82 GS1100GLZ.. all go.. no stop!

[Darkchyld]

Its been awhile.. greetings to all!
After much of the last half decade in storage I pulled my baby out to get it ready for some some riding. Blew the dust off, removed the plastic keeping the airfilter clean, changed the oil, checked plugs etc. New battery, fresh fuel.. * crank, crank, crank.. * ZOOM! Comes to life! In a few moments the oil smoke clears and I shut the choke off and my GS settles into a smooth idle while I check the lights and bring the tire pressure up. Check the nuts an bolts for tightness, by now the engine is comfortably warm. Pushing it off the center stand I roll out of the garage backwards, blipping the throttle a few times, smooth an sweet like it should be, I grab a handful of the front brake and.. NUTHING! Uh-ohh..
Romp on the back one to stop my backwards ride, they work. Into gear and back into the garage. The fluid level is right up there. I had replaced the fluid before I stored it. Looked clean so I tried to bleed them. Appears the front master has failed me. Sooo.. a check on the net, says the part number is no longer valid as an assembley, ( 59600-45330 btw ), The book says nothing about rebuilding the master cylinder but the cup and piston are shown as parts. Therefore.. is the front master cylinder rebuildable? Or am I now on a search for a usable replacement? I have searched in these threads and looked up some of the recommened sites. Anyone had experiance taking it apart? Any advise would by most welcome!

DC

[Redman]

Welcome back.

Something to try short of completely repalciong or rebuilding the calipers: Just try excerzings the pistons in the caliper cyclinder by compresing it back either by hand or with some sort of clamp. Push the psiton back into the cyclinder some, and then pump back out withe the master cyclinder. Do this a few times. Can do this with the calipers still mountied. Keep a watch on the master cyclinder resivour while pushing the piston back in so you dont overflow the master cylinder resivor (dont want the brake fluid to get on the paint). Maybe this might free it up.

You probably will want to bleed out the old fluid anywway, even if it was new fluid 5 years ago.

[Darkchyld]

Redman, I'm 99.9% sure the issue is not in the calipers. I attempted to bleed and just could not push fluid through. With the cap off typically one can see the fluid being "stirred up" as the lever is worked, not happening here. Theres no evidance of any kind of leakage anywhere At this point I've got the master cylinder off and drained, cleaned out with air, but dont see anyway to take it apart, kinda expecting a circlip or some kind of retainer holding the piston and cup in but just dont see it. ( broke the little plastic brake light actuator in the process.. *grumbles* ) I'll see if I cant get some pictures up to clarify things.

DC

[duaneage]

Flush and clean the system with denatured alcohol, blow everything out with compressed air if you have it. You may have a plugged hole in the master cylinder that prevents it from taking up fluid.

[Steve]

There is a clip in the bore where the lever pushes on the piston. Remove the clip and the rest will just about fall apart, so watch carefully how the pieces fall out so you know how to arrange them for reassembly.

You want a cheap replacement for your brake switch?
Use the clutch safety switch. Same part #. You just have to bypass the 'safety' function of the clutch switch by connecting the two wires in the headlight bucket. Many of us have already disabled the switch, it's only one more step to move it to the other side and use it for brake lights.

.

[Nessism]

I disagree with duaneage, NEVER put anything other than pure brake fluid into a closed system. Can't stress this enough! If you dump alcohol into the system you will never get it all out.

As for the problem at hand, if you would do some research you will quickly see that Suzuki sells rebuild kits for the master and calipers. I strongly suggest you do a full system tear down and replace the front brake lines since they are long overdue. If you feel like rolling the dice with your bikes braking performance, you can remove the master and take it apart for a proper clean out. It's a pretty easy job and there is LOTS of info in the archives here. You will need a pair of long nose snap ring pliers so keep this in mind before starting the project.

[duaneage]

The alcohol is to clean and remove water in the system. It also evaporates, even faster with compressed air. I've rebuilt a lot of brake systems on cars and motorcycles before. Just don't use rubbing alcohol, it has water mixed in to the tune of 70%.
I was referring to the master cylinder itself, although to do the job right the calipers and lines should be removed, disassembled, and cleaned. Brakes are important and quick solutions are no substitute for proper repairs. New lines are preferable to cleaning old ones, new pads are a good idea since everything is in pieces anyway. Plan on 200 dollars to do the front end right.

Mr. Nessism assumed I advised to just dump alcohol in the master cylinder and call it a day, sorry if it came across that way but the real solution is more complicated.


You will need an inside c clip tool to remove the retaining clip in the master cylinder bore, one with long thin arms. I use a brass shotgun cleaning brush to remove the rust in the front of the bore since it's softer than the steel and the perfect size for the job. 12ga works best.

Or buy another master cylinder, aftermarket units are around 90 dollars. I got a Magura with a brake switch brand new for that much, although I ended up rebuilding mine because I like the OEM look better.

[Nessism]

Sorry if this sounds like I’m opposing duane but brake fluid coagulates after a while forming chunks inside the system, and the only way to properly clean these parts is though disassembly. Trying to flush out this material by bleeding the system does not get all the chunks out, and trying to flush out an assembled master cylinders and/or brake caliper is not a good practice either since there is about a 50% chance the master cylinder bore and/or the caliper pistons have pitting in the metals surface and the only way to judge these parts condition is to perform a tear down and inspection.

After disassembly, I wash the parts in Simple Green and water using a tooth brush and a piece of fine Scotch-Brite to scrub out the caliper grooves if any corrosion is present. As long as you let everything dry thoroughly, or use a hair drier before assembly, there is no need to resort to special cleaning materials. If the rubber parts on the inside are in good shape and the master/calipers were not leaking, you can reuse the rubber parts although it’s always best to just replace them. I strongly suggest ONLY using Suzuki brake system parts, other than brake lines. I’ve seen a few quality issues with aftermarket brake system parts but never with OE parts. For brake lines, stainless steel / Teflon lines work great and will improve the lever feel over rubber lines. Suzuki recommends changing the rubber lines every Two years, so if your bike still has the stockers it’s about 27 years overdue.

[Darkchyld]

Nessism, yeah.. still got the stockers.. Got the master apart, its filled with tiny bits of rubber. The cup and seals of the master look to be in good shape, I'll wager the lines are decaying from the inside! So now we're parts hunting. I'll check the forums for on-line reccomends and am open to any suggestions for relibile retailers. Going to get the calipers off and apart this weekend. Will keep this thread informed, Thanks!!

DC

[Nessism]

Nice job on tearing into the system. That is the proper way to do the reapir.

Use a flash light and look close at the caliper bore, if it's pitted, the master can not be rebuilt.

The cheapest place for parts is Part Shark. For the lines, there are several different vendors for teflon/stainless lines. I build my own from Earl's parts. Do a search and my thread will turn up on how to do it yourself and save a few bucks.

Good luck.

[Darkchyld]

Well.. Nessism, did a little better on prices at Interstatecycle.com. Keeping with the OEM hoses, once I get them off I want to cut the old ones open, curious where all these bits of debries came from. No sign of any corrsion in the master, haven't taken the calipers apart yet. On cleaning, I use stoddard solvent on any metal pecies, rubber ones... clean brake fluid. After that a soap and water scrub, blow dry.. then I leave them on the dash board of my car for a couple of hours. The summer sun really dries things out well!

So now Im in wait mode. I expect about 5-7 days for UPS ground from North Carolinia to Utah.. hummm.. where's the chrome polish?

DC

[Darkchyld]

Bringing things up to date... Parts arrived on the 24th, just as promised. The master had no sign of any pitting or the like and went together easly. The calipers were the same. The hose from the master cyl was the biggest issue, the rubber was decaying from the inside! Also found the fluid had congelled, (?), anyway, it went back together smoothly and blead easily. I've inspected the rear now too, don't see any probs there yet but put those parts on the next order when that time comes. A short ride up the canyon with the wife confurms everything is running well! Now just gotta get the plates up to date.. didn't relize its been in storage for 6 years! Time flys when your haveing fun!

DC