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My rear 2010 Elixer 3 suddenly became squishy. It always worked well, until I back in the back of my old Ford wagon and went up to Oshkosh about a 3 hour trip. After removing it from the back I noticed the rear brake lever was very mushy, the next day the lever would go down to the handlebars. I was told by a few bike shops that that needed to be bled. But why? where would the air come from, they have been good for 2 years, of which I can only ride half the year, and its not every weekend. So I called SRAM tech support, same story, they need to be bled. But can you imagine that this could actually fixed the problem? If the system is closed and there is no fluid seepage how did air get into the system? So I bought the AVID bleed kit, and there was air, closed up the ports, and within 10 minutes they felt mushy again, blew again more air, bled again more air, again, There seems to be no end to the air coming from the lever port.
Happened to a mate.
Had it serviced, no better.
From the forums, a new seal kit may help, as it is the piston sticking down.
What he did was replace it with Shimano.
That sorted the problem.
An easier question to ask yourself (possibly) is not where is the air getting in, but where is the oil getting out? If air can get into the system that quick, then you can be pretty certain that the oil can get out the same place, which should be easy to spot.
That's the theory anyway. However after similar problems with both Juicys and Elixers I can confirm it doesn't always work like this.
I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but new brakes is often the best option. There are still deals on Shimano Deore 596s about for less than £100 a pair, and I haven't heard anything but praise for them.
The keyword in jkomo's post - replace. Avoid prolonging the avid heartache....
I was tired last night and I see I made some spelling mistakes but no way to edit them...its crazy to only allow editing for the first fifteen minutes.
I know it makes no sence if the air can get in, I should see fluid escaping somewhere.
hmm, so a seal has gone, somewhere, and is leaking air in.
it needs only a tiny amount of air, before your brakes turn into sponges.
the problem could be lever (plunger, bladder), could be calliper (piston seals). Less likely, it could be seals around the hose points, or a hose could have come a bit loose.
if you have time and inclination, you can swap the the levers over, rebleed both brakes, and thus track the problem to a calliper or lever.
after that, its a round of fresh seals on the offending part
however, if you're paying for servicing, its tough to justify this effort on the lower priced avids
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