Squishy Rear brake Pedal

[KhromalusionaL]

Hello,

Its been awhile since i have posted anything probably since the FJR has been so good to me. This is what i got. I noticed today while riding through the neighborhood that my rear brake pedal took some excessive pushing to get the bike to even slow down. If I 'pump' the rear pedal it is soft first pump and then it gets firmer on the second pump. I tried to 'lock' up the rear at slow speeds and slammed on the pedal to the max and the bike slowly stopped. It did not lock up or even engage the ABS. My front brakes work like they should it seems. I did check the fluid in the reservoir and it is full. There is not leaks that I can see. The rear pads seem to still have plenty of pad left. Any ideas. Any checks i should do. The FJR has just shy of 24k and it is a 2008.

Joshua

Mountain Home, Idaho

 

[03HiYoSilver]

...my rear brake pedal took some excessive pushing to get the bike to even slow down. If I 'pump' the rear pedal it is soft first pump and then it gets firmer on the second pump. ...

Try Bleeding the Brakes... the Fluid needs to be changed about every 1-2 years.

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=137835&view=findpost&p=858795

That should do it for you...

 

[J. Parrie]

Recently had the same problem with mine. Bleeding the brake solved problem Don't forget to bleed the Right Front caliper, it's linked to the rear.

 

[SkooterG]

Recently had the same problem with mine. Bleeding the brake solved problem Don't forget to bleed the Right Front caliper, it's linked to the rear.

What he said! ^^^^^^^

 

[road runner]

Mine is doing the same thing. When I apply light pressure on rear brake I get very little braking, and when hard on brake I get more (not enough) rear and can feel the front as the bike nose dives. So it feels like the rear brake isn't working, but the front (unified) is working. I did flush all the brake fluid last winter, so I thought there was air in it somewhere. I have bleed them a lot since, and no air, and I have a firm pedal, but the rear brake just isn't working good. This past winter was the first fluid flush since new, my bad.

Since I didn't flush fluid enough the first thing I thought was the ABS had a stuck valve. So I made up a pressure tester that I put on the ABS block. I put it on the outgoing side for the rear. There is 2 out for the rear. One goes to rear, and one goes to front unified. I was able to bleed the tester and check the pressure on both. They both had the same pressure, 500psi light pressure, 1000 psi moderate, 1500-1700 hard pressure. I don't know what it should be, but these #'s seem good to me. So I think my ABS valving is ok, because it's unlikely both ports would have a stuck valve giving the same psi. The ABS valving on mine Has 3 sets of valves, one for front, one for rear, and one for front unified. So if the ABS had a stuck valve for the rear it would show lower psi than the unified, but they're the same which is telling me the ABS is OK.

I think the issue is down stream from the ABS on mine. After the ABS there is a proportioning valve going to the rear, and there is a metering valve going to the front (unified). On mine because I can feel it nose dive, I think the front (unified) is OK. The rear proportioning valve is what I'm thinking is the issue with mine. The proportioning valve reduces psi to the rear as more psi is applied to pedal, and the metering valve increases psi to the unified as psi to pedal increases. So I'm thinking the proportioning valve is stuck in the low psi position.

 

[wfooshee]

Make sure the pedal is releasing. It's a known issue that the pedal gets crudded up and won't come all the way up, resulting on a slight drag on the rear rotor. It can happen at the point on the pedal's travel before the linked front is engaged, making it affect only the rear. The dragging rotor isn't making enough friction to slow the bike, but it's making enough to generate a lot of heat and boil the fluid, resultimg on brake fade.

If the rear brake is OK on a stone cold bike first startimg out but soft later, then this is your isssue.

 

[KhromalusionaL]

Recently had the same problem with mine. Bleeding the brake solved problem Don't forget to bleed the Right Front caliper, it's linked to the rear.

Is that sitting on the bike or looking at it from the front? I always forget how that goes.

 

[Burnspot]

Recently had the same problem with mine. Bleeding the brake solved problem Don't forget to bleed the Right Front caliper, it's linked to the rear.

Is that sitting on the bike or looking at it from the front? I always forget how that goes.

As you're sitting on the bike, it's the right front.

 

[wfooshee]

It's one of the right fronts. There are two bleed nipples, one for the front lever, one for the rear pedal. You want the lower one for the rear pedal.