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Proper Brake Bleed Procedure Using GS911 on 2014 1200 GSW

P

purm1200gs

Member
I'm preparing to flush the brake fluid on my 2014 1200 GSW.
I have a Hex GS911 but have not been able to find the proper flush sequence (including the abs unit) anywhere for a 1200 GS wethead.
Do I need to flush the abs (with GS911) while bleeding the rear calipers, and then again while bleeding the front calipers.
I'm installing Brake Bleeders to make this a one man operation.
 
purm1200gs said:
I'm preparing to flush the brake fluid on my 2014 1200 GSW.
I have a Hex GS911 but have not been able to find the proper flush sequence (including the abs unit) anywhere for a 1200 GS wethead.
Do I need to flush the abs (with GS911) while bleeding the rear calipers, and then again while bleeding the front calipers.
I'm installing Brake Bleeders to make this a one man operation.
Click to expand...

I think (I said think - this may not be gospel) that you do not need a GS911 to bleed the brakes on a wethead. I think this need only applies to whizzy brakes on earlier models. I am sure I will be corrected if this is wrong.
 
The info on the hexcode site is not very clear....to me anyway.

What I'm thinking is:
Empty and fill Front Reservoir..bleed right front caliper....1st flush of abs with GS911...Do another manual flush of R front caliper
Empty and fill Front Reservoir..bleed left front caliper.....2nd flush of abs with GS911....Do another manual flush of L front caliper
Empty and fill Rear Reservoir..bleed Rear caliper.....3rd flush of abs with GS911..Do another manual flush of Rear caliper.

Is this correct???
 
How about this:

Bleed brakes the traditional way, front and rear.
Go to a controlled environment and practice emergency braking.
Engage ABS front and rear.
If you are super anal, then bleed brakes again.
Now you have increased confidence in your braking ability and well bled brakes.
 
I have been getting adjusted to "pulling" the fluid through with a Mity-Vac

MV8000.jpg


http://www.mityvac.com/pages/products_hvpk.asp

I've yet to try a motorcycle with ABS.....Found it works fine on cars.

OM
 
LFarling said:
You need to open the valves on the ABS block. A GS-911 does that.

Or as has been suggested engage the ABS block after a brake flush of the calipers and lines, make the ABS kick in, and clean it by dilution. I just know I want to do whatever I can for the ABS block.
Click to expand...
I wonder how much brake fluid is actually trapped in there?
I wonder if a dealer worries about how much brake fluid is trapped in there when they do a flush. :whistle
I wish the GS-911 was happier with Apple products.
OM
 
LFarling said:
I wonder about all those questions also.

I would imagine those valve chambers hold very small quantity of brake fluid. I just do what I can to keep them clean. On every ABS bike I have owned I always kicked in ABS on gravel just to make it function and to know how it feels when it does kick in.

I plan on dying with this bike so I want to keep it. We hear about these ABS blocks that failed on the earlier models and it makes me paranoid. I think on those models you could disconnect and just ride without ABS. I am thinking on these new bikes that will not be a option especially with DTC and ABS Pro coming into the mix.[/QUO had the brake fluid flushed in my rtw with 85k yesterday.i asked the tech how bad the fluid looked and he said "not bad".I told him that was the 1st brake flush and they were surprised it was so clean.They told me that if i lived there in florida and went that long between flushes the fluid would be brown and bad.They attribute that to the extra heat and humidity in florida.
Click to expand...
 
purm1200gs said:
I'm installing Brake Bleeders to make this a one man operation.
Click to expand...

Not quite as elaborate as the game of Twister, but it is already a one-man operation.

I found the bleeding a bit tricky at the start: with my 2015 R1200 GS the left front caliper nipple looks like it takes a 12 mm wrench. "Gotcha" - it is kind of a nipple within a nipple, and takes an 8 mm wrench instead. Not obvious to an old guy who has trouble focusing at short distances and small objects. Same for the right front - looks like it takes a 15 mm but actually takes an 8 mm. And just to confuse things, the rear looks like it takes an 11 mm...and it does.

I also used my GS-911 for the first time and it went well. I did manually bleed all three calipers again after the GS-911 did its thing. I had thoroughly bled all three calipers before hooking up the GS-911 for a simple reason - to have new, clean fluid available in the system to replace the old fluid in the inner workings of the ABS.
 
Brake Flush

purm1200gs said:
I'm preparing to flush the brake fluid on my 2014 1200 GSW.
I have a Hex GS911 but have not been able to find the proper flush sequence (including the abs unit) anywhere for a 1200 GS wethead.
Do I need to flush the abs (with GS911) while bleeding the rear calipers, and then again while bleeding the front calipers.
I'm installing Brake Bleeders to make this a one man operation.
Click to expand...

Presuming you are using BMW brake fluid and pushing the caliper pistons 'back' prior to bleeding and you know you'll push the fluid back into the reservoir - just a caution to be aware of. I don't pull the brake lever all the way to the handle bar but rather about 1/2 - 3/4 the way - in the old days, all the old residual crap lived at the very end of the stroke and could kill the piston seal so I don't go that far.

I went the BMW fluid route initially and then went to Pentosin Dot 4 LV as I do all 3 bikes (GSA, RT and Honda) at the same time - available locally - was advised to stay with LV (low viscosity) for the BMW's.

I'm in the same boat with Lee on making sure to flush the ABS well - in the scheme of things, brake fluid is pretty inexpensive and I do use the GS-911 - you may also find that ty rapping the front brake lever to the handle bar over night gives you a firmer lever - several internet articles on the 'why' that I can't put my finger on right now. And always good to exercise the ABS when the opportunity arises.
 

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