LEGEND Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 I thought this board had shut down!! Anyway I changed the front pads on my ‘07 vfr, cleaned the calipers and pistons with brake cleaner and everything seemed to be good. I noticed on my shake down ride after the pad change the rear brake just stopped working, as if there is air in the line, no resistance at the rear brake pedal. The front brakes still work and nothing is leaking from the rear. Before I start the epic brake bleeding to see if that fixes the issue I thought I would check here to see if anyone has had the issue. The bike has been well cared for and garaged when not riding, I am the original owner. I went to VFRworld but got crickets, very quiet over there. In any case if anyone has some thoughts on the problem let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jkboyd Posted February 24 Member Contributer Share Posted February 24 When you activate the front brake does the rear work at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGEND Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 4 hours ago, jkboyd said: When you activate the front brake does the rear work at all? Thanks. No the rear brake doesn't work at all when the front brake is activated. When I do push the rear brake pedal it will lock the rear wheel while spinning the rear wheel while the bike is on the center stand. When I road the bike activating the rear brake felt like there was no effect on stopping. It also felt like the rear brake has additional travel and feels “soft”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Terry Posted February 25 Member Contributer Share Posted February 25 Did you also replace the back pads? I did this once and caught the pad on the pad spring; that pushes the pad back off the disk and makes for long travel even though it is well bled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Grum Posted February 25 Member Contributer Share Posted February 25 Just to be clear, operating the front brake will have no effect on the rear until the Secondary Master Cylinder sees rotation force from the front wheel acting on the SMC. So being on the center stand and spinning the rear wheel the front brake has no effect on the rear. (If my memory serves me well?) The center piston of the left front caliper is operated by the rear brake pedal, and it's bled via the left front caliper center bleed valve, try this and a bleed of the rear caliper via the rear caliper outer bleed valve. Hopefully that will clear any air you may have in the rear system. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer bmart Posted February 25 Member Contributer Share Posted February 25 Maybe someone has the graphic handy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Grum Posted February 25 Member Contributer Share Posted February 25 57 minutes ago, bmart said: Maybe someone has the graphic handy? Hi bmart. There's plenty of good graphics in the Service Manual Section 15, it shows all the hydraulic lines and bleed sequence. Hopefully the OP already has the service manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGEND Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 5 hours ago, Terry said: Did you also replace the back pads? I did this once and caught the pad on the pad spring; that pushes the pad back off the disk and makes for long travel even though it is well bled. No I didn’t change the rear pads but thanks for that information. I have a digital copy of the service manual and will bleed the system per the manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGEND Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 3 hours ago, Grum said: Hi bmart. There's plenty of good graphics in the Service Manual Section 15, it shows all the hydraulic lines and bleed sequence. Hopefully the OP already has the service manual. Yes I have the service manual, it’s helped me keep the old school Honda tech working like a well oiled machine for the past 15 years but it’s also nice to hear from other vfr owners of their experiences with the bike as the years pile on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vfrgiving Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Grum is correct on that the secondary MC on the left caliper requires a rotational force to activate it's piston circuit on the rear. You could try and force this. With the bike on the center stand, use a soft jaw bar clamp behind the secondary MC and front of fork tube to compress the MC plunger a bit. See if that starts locking up the rear wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jkboyd Posted February 25 Member Contributer Share Posted February 25 It sounds like air in the system but I'm not sure how it got in? I'd just go ahead and go through the bleed procedure and see if that clears it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGEND Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 Yes that is what I’m planning to do. Not sure how air got in but a good bleed with my buddies mity vac hopefully will bring it back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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