How and where should the clutch pull be? And system voltage

[800screws]

I bled the hell out of the clutch with dot 4 and left it sit overnight with the lever compressed. The lever goes almost halfway before getting to the clutch. Is this normal? Plus the pull is ungodly stiff. The bike only has 1100 miles.

Also one time riding through a small town I got a system voyage error message and the bike shut off. Restarted after I turned it off and back on. An ideas

 

[Cooter]

Wut?? Why in gods name would you "left it sit overnight with the lever compressed"?



What town was it? Small towns are known for messing up charging systems in CR's.

 

[800screws]

It bleeds out the air bubbles....the master cylinder cap is off when this is done. And I should have specified. It was slow moving. Stop and go traffic when the voltage error occurred

 

[34nineteen]

It bleeds out the air bubbles....the master cylinder cap is off when this is done. And I should have specified. It was slow moving. Stop and go traffic when the voltage error occurred

Yeah, Cooter... you've been doing it wrong for years. Its seems we all have.

Why bother with speed bleeders, vacuum bleeders and all that crap, when all you have to do it pull the cap and keep the lever depressed overnight?

Who knew?

 

[Cooter]

It is not "normal". Because when you depress the lever, the master cylinder piston has too block off the holes in the master cylinder to make pressure in the line effectively plugging the top. That will make the fluid create a vacuum (from it's own weight) and the only way it releases that vacuum to drain is to suck air from wherever it can. You are adding air to the line, that's the opposite of what you want to do. Ever wonder why the 5 gallon water bottle thats upside down on the water dispenser doesn't just drain itself all over the floor?? When you fill your glass, where do you see the bubbles come from... Thats whats happening in your clutch line and why it's the exact wrong way to do that job:upset:

I'm glad you mentioned how you are doing it, and not just 'I bled the system and now it won't work'. These details matter

Fill the master cylinder reservoir with new/fresh DOT 4, squeeze the clutch slowly, open and close the bleeder at the slave cylinder, release the clutch lever slowly. Repeat.

Since you have probably created an air pocket inside the stock master now, it may be difficult to bleed the proper way. Here are some hints to help you get the clutch back to functioning correctly.

Tap on the master cylinder while bleeding to shake loose any air bubbles.
While the system in under pressure, crack the outlet line of the M/C (9/16") like a bleeder.
Tap on the slave cylinder cover to shake loose small bubbles.
While bleeding, turn the bars different ways to tilt the M/C. I've even had to loosen it to level it out.
Remember, air bubbles are trying to get to the top and will get trapped in corners.

If you have a vacuum bleeder (the best way), before you start, take off the bleeder screw completely and use teflon tape around the threads be careful not to cover the holes. Doing that will stop air from leaking past the threads while under vacuum and causing false bubbles in your clear bleeder line.

Good luck.

 

[800screws]

I did use the vacuum bleeder. But leaving the cap off and lever compressed on mx bikes let’s little air bubbles escape. I guess not on a buell. Thanks for at least one person helping

 

[34nineteen]

I did use the vacuum bleeder. But leaving the cap off and lever compressed on mx bikes let’s little air bubbles escape. I guess not on a buell. Thanks for at least one person helping

Its not a Buell thing. Those air bubbles don't know or care what bike brand it is.

I've heard of people using that method before when trying to chase out an air bubble when they dont have proper tools to use for a proper bleeding.

The thing with leaving the lever compressed overnight trick is that it blocks the port leading to the reservoir, if not fluid would squirt upwards into the reservoir (I'm sure you've seen that). So cap on or off.... if an air bubble does raise to the top, it wont get past the port until the lever is released.

I'm not saying it doesnt work, but its more of a method used when you dont have any options. Heck, I bled the brake on my SS by flicking the brake lever. It works, but I wouldnt rely on that as my go-to method.


That said, my "go-to method" is using a big syringe and some plastic tubing from Ace.



edit: Cooter beat me to the response and did a much better job.

 

[Cooter]

No matter your method (vacuum or not), depressing the clutch lever is the exact wrong thing to do.
You are sealing shut the place that the bubbles need to go and stopping any fluid flow as well.


Flicking the lever to knock loose bubbles is different and ok if you need too. There is no benefit to holding the lever shut, it only eliminates the possibility of bleeding the brake system in any bike correctly.

If you think it's been working for you, it's because the system is already bled, not because you did that.

Physics beats Old Wives rumors every time

 

[34nineteen]

Yeah, the old flicking the lever trick was letting the bubbles rise and I kept the reservoir with fluid in it. Every time I gave it a flick, a few bubble flowed into the reservoir. Pretty soon I was getting a firm lever and voila!

I wouldn’t count on that method, but it was fun to watch it work out.

Cooter, have you tried a bleed with a 75-100mL syringe? We do that almost exclusively in the mountain bike world as the go to method for bleeding. On a car I stick with yelling underneath “ok, pedal down!” “Hold it” “Okay, let up!l” method, because my life isn’t frustrating enough. Haha.

 

[Outlaw]

I use the Phoenix reverse bleeder.

 

[Cooter]

34:19: The syringe will work exactly like a vacuum pump:up: I like the pump because I can create a vacuum and have both my hands free to fiddle with stuff.

I have a PHX reverse bleeder but haven't used it in a long time. It's really good if your starting with a brand new or totally dry MC, but once I figured out to loosen it up and move the MC around it was easier to do that

 

[pdksh]

I had to bleed the hydraulic clutch of a 2000ish Honda civic after I accidentally broke a line. The whole system is pretty level so you don't get a good gravity fluid flow. I was about to go INSANE... I even replaced the slave cylinder. After what felt like hours the system finally started to build pressure. Close bleeder, pump, pump, pump, hold, open bleeder did eventually work. I tried a suction tool. I just got my hands on a HUGE syringe. Next time I'll try pressure filling the system from the bleeder nipple. - OH this is the buell thread - sorry. AND AN OLD POST....

TOO MUCH COFFEE :topsy_turvy: