just screwed up

i just pulled apart the master cylinder on my seca and cleaned it out and put the bike back together

unfortunatly the brake fluid bottle was right next to the power steering fluid and aparently i am an idiot

my question is how much flushing do i need to do

do i need to pull the whole system apart and clean it out with brakeclean then reassemble or should i just flush it and fill with dot 3

 

Oil in your brake system will kill your rubber seals. Clean as fast as you can or the insides of your hoses will swell shut. Use brake cleaner and flush with clean fluid. Remove your calipers and master cylinder and check for swollen seals. I would replace them if anything looks suspect. Its your safety your dealing with. Good Luck

 

Read the warning label on the Power Steering Fluid.
See if there is wording to the effect of it being fatal to rubber seals, non-rubber seals etc.

Examine the seals in your Master Cylinder.
Bring the Master Cylinder to the workbench and disassemble the Unit.
If the Seals have not swollen and turned to mush; reassemble and purge the system of the Power Steering Fluid.

If the Seals have been destroyed:
Order all the new parts you'll be needing to replace.
Master Cylinder Rebuild Kit
Brake Lines
Caliper Seals

 

Read the entire report here:

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:hW ... cd=2&gl=us

 

Rick is absolutely correct and I hope you have already acted and quickly or you will be ordering some parts...

 

Interesting report.

Working on motor cycles I'm new to. I've always fiddled with cars though.
I never even thought of oil being a problem in a brake system. But then again I always used brake fluid in the brake system. I am however prone to off handed mistakes.

Thanks for the tech info and Good Luck Brent

Rick

 

I see this a lot in my profession. A simple mistake with costly results.

If you did not actuate the brake lever and you caught your mistake immediately, I see no reason why you can't simple remove the brake master cylinder then dump and clean it out with a suitable brake parts cleaner.

 

man, that sux

 

pulled the entire system off and dissasembled on work bench flushed everything with brake clean and air
it sat overnight but the rubber still looks brand new
reassembled
gonna bleed it later tonight

 

hope everything works out ok

 

i have bleed air bubbles out of lines before but never an empty line should it take a long time to really get it flowing or do i need one of those vacume pump things

any advice

 

the vacuum pump would be the easiest route, if you are cheap like me, fill the master cylinder, leave the top off, crack open the bleeders, and turn the bars to where the bottom of the master cylinder is level with the ground, wait a few minutes for gravity to work, it could take a while, when you start getting fluid from the bleeders, close em up and proceed to bleed, if you dont get any fluid out the bleeders after about an hour, pull the lines at the calipers and try again, when i rebuilt my mc neither one of these worked and i used the vacuum system off my beater car to pull the fluid(not recommended, but it works). hope this helps.

 

Good to hear you were able to save your system. Hope it works out for you.

 

When the whole system's empty it will take a couple of refills of the MC to get everything filled back up. Also, once it's as bled as bled can be, go for a ride that involves a bit of front brake use (WARM it up) then after it cools, re-bleed. You will see it needed it. I would also recommend bleeding again in about a month or so, should be ok after that.

 

Talk about dodging a bullet!

You dodged a nuclear weapon!

 

the problem is now fixed my seca is finally on the road and bleeding the brakes was one of the most boring experiences of my life im gonna have to get one of those mityvacs sometime

 

I ended up buying one of those vacuum brake bleeders. After squeezing the brake lever for over an hour, I gave up. With the tool, I had the job done in just a few minutes. It worked awesome!

 

yeah i used clear line and a pressure bulb from an old blood pressure cuff
it still took 3 hours