Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make sure I didnt miss out anything specific I may have done wrong.
So I was leaking brake fluid (front right side ONLY). It seems/ed to be coming from the bolt at the very bottom of the brake line where it attaches to the caliper. I say seems because I rode a bit before I realized it (or perhaps it started leaking during a ride *shrugs*) and there is brake fluid around there everywhere. I tried wiping it down to narrow it down and figured it was leaking from either there or somewhere in the brake caliper itself as there is definitely alot of fluid inside the caliper/on the brake pads. Without looking anything up I did what I do best, take things apart and figure out if I know what Im doing/can put it back together later (I bet most of you guys on here know what thats like, haha)
Now Ive done brakes before, including bleeding them, granted a long time ago and surprisingly not on the FZ6 but rather my last bike (I say surprisingly because its amazing I still have as much brake pad left as I do from the prior owner that I never had to change them, those of you that have seen me ride and/or know how many miles I do on my baby know why this is probably pretty amazing) so I figured I knew enough about what I am doing (this is debatable lol) and had at it (on my first bike when I bled the brakes I used this for information: How do I bleed the brake lines? - Ninja250Wiki though this time I did everything from memory).
I took the caliper off the bike as if I were changing the pads and looked inside. Ummmm I dont see anything wrong here (not really sure where I would be looking for anyway as I didnt see any obvious here is where I am leaking out of signs anywhere). So then I took out the bolt at the bottom of the brake line (I barely touched it when it started to leak quite a bit more so its at this point that I have "officially diagnosed the source of the leak," at least in my head anyway) and placed the caliper on the ground (not directly on the ground mind you). Squeeze the brake lever a bunch of times to try and drain brake fluid out. I open up the master cylinder and try again with pulling the brake lever in and out as much as I can stand. Put a little bit of new fluid in there and try and pull the brake lever a bunch more. At some point the fluid stops coming out more than a drop per minute even though the master cylinder now has a fair amount of fluid in it. Took off the brake line at the master cylinder now (at the encouragement of a taxi cab driver who had parked next to my bike and took interest in my project now) and it still didnt want to leak more. "Eh I just want my brakes working again and its mostly new fluid anyway, Ill do a better job another time" Put it all back together trying to make sure the hole in the bolts matched up properly as good as I can.
Squeeze brake lever a bunch of times and now no front brakes.... No! Put weight on the rear wheel and then kick the front tire around letting it spin and squeeze the brake handle. Slows the wheel down a little, brakes arent completely dead, just mostly. Tried riding it a couple feet with rear brake foot at the ready and I could tell there was a teeny tiny bit of brake but not anything that would do much at speed, or even at a slow speed. Handle still goes all the way in as well. Pulled the little rubber things off on brakes (bleeder valve?) on both sides (until now Ive left the left side completely alone) and no fluid would come out from anywhere on either side. Started to rain and I had work the next day so packed it up and now as I will finally have time to work on it again tomorrow I post begging to you guys to help.
Sooooo anyone know what I screwed up? (Ok maybe I should say what did I screw up so the brakes arent working anymore as Im sure there is plenty of things I screwed up altogether) Also whats the minimum stuff I need to replace? Since there is brake fluid everywhere inside the caliper do I need to replace the caliper itself, or the pads (which still have a bit of life left to them) or anything else because all the brake fluid ruined it somehow?
So I was leaking brake fluid (front right side ONLY). It seems/ed to be coming from the bolt at the very bottom of the brake line where it attaches to the caliper. I say seems because I rode a bit before I realized it (or perhaps it started leaking during a ride *shrugs*) and there is brake fluid around there everywhere. I tried wiping it down to narrow it down and figured it was leaking from either there or somewhere in the brake caliper itself as there is definitely alot of fluid inside the caliper/on the brake pads. Without looking anything up I did what I do best, take things apart and figure out if I know what Im doing/can put it back together later (I bet most of you guys on here know what thats like, haha)
Now Ive done brakes before, including bleeding them, granted a long time ago and surprisingly not on the FZ6 but rather my last bike (I say surprisingly because its amazing I still have as much brake pad left as I do from the prior owner that I never had to change them, those of you that have seen me ride and/or know how many miles I do on my baby know why this is probably pretty amazing) so I figured I knew enough about what I am doing (this is debatable lol) and had at it (on my first bike when I bled the brakes I used this for information: How do I bleed the brake lines? - Ninja250Wiki though this time I did everything from memory).
I took the caliper off the bike as if I were changing the pads and looked inside. Ummmm I dont see anything wrong here (not really sure where I would be looking for anyway as I didnt see any obvious here is where I am leaking out of signs anywhere). So then I took out the bolt at the bottom of the brake line (I barely touched it when it started to leak quite a bit more so its at this point that I have "officially diagnosed the source of the leak," at least in my head anyway) and placed the caliper on the ground (not directly on the ground mind you). Squeeze the brake lever a bunch of times to try and drain brake fluid out. I open up the master cylinder and try again with pulling the brake lever in and out as much as I can stand. Put a little bit of new fluid in there and try and pull the brake lever a bunch more. At some point the fluid stops coming out more than a drop per minute even though the master cylinder now has a fair amount of fluid in it. Took off the brake line at the master cylinder now (at the encouragement of a taxi cab driver who had parked next to my bike and took interest in my project now) and it still didnt want to leak more. "Eh I just want my brakes working again and its mostly new fluid anyway, Ill do a better job another time" Put it all back together trying to make sure the hole in the bolts matched up properly as good as I can.
Squeeze brake lever a bunch of times and now no front brakes.... No! Put weight on the rear wheel and then kick the front tire around letting it spin and squeeze the brake handle. Slows the wheel down a little, brakes arent completely dead, just mostly. Tried riding it a couple feet with rear brake foot at the ready and I could tell there was a teeny tiny bit of brake but not anything that would do much at speed, or even at a slow speed. Handle still goes all the way in as well. Pulled the little rubber things off on brakes (bleeder valve?) on both sides (until now Ive left the left side completely alone) and no fluid would come out from anywhere on either side. Started to rain and I had work the next day so packed it up and now as I will finally have time to work on it again tomorrow I post begging to you guys to help.
Sooooo anyone know what I screwed up? (Ok maybe I should say what did I screw up so the brakes arent working anymore as Im sure there is plenty of things I screwed up altogether) Also whats the minimum stuff I need to replace? Since there is brake fluid everywhere inside the caliper do I need to replace the caliper itself, or the pads (which still have a bit of life left to them) or anything else because all the brake fluid ruined it somehow?
