i will have to have a look and see if its lying around and if not then gonna have to find an o ring to fit ggrrrr

[eastanglianbiker]

what bike is it on as some bikes are only single piston and spliting the caliper wont affect anything havfe you checked to make sure the bleed nipple isnt blocked,take it right out if you have to make sure its clear and put back in or the master cylinder is giving up

[argentum40]

its just on my little scoot and has a dual piston AJP caliper... i havent checked to see if the blled nipple is blocked to be honest but will do that tomorrow if the weather is ok... come to think of it when i slackened off the nipple and tried bleeding it the fluid was cioming out of the threads not the hole in the nipple...

[Decor58]

If it's dual piston it has to have a seal where the fluid goes from one side of the caliper to the other.

Get a seal in there and it should hopefully sort the issue

[argentum40]

i will take it back off again and check to see if the seal is in there... if not will have to try and find one to fit... thanks lads

[Decor58]

try wemoto.com for seals

[argentum40]

They dont do them for the model i have... nevermind i will find something to fit

[Decor58]

Really? Wow they not many bikes don't do parts for lol

[argentum40]

they do parts just not the seals lol..... or at least i couldnt find em on there

[bullet5]

In fairness it probably won't have a seal. My bandit's calipers didn't appear to have ones either. Just a good tight factory fit of the metal halves

Bleeding the brakes takes a lot of time. I sat there pumping and undoing/tightening the bleed nipple for about an hour each. It takes a good 10 mins or so of pumping for the fluid to start bubbling out of the bleed nipple.

Procedure (if you didn't know).

Tighten bleed nipple,

Pour oil into the master cylinder,

Pump the foot brake/hand brake a handfull of times (4 or 5),

Hold the brake lever in fully

At the same time, undo one of the bleed nipples on the caliper,

Hold it open for about 5 seconds,

then close it tightly,

and repeat the procedure.

Does take a hell of a long time, and it is a lot easier with two people on the job. Whatever you do DON'T let air go back into the caliper through the bleed nipple!

Good Luck!

Bullet5.

[Guest]

In fairness it probably won't have a seal. My bandit's calipers didn't appear to have ones either. Just a good tight factory fit of the metal halves

Bleeding the brakes takes a lot of time. I sat there pumping and undoing/tightening the bleed nipple for about an hour each. It takes a good 10 mins or so of pumping for the fluid to start bubbling out of the bleed nipple.

Procedure (if you didn't know).

Tighten bleed nipple,

Pour oil into the master cylinder,

Pump the foot brake/hand brake a handfull of times (4 or 5),

Hold the brake lever in fully

At the same time, undo one of the bleed nipples on the caliper,

Hold it open for about 5 seconds,

then close it tightly,

and repeat the procedure.

Does take a hell of a long time, and it is a lot easier with two people on the job. Whatever you do DON'T let air go back into the caliper through the bleed nipple!

Good Luck!

Bullet5.

 

Didn't take me that long at all to bleed my SV's callipers, both front and back. Albeit I didn't strip them just gave em a good clean up, but still.

A good technique I've heard about it filling up from the bleed nipple and forcing the fluid up, rather than the other way round.

I'd do as I suggested first, if then no go maybe follow someone else's advice of stripping etc. I found my lever didn't do anything til I pumped it a good few times, it tightened up, cable tie'd over night and pow, tis done. .

[argentum40]

thanks lads and fummily enough thats what i did last night lol... pumped it about 50 times and cable tied it... left it over night and will take a look shortly

[Stu]

Leaving the brake on doesn't bleed brakes

Brakes are a sealed system once the leaver is squeezed so no air can get out if air could get out so would fluid making the brakes useless!

Also you should have seals between the 2 halves and bullet your bandit should have too they are the same calipers on must Suzuki's and the same as mine

As for bleeding as already said reverse fill if you can you may also need to crack the banjo bolt on the master cylinder as air gets trapped in there also remove the master cylinder and hold it at different angles and pump the lever very slightly

[Guest]

Leaving the brake on doesn't bleed brakes

Brakes are a sealed system once the leaver is squeezed so no air can get out if air could get out so would fluid making the brakes useless!

Also you should have seals between the 2 halves and bullet your bandit should have too they are the same calipers on must Suzuki's and the same as mine

As for bleeding as already said reverse fill if you can you may also need to crack the banjo bolt on the master cylinder as air gets trapped in there also remove the master cylinder and hold it at different angles and pump the lever very slightly

 

No, but leaving them firmly on can and does make the air rise to the top of the reservoir. Should be better once you've done that.

Also I had a little one way valve thinggi that I used, so all I needed to do was pump .

[Stu]

Waste of time making air rise when it comes out the bottom!

You can't bleed brakes out of the res you will get a little air out but not all of if it

Same as reserve bleeding it only fills the lines it doesn't get all air out

[bullet5]

Also you should have seals between the 2 halves and bullet your bandit should have too they are the same calipers on must Suzuki's and the same as mine

 

I stand corrected. I just didn't notice any when I pulled mine apart.

[Stu]

It could have been apart before and the seals not been put back in if they was their you would have seen them

[redline]

maybe take a picture too so we can see, AJPs stuff is normally alright, a lot of trials bike have ajp brakes, like gas gas and betas etc

id agree with above advice to try a syringe and reverse bleed it up from the caliper