One of our members PM'd me this today. I thought I would share (anonymously - the member can make themselves known if they wish) because I may not have the best solution (and may be totally wrong): My Response (please add or amend as you think necessary) ************** You must have opened one of the bleed valves rather than the screws that attach the caliper to the bike. To replace pads you don't actually need to undo the bleed valves... (and whenever you open the bleed valves do so VERY slowly - and only open them enough such that brake fluid flows). But now that you have emptied them it is easy to change pads. Unscrew them from the forks, pry the calipers open with the pads still in, and then take out the pads. Put new pads in, attache back to bike, and all done. (See <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?t=674">viewtopic.php?t=674</a><!-- l --> ) To fix the non-working brake issue you pretty much have to bleed them: 1) Close the bleed valve and open very slightly (you may have to fiddle with this after you put some brake fluid in the system) ** You should get about a meter of thin clear rubber tubing - available at bunnings (in sprinkler aisle) or most auto shops. It should be about 0.5 cm in diameter on the inside. Attach this to the bleed valve, and put the other end in a bucket. 2) Fill the brake fluid reservoir. If the bleed valve is just slightly open then fluid should run down the tube to the brake (slowly but surely) 3) As brake fluid runs down in the reservoir constantly top up the reservoir. Try not to let the reservoir empty. ** You can also buy a large syringe from many petrol stations. You can attach this to the bleed valve and 'suck' the air and brake fluid out. Works well and is quicker then letting them bleed by gravity. Ok... after following this (and if you have a 3ln you will need to do this seperately for both calipers so it takes longer) you should have brake fluid in the brake lines again etc. However you will still have air which is quite bad! So now you: 4) Pump the front brake. Watch the tube coming from the caliper - as long as bubbles are coming out keep doing this. The syringe can do this as well. Be sure to keep the reservoir topped up else you need to start again. After no more air out of any caliper close the bleed valve. Then 5) Bleed the master cylinder. (Written by raaqi: There's a nut at the end of the tube that feeds the fluid to the brake, compress the brake lever, undo the nut, wait until there's nice green fluid coming out without air & tighten it again making sure you havent let go of the lever until you have it tightened fully. ) And hopefully after all this your brakes will work again!
Very good answer... But have you heard of douing it backward?? Get the syringe fillit up with brake fluid and attach to the bleeder valve... than (with the valve open) slowly pump the brake fluid up... to make soure there is no air... suck some brake fluid out (with air bubles) while keeping the reservoir full... Over the years I thought I have perfected the art of changing brake pads (LONG STORY)... and I consider my self a bit of an expert... though still I do find the FZR250 3LN brake calipers silly to work on as I sware they are designed to trap AIR!!!
It sounds like you have undone one of the two bolts that hold the two halves of the caliper together. The way to remove the pads is to remove the 2 pins that run under the caliper cover (CAP). On the 2KR they have a split pin in each pin. On the 3ln I think there are no split pins the two pins screw out. They are buggers of things to bleed once the fluid runs out. Just persevere with it. DAVE
Sounds like that guy is half way through reconditioning the calipers without even knowing it. <!-- s:???: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt=":???:" title="Confused" /><!-- s:???: --> <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_roll.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling LoL" /><!-- s:roll: --> Ah well... he/she will do it wrong this time... then get it right from then on.
Never heard nor thought about it! Good (and now obvious) idea. RE: daves comment - never thought about that option either. Whatever is done can always be undone with a little work.
I worked in a pushbike shop for a wile and thats how I was told to bleed the brakes on them ill try it on the FZR its a clean way to bleed brakes as well.
This should probably be a "how to" on pad changing. This is easily done without taking the caliper off the bike, and takes about 5 minutes. To change pads in a 2KR remove the pad cover Remove the split pins and pull out the pad locating pins. Pull the pads at least halfway out and squeeze at top with pliers or multigrips to force the pistons back into the calipers, using the disk as a fulcrum. It may be neccessary to add extra padding to get the pistons right back. Replace pads and put it all back together and pump the brakes until they are firm again and MAKE SURE THEY WORK BEFORE RIDING. I think the 3LN brakes are similar except there are no split pins and the pad locating pins have to be screwed out. Some-one will correct me if I am wrong. DAVE
