Front brake air bleeding question

I went to bleed the front brakes just like I would my dirtbike. Pump the lever a few times and hold it tight. Open and close the bleeder valve, then release the lever.
Did this about a 8 times and no oil came out. Tried it on both sides with no luck.

Does the ABS require a vacuum pump or do I have a clog somewhere?

The brakes feel great but this bothers me.

 

I use a vacuum bleeder. Makes life much easier.

THAT SAID, bled the clutch on my 5th gen last week & ended up having to remove the bleeder entirely & clean it out as it was all crudded up.

 

What Tink said. There are multiple bleeder valves, and they need to be done in a specific order.

I asked my dealer to do it once - he said its 4 hours. I said fuck off. I did it with the help of a friend from this site - who's done it before - and it was still a 3+ hour project.

Clutch is easy - one lever and bleeder. Linked brakes; Not so much.

 

Aw dang. That doesn't make me feel any better lol. I'll whip out the manual when I have 4 hours with nothing to do I guess.

 

I just went through the pain of bleeding the entire system after replacing all the lines with the Galfer kit. It probably took me 5-6 hours working by myself, but in my case the vacuum bleeder was worthless. I couldn't pull fluid at any decent rate to save my life. It took me 30 minutes just to pull fresh fluid up to the PCV valve. Best method was the old fashioned pumping at the lever - and again a big thanks to BitterPil for that recommendation.

Fronts should be easy. They're just the lever and the upper two bleeders on each side. The lower/inner bleeders on the front, the PCV valve bleeder (under the rear of the tank) and the rear bleeders are all done from the rear master/pedal. Hell, my manual falls open to the brake section by itself now.

But now that it's all done - rebuilt front calipers, Galfer lines, and new EBC HH pads all around - it stops pretty damn well and I haven't even fully bedded the pads yet.

If I ever think I'm gonna have to do it again, I'll fork out the money for Speed Bleeders at the very least.

 

I use speed bleeders on everything. I did bleed four calipers on my neon srt-4 turbo, it takes no time at all. I had speed bleeders on my old R6 too. Put my summer racing goodyears on the last two days-I finished. the car rolls like it driving on rails. The goodyears a2's are 186+MPH rated tires and the car can do 180mph, bleed all four calipers greased 8 fitting, painted calipers with fresh High temp red paint. Limited to 190mph by computer LOL. It's funny they don't rate tires to 200mph any more, only 186+ because of some silly Gov rule. This is on my list to bleed all brakes and clutch-I have abs. It is stopping real fast all ready. I wonder if the Honda lines expand like all the rubber ;lines seem to do-may be a waste of money to replace them with SS lines I don't know at this point. But I would bet you could make the Honda abs stop in a extremely short distance with a few more mods.:tongue1:

 

Hi Brentlbaker - Fortunately my '97 needs nothing for awhile. Recently I did the linked system on the ST1100 I recently sold.
I work in reverse. I attach a brake fluid pump at the bleeder on the caliper. Using a turkey baster, I remove some fluid from the master cylinder and top it off with fresh fluid. Then, I use the brake fluid pump to pump old fluid out of the caliper. (This is using the pump in reverse. Usually, you would drain the whole system, then pump fluid up through the lines until fluid fills the master reservoir.)
Next, open the bleeder and pump some old brake fluid out of the caliper into a clear glass on an oil pan. Close the bleeder down. Note the discoloration in the old fluid. Then, add more fresh fluid at the top in the master cylinder reservoir. Repeat. You will be pumping out old fluid, and adding new fluid at the top of the system into the master cylinder reservoir. Repeat for your other linked brake. You have replaced old fluid with new fluid, without air bubbles in the brake system. Top off the reservoir, put the cover on and screw it down.
If you go the traditional route, you'll be doing the squeezing of the brake lever. Open the bleeder, squeeze the lever and remove the bubbles. Repeat. Before buttoning it up for the night, repeatedly squeeze the lever, keep it squeezed using a heavy rubber band or a big o-ring. Leave it overnight. You have a pressurized the system, encouraging air bubbles to collect in the reservoir. In the morning, open the reservoir and top it off.
If you need new lines, or to rebuild the caliper or master cylinder you will have to work with a dry, drained system that you will have to refill. Otherwise, you can just replace the fluid by using the pump out and refill method.
Good luck, BLB.
Bill

 

Thank you for the great guides! Looks like I need to check for clogs in the bleeder nipples

 

It's not 4h . lol 45 mins to front and back with a friend . If that . It's not hard

 

Just try not to kick over the brake fluid container.

 

Anther reason why i prefer my gen 4 bike to anything nrewe, no over-engineering of brakes or FI systems, no V-tec. Much simpler to work on than later VFR models, with fewer things to foul up, basic and reliable.

 

That's what I like to hear

 

Help, I did the rear brakes. Followed the service manual to the letter and used a mityvac. Thought it went well, but now I have a strange fluid like noise coming from the front left caliper area when I apply the rear pedal. Sounds like when you release a bottle jack and you for the piston rod to retract. The PCV bleeder was tough, took a long time to draw fluid out. I have pedal and the bike stops, but that noise makes me concerned. Should I get the speed bleeders or do the 2 person method?

 

Hi Norm98 - What year is your VFR?

 

I have found that sometimes the Mity-vac can suck in air if you're not careful. Speed bleeders are great once you have the lines filled but don't work too well if trying to fill the lines quickly, like with a mity-vac. Unfortunately, the Mity-vac does not work well with speed bleeders, you still have to squeeze the lever or press the pedal to move fluid out the bleeder, so filling a line with a speed bleeder installed will take a little more time/effort.

As far as rotating the caliper like Tink mentions, I found a easy way to get the caliper tilted and held in place and not have a need for 4 hands. I took a 2x4 and cut a notch in it where the lower caliper mount can fit over an cut the length just high enough to where the caliper sits right on top and right in between the wheel and motor. Like so...

 

Yes, I did rotate the front caliper as per the manual, supported it as shown by OOTV. I rebled the front calipers (right first, then left) with the pedal pushing fluid thru and saw no air bubbles, but still have the fluid sound when depressing the pedal. I will do the PCV and rear caliper again with the pedal method. Thanks for the help everyone, I appreciate it.

Bike is a '98 VFR800Fi

 

There is also a "delay valve" on the right front fork on the 5 Gen and on my '01 it makes a sound when pressing the rear pedal. Could that be what you are hearing?

 

Yeah, could be. Like fluid rushing thru the lines. The fluid was never changed by original owner (I am the second), had 5900 miles on it. Wondering if the old fluid's viscosity was thicker and not allowing the delay valve to operate properly, now with clean viscous fluid, operates normally?? Just speculating on this, probably should take it for a ride and compare before I changed the fluid. Thanks for the insight.