So I was going out for a ride. I’ve had my 2012 XT brakes ages now and they’ve been great except for the odd random pull back to the bar and then work again episode.

Got on it tonight and the rear lever felt dead. It pulled in but didn’t return out. I thought it may be caked up with mud from the last ride but I’ve cleaned it out good and its the same.

Initially the brakes came on and the pads were dragging. I prised the pads apart then kept pumping the lever which moved the pads only a tiny bit but the lever just won’t return fully out.

You can push the little piston in the lever back out manually and then actuate it with the lever but again, it doesn’t return.

Tried to bleed it. I watched that video that makes it look simple and I put the funnel onto the lever end and tried to syringe through from the caliper but there is so much resistance that the fluid just pops the seal and leaks everywhere.

I’ve tried putting a hose to a jar on the caliper end, opening the nipple and syringing fluid from the lever end but the fluid just sort of erupts from under the silver reservoir cover and doesn’t go anywhere aside from the floor.

And all this time, still the little piston in the lever is in. Pushing it out manually makes no difference to the above bleeding procedure.

Does anyone have any ideas as to whether the brake itself may be knacked somewhere or if its just a bad bleeding technique?

Aside from very low levels of slight moistness under the cover cap where the hose connects to the lever I have not noticed any loss of fluid at all.

Help!
🙂

If the lever piston is stuck in, it’ll effectively seal off the reservoir in the lever, so bleeding will be impossible.Not sure how far these can be stripped down to rectify any problems, but lever internals aren’t available if needed.

Thanks Coatesy, bit annoyed if its the lever already. Not had them longer than a year quite.
Hope ones I had before lasted years, and you could get parts for them.

There doesn’t really seem to be much of a way to get into the levers in terms of stripping them down 🙁

cant service them in any way shape or form other than bleeding.
no spare parts available at all.

Balls….
So I’ve doused the lever within an inch of its life with penetrating oil. If that doesn’t work is it new lever time?

(by the way, is WD40 around your lever a bad idea in terms of seals etc?)

If it is the lever, a new SLX lever can be had from CRC for £27, I know it won’t match but I think they’re functionally identical.

2 year warranty.

Cheers Northwind, hadn’t even occurred to me strangely However its not an avenue I can head down I don’t think as they were a gift from an EX-girlfriend who will not help me out on this with the receipt I know… 🙁

But if it’s a 2012 model it wouldn’t have been available more than 2 years ago, ergo, must be still in warranty period… I’d speak to Madison

Thanks Dashed, I’ve fired off an email to Chain Reaction, if that don’t work I’ll try Madison.
🙂

Cheers Northwind, Warranty hadn’t even occurred to me strangely However its not an avenue I can head down I don’t think as they were a gift from an EX-girlfriend who will not help me out on this with the receipt I know…

Damn, despite sending CRC several addresses and ex-address and the name and email of my EX, and also a photograph of the original XT packaging with CRC labels on it, they can’t seem to find any record of the order and are saying that they need the order number specifically…. 🙁

Sent my EX an email asking for it but she is ignoring me 👿
Looks like I may have to stump up for a whole new lever because of her. Just can’t understand why CRC can find no record of it…

Strange things go on with CRC accounts.. Apparently I have two accounts with CRC, this is due to my Paypal email being different to my CRC email.. This means my account doesn’t show everything I have previously ordered. Might be worth checking with CRC on that.