I bought the new XT brakes from Rose and swapped them over with little bother it seemed. When I took it out for the first time as soon as I tipped the bike over I lost all fluid from the front reservoir and it was all over the dust cap. Fortunately the bike shop at the trail filled it for me again. Same thing happened when I put the bike back in the car. I put a new olive on and bled it but the problem remains. Took it to my LBS and they tightened everything up and re bled it but I’ve just picked it up and put it in my car and it’s lost everything again. Guy at LBS said I may need to by a new top cap and master cylinder etc. It seems like it’s knacked. What do I do, feel proper screwed by the whole situation. Also just to check, how do you install an olive just so I know I haven’t made a mistake. Do they need crimped around the hose or not?

Help! Please?

the olive gets crimped when you tighten the nut up, you did use a new insert didn’t you?

Is it coming out of the top cap or the hose jucntion?

Have you contacted Rose to see what they say?

The olive just needs popping on and the bolt to tighten the hose into the cyclinder does the tightening and squishing of the olive. If you did anything before you put it all back together it may explain your fluid losses.

EDIT – too slow…

I put a new olive and insert in. I’ve just played on with the lever again and there’s braking pressure returned to the lever again. Do you think that means there’s air moving around in the system. I haven’t contacted Rose yet but it’s going to be a right pain as I’ve swapped them over so the lever doesn’t go with the original caliper…

I’m in a similar position – got some XTs from Bike24 and swapped the hoses, but appear to be losing oil from around the top cap – little bubbles occasionally and the brakes require a bit of pumping up. I need to give them a bleed anyway and need some fresh pads before I decide what needs doing…

How about unscrewing the hose and check how the olive crimped. Some how when I swapped hoses on mine one of the olives didn’t go in flush and crimped at an angle, letting fluid leak.

If it’s working when upright but leaking when the bike’s layed on its side then you’d have to suspect the top cap rather than the hose fittings. I assume the brakes were working when you rode?

You need to establish exactly where the leak is coming from. It’s just the front right? Compare it to the rear and see if anything is different in terms of fitment which could help explain things.

I’ve just re-bled the front using a syringe to pump fluid back up the system and hence completely fill the reservoir. At the moment the brakes are rock hard but I can see fluid ‘pulsing’ between the black main section and the silver top section of the lever. On both levers. Should I just contact Rose and say they seem to be knackered? Surely leaking from here is totally unconnected to swapping hoses or olives as it must be a seal issue in an unrelated area…

I’ve got a similar problem. One of mine is leaking from the “top cap” area. It’s not actually a top cap like the old brakes, but looks like top cap all the same. I’ve emailed Shimano and it might be that i’ve added too much fluid to the brake and that it’s just discharging the excess, i’m not convinced but will try it out tomorrow and see if it stops discharging. My brake still feels good, it doesn’t need pumping, but it makes me worried to see it leaking a bit of fluid.

OP – Contact Shimano directly.

Cheers Play. Will do!

OP – Contact Shimano directly

in Japan?

They’ll just refer you to a country importer or retailer, surely?

Madison probably won’t be interested as they haven’t sold them?

Madison are Shimano’s UK reps. and were really helpful when my old LX brakes were seizing up in the cold. The do seem genuinely keen to help.

CustomerCare@Madison.co.uk

Do Shimano do a worldwide warranty?

If not Madison are likely to tell you just to contact Rose, surely?

I cretainly wouldn;t expect them to support a personal import.

warranty@madison.co.uk – I was in touch with them today, they seem helpful

There is a German Shimano Service Centre listed on the Shimano Europe site but, well, it’s all in German but they might be worth a try. I can’t see that it’d do any harm emailing Madison as well though.

Are we talking about the new XT levers that you bleed with the new cup attachment?

I was thinking of getting a pair to go with my M595 calipers (which I’m currently using with old LX M585 levers) but it sounds like there might be a bit of an issue. There does seem to be a noticable gap between the resevoir cap and body but I’d have assumed that the edges of the diaphram would seal it.

Olympus are you using the yellow funnel thing when you’re bleeding the system? I tried just using a syringe and couldn’t get it to bleed properly, had to get the proper bleed funnel to do it.

I’m not very good at bleeding brakes though, so others may come along and rubbish this suggestion.

Also make sure you havent over tightened fixings for the res cap.

Don’t think there’s an issue with the design, that picture looks a bit off compared to the virtually identical (bar the bite adjust screw) SLX levers I’ve got.

I would think Rose would sort you out but unfortunately its a risk you take buying overseas and getting them a bit cheaper. The same could have happened with a UK set though.

I have to to say, they do seem a real pain to bleed compared to the older style. It used to be easy and messy. Now its more difficult and still messy. Hopefully though once sorted, they’re fit and forget.

I used a syringe to bleed mine – an Avid style cheapo kit. Just about worked but the syringe didn’t seal that well in the bleed port on the lever.

You haven’t taken the “top cap” off to bleed them have you?

Nope, just that little cap to fill the resevoir. It’s rather worrying how many people have had issues with Shimano brakes.

The syringe bleed seems to have stopped the complete loss of power which came about when the bike was upturned, so I guess that may have been due to some air in the reservoir, but I’m still getting small amounts of fluid seeping between the fittings under brake application.

I’ll see what Rose say…

Just heard back from Rose:

Hello Mr. Olympus,

I think the brake have a leak!
Please send us the brake back and we will check it.
We repair the brake or change it!

For the return you can use the retour sticker.

best regards

Patrick Elskamp
Technik

Seems alright service to me!!

Thats German efficiency for you 🙂

Just heard back from Rose:

Hello Mr. Olympus,

I think the brake have a leak!
Please send us the brake back and we will check it.
We repair the brake or change it!

For the return you can use the retour sticker.

best regards

Patrick Elskamp
Technik

Seems alright service to me!!

Of course they may have something to say about you swapping the levers over…..

I had quite a few issues with my new XT’s after having to shorten the hoses when new. There wasnt a single proper funnel type tool in the country it would seem, couldn’t get one anywhere. I used an Avid bleed kit which worked well, except I was never sure if it did actually work well(if you know what I mean)

I was sure the brakes should have felt firmer and I also got some fluid escaping from the tiny vent hole on the chrome cap as you describe. Still, I took them out to Morzine for their baptism of fire and they were spot on all week pretty much. Very powerful.

I’ve not touched them since and they still seem to be working great. Dreading having to bleed them again mind but I have the magic funnel now anyways…

Just heard back from Rose:

Hello Mr. Olympus,

I think the brake have a leak!
Please send us the brake back and we will check it.
We repair the brake or change it!

For the return you can use the retour sticker.

best regards

Patrick Elskamp
Technik

Seems alright service to me!!

Cool. Did you say you’d swapped and shortened the hoses?

I used an Avid bleed kit which worked well

I’m using Avid syringes with the funnel, and it’s really easy (especially compared to Avids).

Hope everyone is cleaning their syringes well though, apparently dot fluid isn’t good for Shimano brakes…

Cool. Did you say you’d swapped and shortened the hoses?

Yeah I did, they werent bothered.