Covid Lockdown – Brake Fluid Flush

Since I had to stay home due to the Covid-19 circuit breaker measures in place, and that I couldn’t ride, I decided to do a little bit of bike maintenance. I’ve not replaced the brake fluids on my G650GS Sertao since I purchased it about a year ago. And now with the DRZ in my stable, I thought I’d take the time to get the brake fluids replaced.

The brake fluid in the reservoir looks a little dark.
Brake bleeder connected and ready to bleed!

Since it was easier on the DRZ as there’s no ABS pump to deal with, I started with the Zee. Connected the bleeder valve kit to the brake bleed valve and started pumping away.

To be quite honest, I thought that the brake fluids in the DRZ didn’t look that bad. The previous owner (or one of her previous owners) must have flushed it before.

Old fluid left, new fluid right. The brake fluid reservoir looks fresher now.

Now, working on the Sertao is a little bit more involved. Because the Sertao has an ABS system, the fluids in the ABS pump needs to be flushed too. To do this, you’ll need to cycle the ABS pump. And this calls for the use of the GS-911.

The brake fluid coming out from the Sertao looks HORRIBLE! Dark, thick, and stinky!

After performing the conventional pump-the-levers bleed, I had to cycle the ABS pumps on the Sertao so that it purges the old fluids in the pump and out into the brake lines.

And after cycling the ABS pumps a couple of times, I then did a conventional bleed once more to get rid of the old fluids that was previously inside the ABS pumps.

Plugging the GS-911 into the Sertao.
Bleed test function on the GS-911.
Performing ABS bleed test.
Ugh! Finally done! This is loooooooong overdue!

Done! Note to self – I probably need to get a little more diligent with brake fluid flushing.

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