Bike had been sitting for years and the clutch lever had no resistance. I thought it was the master cylinder, so I bought a kit and rebuilt it and now I'm trying to refill the lines with brake fluid and bleed it, but it doesn't seem to work.
I attached a piece of clear tubing to the bleeder valve, filled up the reservoir, then I pull the clutch lever in, hold it, then open the bleeder valve for a second, close it again, and release the brake lever. I repeated those steps dozens of times and sometimes a bubble came out, sometimes nothing. But no fluid really ever progressed into the tubing.
My buddy was there and he's bled brakes on a car many times and he was convinced something else it broken because it should have built up pressure by then.
Is there a secret to this? Do I need to by one of those bleeder vacuum pump things?
There are people much wiser than me who will likely offer solutions. I can only tell you that I had the same issue with my 1999 and the issue was that the line was almost blocked and not allowing the air to move out. I replaced the line and all was well.
You can at least ensure that the master cylinder is not the issue by pulling in the clutch lever and while holding it in, slightly loosen the banjo bolt at the cylinder. Have someone handy with a rag. :) If you get a good stream of fluid, you've eliminated the cylinder as the problem. If not, you have a good place to start at least.
There is a tiny orifice in the reservoir - if you have a wire brush cut off one bristle, hold it with needle nose pliers and ream the hole. That fixed my problem
Quote from: Tim on April 06, 2023, 12:23:46 PMThere is a tiny orifice in the reservoir - if you have a wire brush cut off one bristle, hold it with needle nose pliers and ream the hole. That fixed my problem
Do you mean that little air hole in the side of the reservoir? Or something else?
No unscrew the cover (4 screws).
The little hole is how the fluid gets back to the reservoir. With the cover off, gently pull the clutch. Fluid should spray. If it doesn't you need to clean out that hole.
Ok next time I have it open I'll clean out that little hole. I also confirmed that my line was clogged so thank you gilwiki for the advice there.
Partzilla and parts giant don't seem to carry it so I found this one. Anyone ever bought from them? I would imagine any hydraulic line will do if the length is right.
https://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/spiegler-kawasaki-vn-1500-vulcan-86-00-clutch-line-kit-orig/?sku=S%7CSP%20S-KA0271-BLK-BLK%7C0&gclid=CjwKCAjwitShBhA6EiwAq3RqAyp13IOOKLK0j_DTFB7xWzRhKVSe9GxllD_s4gVofRa9wzhDJY6kdBoCes4QAvD_BwE