Do I have a bad brake bleeder nipple?

The Dancing Waters at the Bellagio aren't small geysers.

If you squeeze the Brake Lever and a stream of Fluid leaps out of the reservoir, ... you got troubles.

If it squirts HARD out of there, ... the Main Seal is Leaking-by.

When the Main Seal FAILS to Pump Fluid into the System and Pressure develops BEHIND the Main Seal, ... the Cylinder Seal FORCES Fluid to be expelled through the Replenishment Orifice. Big time.

When the Main Hydraulic Seal is Good, Fluid within the MC is Pumped down into the System.
Very little Pressure behind the Main Seal results.
As the Brake Pads wear and more Fluid is needed in the System, ... The Cylinder Seal PUSHES Fluid through the Orifices in the Piston behind the Main Seal ... which provide LESS Resistance than the tiny Replenishment Orifice.

 

The lever doesn't need to be pulled for when you use the Mity-Vac, no.

Getting my Secas brakes bled was one of the most frustrating things I've ever done, mechanically; and I've been at this a good long time.

I used a combination of the Mity-Vac, holding the lever back overnight, and LOTS of good old conventional hand bleeding. And it still took forever. Both bikes.

 

This is comforting to know! OK - chin up, and I'll continue trying after work today!

 

your doing this with the cover on? how can you tell if any bubbles are coming out?
think about this, there's a bubble say a 1.5 inch long partly in the MC the rest in the line just outside. you pump the lever, the bubble and some fluid move down the line. you do the hold, open, close thing, 5 times, where is that bubble? every time your not pumping, that bubble is going back up the line.
this worked for me after it set for awhile.
take off the cover, cover the tank with plastic and a rag just in case, now "wiggle" the lever, pull it slowly back 1/2 inch then let it snap back, you should get some tiny bubbles out of the relief hole, don't give a full pump and drive the air down the line, just a little "wiggle" to agitate it. when it snaps back theres a short time the piston will suck fluid and air back from the line. go do that about 50 times, i bet you get pressure.
4 MC's aint nuthin, i used almost a quart before i figured that out

 

Yes, I've been leaving the cover on (without the rubber gasket) while I've being drawing fluid through the system. Between pumps, I check the fluid level of course to make sure I don't empty it! But no, I was only looking for bubbles to come out the bleeder nipple, not bubble up in the MC.

But sure Polock, I'll try what you said in case a bubble is stuck around the MC. I'll try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING at this point!

We are finally getting some sunny weather this week in Minnesota!

 

after a few hours air is going to be in the highest point in the system, make the hoses bend or twist the MC so that point is the MC.
think like a bubble, that's not hard for me

 

and .. turning the wheel so the bleeder is at it's highest point, helps too, maybe on side stand

 

true, if your going to suck from the bottom (that sounds bad), but if your letting the air rise to the MC the line fitting needs to be higher

 

::SndF/X:::
(Phone ringing)

"Hello. This is Forrest. Forrest Gump."

"Well congratulations Forrest. If you answer the Jackpot Question; you win a box of chocolates. Ready?"
"What's it about?"
"It's about Japanese motorcycles."
"O.K. I hope I win that box of chocolates. I hope its one of them box of chocolates with the what-kind-it-is sheets."

"For a box of chocolates."
"Wait. How long do I have to answer?"
"You get exactly one New York Minute."

"Should it take more or less than than eight days to get the front brakes bled on a Yamaha XJ-Bike?"

 

I don't know if this applies to the 550 MC, but on the 1100's, if you squeeze the brake lever in ALL the way, as you would with a fresh rebuild, it inverts the rubber cup at the end of the piston, and you will never get a hard lever. The answer is to take the piston back out, fix the cup, and start the process again, this time putting a block of wood between the lever and the grip, so that you cannot bottom out the piston.
CZ

 

I love you guys. In the midst of all the frustration, Rick made me laugh.

So, for your collective enjoyment, I've uploaded a video (yes! Grab a paper bag and start breathing into it to contain your excitement!) of my continued attempt.... (cute soap opera music...) to bleed forementioned brakes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC4yOphF ... e=youtu.be

Now please, don't share this link with all your friends! I don't want for it to go viral!

Now, I don't know what's changed, but you can see that I'm really only getting air out of there now, and no fluid, and the MC level is staying steady. This change just happened at the end; before that, I refilled the MC a few times.

But, the good news is that the front brake will now fully close. Hard to know how much pressure is there until I actually try to run it, but I don't really want to do that quite yet.

In answer to some previous post, yes, because it's on a centerstand, I think the connection at the MC is a hair higher than the ports in the MC, so an air bubble could be stuck there. Tomorrow, I'll try putting it on the sidestand (unless other advice is suggested...) and keep moving brake fluid through this thing.

 

I want to read the final chapter in this story

 

Yeah... so do I Polock! So, I didn't get any comments on my video, so I once again hooked up my Mity-Vac yesterday after I adjusted the handlebars as best I could to try to ensure that bubbles will be able to rise to the MC. I also worked the MC piston a few times in the hope of dislodging any bubbles that might be trapped there.

Anyways, I hooked up the Mity-Vac and got the same experience as shown in the video - just looked like air to me. But here's the thing: once I gave up on that, and went to the manual method of opening the nipple, pressing in the brake lever, closing the nipple, releasing the lever, etc, I got a good, solid stream of fluid with no bubbles in my draining tube! Well, one tiny one... So after 4 cycles, I closed it off and took it for a ride.

The brakes will close, but while there's pressure and I do get some braking, it's obvious that I don't have the braking I should. So, my assumption is that there's still air in there, and I should go back to the manual method and do a bunch of cycles in the hope of purging any of that leftover air. Sound appropriate?

Incidentally, I just regret I don't have someone to take pictures of my whole building of my MC, calipers, and replacing the lines.. I'd like to contribute to the group with a FAQ.

 

Run it through a few "heat cycles" and re-bleed. YOU'VE WON at this point, now it's just a case of "tidying up."

 

"bad brake bleeder nipple"

Say that 5 times fast... ouch

 

c) Finally, here's one neat trick to get a truly professional, world-class level of brake bleeding accomplished: after you "finish" your final bleeding cycle, turn the forks so that the caliper you are bleeding is on the high side. Now do one final bleeding to rid the system of the last few tiny bubbles that tend to hide in the top of the caliper when the front wheel is straight ahead. The reason for this is: if you look at where the bleeder screw is on the caliper body, it is placed just slightly below the very top arc of the piston bore in the caliper. Turning the front wheel gets the internal bleeder screw port above this arc, and allows you to get all that pesky air out of your system.

 

That too.

On a single-caliper bike like the 550s, I just bleed in that position from the beginning. With the Euro bar, full left lock also provides a relatively level M/C reservoir.

 

For my clarification purposes: I understand to position the MC and caliper is such a way to try and dislodge the air bubbles, but am unclear if all those bubbles are expect to be extracted solely through the bleeder nipple. If any are stuck around the MC, are those ever "floated" up?

 

Yep. Or forced out the bottom end with the GALLONS of fluid you've pumped through it.

TIME is the biggest factor; it simply takes time for the microbubbles to "find each other" and become one big, bleedable bubble.

 

I don't know where you get these crazy ideas, that a bubble would go up and come right out the relief hole with a little coaxing. That's what's wrong with this inerweb thingy