If you have never changed your brake fluid...DO IT!!!

[FIZZER6]

I changed my brake fluid last night on my 2006 FZ6 for the first time (14,000 miles on the clock). Been meaning to do that for a year or two now..

WOW!!! I did not realize how spongy my brakes had become! Now I only have to squeeze the brake lever about 50% as hard to achieve the same braking force!

The best part is this process only takes about 15 minutes.

All you need is a pint of DOT4 brake fluid, a Philips screw driver, an 8mm wrench and a couple feet of 1/4" I.D. clear nylon hose. :rockon:

If you have been procrastinating I can tell you...this is well worth it!

I also changed my coolant (first time) at the same time and it was brown and nasty! Change those fluids!

 

[FIZZER6]

A couple brake bleeding tips for the FZ6:

1. Put bike on center stand or otherwise sit it level. Attach the nylon hose to the bleed nipple on one of the front calipers, open the bleed nipple 1/4 turn, open the brake fluid reservoir, pump the lever slowly and let the fluid level get down to about 1/4" left, ADD fluid to keep the level over the little intake fluid hole in the bottom of the reservoir. Continue until you have flushed out all old fluid and clear fluid is coming through nylon hose, repeat on other side of front.

2. For the rear, same idea. When you have finished bleeding fill the reservoir only half full as the cap will force the fluid level up! If you fill the rear reservoir all the way to the FULL line it will overflow when you put the cap on! Ask me how I know. You will want to remove the seat and use a LONG narrow funnel to add fluid to the rear reservoir. Wal-mart has these funnels for 97 cents.

 

[MagicMANX]

I guess my worst fear will be to endup with no brakes... thats why I have never changed the fluid, I was thinking on getting braided break lines, and right there I need to change the fluid anyway

Any recomendation on the fluid that you used ? did you use that DOT5.1 ?? or just the regular DOT4 ??

 

[DownrangeFuture]

Use whatever is in there. 5.1 and 4 don't play well with each other. You can also get a vacuum bleeder kit for $20-30 and it goes faster and there's no chance of spills, except when you fill up. You'll be able to keep the cover on but loose to help ensure nothing gets in there.

You can also do your car brakes with that kit.

 

[greg]

is it definitely an 8mm spanner needed for the nipple? went to halfrauds hoping to pick up a set of spanners, but the decent ones were all £40-60

also what type of coolant it it? i have loads of the ford purple organic stuff lying around

 

[FIZZER6]

is it definitely an 8mm spanner needed for the nipple? went to halfrauds hoping to pick up a set of spanners, but the decent ones were all £40-60

also what type of coolant it it? i have loads of the ford purple organic stuff lying around

100% chance that it's an 8mm bleeder screw on both front and rear calipers. I broke the bleeders loose using an 8mm socket and then used a small open wrench to loosen them after the hose was installed over the nipple.

Any high quality coolant that is "suitable for aluminum engines" is fine. I used Prestone Green and mixed it 50:50 per Yamaha manual with distilled water. It takes exactly 2 quarts if you drain reservoir and drain engine via the drain bolt on the bottom of the water pump housing.

Antifreeze coolant serves two purposes: 1. To prevent the coolant from freezing 2. To prevent corrosion of the metal cooling system components and also lubricates the water pump. Otherwise just straight water could be used if we didn't need it to do these two important things.

I guess my worst fear will be to endup with no brakes... thats why I have never changed the fluid, I was thinking on getting braided break lines, and right there I need to change the fluid anyway

Any recomendation on the fluid that you used ? did you use that DOT5.1 ?? or just the regular DOT4 ??

The only way you could botch this job is if you didn't tighten the bleed screws down and fluid was leaking but that is an easy thing to check after a short test ride down your driveway. If you get a bit of air into the system worst case is you have really soft brakes but they will still stop the bike. The front and rear brakes are completely independent systems to if one fails you still have the other.

I used Prestone DOT4 fluid. It says right on the brake fluid reservoir on the bike to use DOT4.

If you end up using Prestone fluids they are about 30% cheaper at Wal-mart than they were at my local auto-parts stores

 

[FinalImpact]

.......
Antifreeze coolant serves two purposes: 1. To prevent the coolant from freezing 2. To prevent corrosion of the metal cooling system components and also lubricates the water pump. Otherwise just straight water could be used if we didn't need it to do these two important things.

A little off topic on this thread, but Anti-freeze also 3. lowers the boiling point of the water and 4. Acts as lubricant to the water pumps seals. Straight water is a bad option as the seal will die and the water pump will fail even if the engine doesn't boil over. If you have a weak radiator cap (lower release pressure) you could boil over at lower engine temperatures than the same system with a 50/50 mix.

For track days use distilled water and water wetter to keep the seal alive.

IIRC anti-freeze at 50/50 mix drops the boiling point of the mixture by about 25C or more as glycol has a bp of 190C vs water at 100C.


As for the actual topic of brakes; I'm very skeptical of this process of of pumping the lever while NOT closing the bleeder screw and feel it could likely induce air into the system. :thumbdown:

Straight from the manual and the way I have always done it successfully is this:

1. Bleed:
• Hydraulic brake system
▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼
a. Fill the brake fluid reservoir to the proper level with the recommended brake fluid.
b. Install the diaphragm (brake master cylinder reservoir or brake fluid reservoir).
c. Connect a clear plastic hose “1” tightly to the bleed screw “2”.
d. Place the other end of the hose into a container.
e. Slowly apply the brake lever several times.
f. Fully pull the brake lever or fully press down the brake pedal and hold it in position.
g. Loosen the bleed screw.
------------------------------------------------
NOTE:
Loosening the bleed screw will release the pressure and cause the brake lever to contact the throttle grip or the brake pedal to fully extend.
------------------------------------------------
h. Tighten the bleed screw and then release the brake lever or brake pedal.
i. Repeat steps (e) to (h) until all of the air bubbles have disappeared from the brake fluid in the plastic hose.
j. Tighten the bleed screw to specification.
k. Fill the brake fluid reservoir to the proper level with the recommended brake fluid.
Refer to "CHECKING THE BRAKE FLUID
LEVEL" on page 3-22.

IMO; pumping the lever(s) with the bleeder screw open is likely making allot of extra work trying to get the air out of the system and I would NOT advise performing such a practice.

 

[FIZZER6]

As for the actual topic of brakes; I'm very skeptical of this process of of pumping the lever while NOT closing the bleeder screw and feel it could likely induce air into the system. :thumbdown:


IMO; pumping the lever(s) with the bleeder screw open is likely making allot of extra work trying to get the air out of the system and I would NOT advise performing such a practice.

I had no issues by pumping the lever with the bleeder open. Since the nylon hose is full of fluid there is no way for the bleeder to suck air back through so long as your hose has a good tight seal on the nipple and the bleeder isn't opened so far that it can suck air in at the threads. I know the correct procedure is to hold the lever down, then close the bleeder before releasing the lever but that would have made a 3 minute process take 15. I have zero air bubbles in my brake system and the bike stops better than it did brand new.

That said I would highly recommend that you follow the procedure outlined in the manual for bleeding the brakes. I used a shortcut but you have to be careful not to let air into the system.

- J

 

[FloppyRunner]

So, my idea of flushing the coolant was to drain the reservoir and the engine from the water pump drain bolt, refill it with distilled water, run it for a bit, and then refill it with a 50/50 mix. Turns out I've been "running it for a bit" with just distilled water for about 200 miles. On a scale of one to totally f***ed, how bad do you think I am?

 

[FIZZER6]

So, my idea of flushing the coolant was to drain the reservoir and the engine from the water pump drain bolt, refill it with distilled water, run it for a bit, and then refill it with a 50/50 mix. Turns out I've been "running it for a bit" with just distilled water for about 200 miles. On a scale of one to totally f***ed, how bad do you think I am?

Should be ok. As long as you were running it every day or two in that time you probably cycled it enough that corrosion hasn't started yet. I would get the coolant mix in there asap though.

 

[FinalImpact]

So, my idea of flushing the coolant was to drain the reservoir and the engine from the water pump drain bolt, refill it with distilled water, run it for a bit, and then refill it with a 50/50 mix. Turns out I've been "running it for a bit" with just distilled water for about 200 miles. On a scale of one to totally f***ed, how bad do you think I am?

If you can't get back to it right away, I'd add some glycol to it for the seals sake. Think of your knee across the gym floor and what it does. Or maybe a better analogy is sex without natural lubricants - just a bad deal. I'm less concerned about the corrosion factor but then again if days turn to months well, give the bike some love and finish the job you started!

 

[FinalImpact]

I had no issues by pumping the lever with the bleeder open. Since the nylon hose is full of fluid there is no way for the bleeder to suck air back through so long as your hose has a good tight seal on the nipple and the bleeder isn't opened so far that it can suck air in at the threads. I know the correct procedure is to hold the lever down, then close the bleeder before releasing the lever but that would have made a 3 minute process take 15. I have zero air bubbles in my brake system and the bike stops better than it did brand new.

That said I would highly recommend that you follow the procedure outlined in the manual for bleeding the brakes. I used a shortcut but you have to be careful not to let air into the system.

- J

I personally wouldn't trust that the threads don't leak. They do. On a system that is nearly free of air bubble gravity work well and so does a turkey baster to suck up the old and spare you the time of trying to force it through the system.

Recap - a working system; extract old fluid with turkey baster. Add new fluid. Attach bleeder hoses and crack one bleeder to let gravity purge the lines. Seal bleeder! After all lines are purged, pump lever, hold lever, crack bleeder, seal bleeder, release lever. Done -

 

[2006_FZ6]

What do you do with the old fluids? Brake and coolant? Do most auto parts stores take them and recycle/dispose of them?

 

[greg]

not sure about brake and coolant (last time i did my car the coolant had drained all over the driveway)

local recycling place might be able to take them as hazardous chemicals, most places in the UK take old engine oil

 

[FIZZER6]

Most state/county recycling centers (at least in my state) have both motor oil and used coolant recycling bins...you just dump them all yourself and then trash or recycle the plastic bottles.

Not sure what do do with used brake fluid...I have quite a few old bottles of it sitting in my shed I never could figure out what to do with them.

 

[greg]

Most state/county recycling centers (at least in my state) have both motor oil and used coolant recycling bins...you just dump them all yourself and then trash or recycle the plastic bottles.

Not sure what do do with used brake fluid...I have quite a few old bottles of it sitting in my shed I never could figure out what to do with them.

you most certainly shouldn't fashion an anti-tailgating device using a switch operated windscreen washer jet and your old brake fluid

 

[Shawn]

Good timing I changed out my front brake fluid last night. Watched lots of Youtube videos. I tried the handheld vacuum and seemed like I was getting lots of air bubbles coming out. When I tried the manual method using the brake lever and bleeder tube the fluid didn't fill the tube completely. My question is Why ? The little bit of testing I did seems like the brakes are working and seem about the same as they were before.

 

[FIZZER6]

Good timing I changed out my front brake fluid last night. Watched lots of Youtube videos. I tried the handheld vacuum and seemed like I was getting lots of air bubbles coming out. When I tried the manual method using the brake lever and bleeder tube the fluid didn't fill the tube completely. My question is Why ? The little bit of testing I did seems like the brakes are working and seem about the same as they were before.

You are asking why when you pumped the brake lever, bleeding fluid out of the bleeder nipple into the clear rubber hose that it didn't fill the hose all the way? If the hose was pointing downward into a catch can of some sort than as soon as the hose fell below horizontal the fluid just started draining by gravity into your catch can.

The only portion of the hose that stays full is the short section that should face upwards...that is the reason that they install the bleeder nipples with a slight upwards angle...otherwise air would get in when you bleed the brakes.

 

[Shawn]

I guess it is difficult to explain. Basically I was expecting to see the first 6 inches or so fill with fluid. It was more of a trickle on the bottom of the tube with the rest of the space void of fluid and having the possibility of air getting past and into the bleeder valve. My concern is do have have fluid in the calipers ? Do I have a lot of air in the system ? I rode the bike this afternoon and brakes seem to be a little better then what they were.

 

[FinalImpact]

You can all slap me later but this is how my mind works. . . The volume of fluid expelled by using the front and rear brakes is minimal as the piston and stroke is very small. The front Master cylinder inside diameter is 16.00 mm (0.63 in). With this we can guess how much fluid is pumped in one stroke.

Formula:
Stroke * PIE * Radius squared = Volume

I don't know what the stroke is but guess it to be 19.05mm or 3/4"
19.05mm * 3.1415 * 8mm * 8mm = 3,830.11 cubic millimeters OR 3.830cc's per stroke. OR => 0.75" * 3.1415 * 0.315" * 0.315" = 0.22337c.i. or 0.1295 oz per stroke

Bottom Line; with 8 lever pulls you get a whole once! haha!
Roughly 30cc's per 8 pulls of the lever.

The rear is even less with its 12.7 mm (0.50 in) bore diameter although I don't know the stroke of either. As said, its just a guess.