front brake lever stuck... master cylinder?

[KitKat]

Hey all,

so i bought my gs 550e after it had been stored for 10 years. the front brakes worked well (or so i thought) for about a week. Once i had my bike back together after doing some carburetor work i tried the front brakes again and the lever was much harder to pull. If i put some serious effort into pulling the lever there would be a crunching sound and it would eventually free up. But then the stuck lever - ness would come back again. I'm thinking the master cylinder needs rebuilding.

oh and the brake fluid is redish

any opinions?

Thanks

[Agemax]

after 10 years i reckon a full m/c and caliper rebuild is required, new seals, pistons, if required and new fluid

[Big T]

Agreed - take everything apart, inspect, replace all rubber bits and anything else as necessary

[Dogma]

I agree that it needs a rebuild, but you may only have crushed the plastic slider in the brake light switch (under the master).