Hey folks. I was planning to replace old brake fluid with new as I have a bottle open replacing clutch slave cylinder anyway. I found this video and he says the ABS pump needs to be plugged into dealer computer and a cycle run on it. I have never done brakes before in any bike so kinda need the tutorial. Does this mean I can't simply pump new fluid in to replace the old? I wasn't sure this was the right way to do it anyway. I thought that should be less problematic than completely draining the lines/ callipers etc and then refilling. Any info appreciated Video . 4 minutes exactly is ABS pump statement.
I have never had the ABS pump cycled by my dealer’s workshop. They tell me to find a dead straight piece of road with a good surface and brake hard to make the ABS kick in. That is all the cycling I have done. Your issues are that both the front brake calipers and rear brake caliper are below the ABS pump under the rider’s seat so any air in the line after the ABS pump has to be pushed down hill unless you can elevate the calipers. I bled my Multistrada rear caliper with it on the pillion seat having undone all the cable clips. The front are a little more difficult. If you can do it two handed, with someone continually filling the fluid reservoir so you can continuously pump will help. I always keep a little old fluid in the bottom of my bleeding bottle so I can submerge the end of the bleed tube in the fluid, this reduces the tendency for the fluid to get sucked back when I release the master cylinder lever. Andy
Funny you should bring that up today. I had an email this morning from a friend who has two triumphs, a Sprint and a 1200 Scrambler and he was asking about what do do about the ABS unit when changing the brake fluid. He'd been looking at a Triumph forum and had read a post saying that Triumph and BMW both say that the ABS unit can't be flushed of fluid without the bike being connected to the dealer's computer software, so the old fluid stays in the unit and eventually can cause corrosion as it will contain some water. This was my reply: The statement about the ABS unit is more or less true. A new ABS unit is supplied filled with fluid and of course while it isn't activated the valves are closed so the fluid is sealed inside it. When the ABS sytem is activated the valves open momentarily and the fluid from within the brake line will move through the ABS unit back in the reservoir direction. So the fluid inside the unit will be continually replaced every time the ABS unit is activated. The TuneECU software has a function to cycle the ABS unit so that it can be flushed. I would imagine that both Triumph and BMW dealer tools enable them to do that too. Yet the Ducati workshop manuals have no mention of cycling the ABS unit and I know that the official Ducati diagnostic tool has no such function. The manuals only mention that after changing the fluid the brake should be used to activate the ABS, but for the rear brake only! No mention of the front and I wouldn't fancy doing it either although if you are confident it should be ok. I've never come across cycling the ABS unit to flush the fluid from it for a car but then it's easy to activate the ABS on a car anyway. A couple of cycles should be enough to flush the fluid from it which would then be diluted by the rest of the fluid in the brake system. I wouldn't worry about it over much. Technically, yes it should be done. But being realistic, how often have you heard of an ABS unit failing due to siezed valves? There are 15 year old Ducatis going around with ABS units still working OK and many even older Japanese bikes. After you change the fluid stomp on the back brake a few times to get it moving through the ABS block. Do it for the front too - if you dare!
