Right! I'm about to top me sen! Bleeding Shimano Brakes???

Can anyone shed any light on why o why I can’t get me freaking Shimano SLX disc brake to bleed properly?

Tried so far:

– Pushing from caliper up to lever
– Draining from lever down to caliper
– Standing the bike upright so the hose is vertical (it’s currently threaded through an O5 swingarm)
– Pumping fluid out with the lever without closing the bleed screw and topping up using the funnel
– Pumping fluid out with the lever whilst closing the bleed screw in between pumps, topping up directly into the reservoir
– Every conceivable combination of the above!!!

They’re brand new and only needed bleeding cos I shortened the hose and threaded it through the swing arm.

No evidence of leaks and its not pumping fluid into the hose between the liner and the outer (I’ve had this before with an Avid hose).

I’m losing the will to live. Any help gratefully received.
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Never had problem using the kit from Epic & following the video HERE[/url]

Hopefully this is not telling you how to suck eggs, but this is how I do my slx brakes, and it’s always worked. I don’t have any hose that I can’t get to in order to give it a tap, though.

Wheel out, pads out. Pistons pushed back into bores with a ring spanner. Park tools tyre lever as a perfect spacer between postings. Brake lever rotated so the reservoir is perfectly level. Remove grub screws and reservoir cap and diaphragm. Give lever a few quick squeezes to ‘burp’ any air near the lever up into the reservoir. Connect hose to bleed nipple with ring spanner on. Open bleed valve slightly, squeeze brake lever. Close valve, release lever and push lever gently to fully out. This last bit seems to suck more fluid down the hose. Doing this, I find I can never do more than three repeats without topping up the reservoir. Top up and continue until no bubbles in hose. Top up finally and carefully replace top cap and diaphragm.

Clean everything up. Replace pads. Pump lever until the pads find the rotor. Tapping the hose in the direction of flow is supposed to help. I do it, it but it’s more superstition I think.

Take time and it should be ok. I’ve never had to move the calipers around to get a good bleed.

All the best.

Wheel out, pads out. Pistons pushed back into bores with a ring spanner. Park tools tyre lever as a perfect spacer between postings. Brake lever rotated so the reservoir is perfectly level. Remove grub screws and reservoir cap and diaphragm. Give lever a few quick squeezes to ‘burp’ any air near the lever up into the reservoir. Connect hose to bleed nipple with ring spanner on. Open bleed valve slightly, squeeze brake lever. Close valve, release lever and push lever gently to fully out. This last bit seems to suck more fluid down the hose. Doing this, I find I can never do more than three repeats without topping up the reservoir. Top up and continue until no bubbles in hose. Top up finally and carefully replace top cap and diaphragm.

That’s exactly how I do mine, except I also attach a small bottle to the end of the hose to a) collect the fluid and b) give it a squeeze before attaching the hose create a bit of negative pressure so that any air near the nipple is immediately drawn through.

When you say they’re not bleeding properly, what’s the end result? Lever still spongy or too much throw?

Not sure what you’re doing with the fifth bullet point. Once I’ve done bottom up & then top down, I close the bleed nipple, funnel still in situ & pump the lever until it’s solid. Then hold the lever & quickly open & close the bleed nipple. This should remove any bubbles in the caliper. Then close the bleed nipple & with the funnel still attached, pump the lever until solid with the caliper at 22 degrees, 45 degrees and 67 degrees to move any hidden bubbles in the lever.

Quick question where have you got the lever/bite point adjustment set? When I bought my deore brakes they were set up with the levers grabbing really close to the bar. Felt spongy as my middle (very). Wound the bite point out and levers felt rock hard although not until after I had spent two hours trying to “bleed” them. Grrrrrr (mainly at self)

Never bled a Shimano, but usually a poor bleed is because air is getting in somehow, between bleed kit and brake usually. I bleed up and down whatever the brake, up down, tap, tap, up down, injecting the fluid both down stream and up stream slowly, many times, tapping as I go. Then last push is of course upstream and I try and close off the system as quickly as possible.

turn the lever adjust in / out / in middle aswell.

Did any of this work, OP?

Shiman Video

APF

Just posting two commiserate rather than offer any helpful advice. Followed Shimano’s instructions as per official youtube url=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dnP24XK1xgY]video[/url] and spent a frustrating afternoon getting oil all over the shop due to syringe popping off bleed nipple when trying to squeeze oil through.

Why on earth don’t they have a threaded nipple where the syringe hose could be attached for a mess free bleed is beyond me.

Ditch the shimano, get some Avids much better.

^ha ha

Why on earth don’t they have a threaded nipple where the syringe hose could be attached for a mess free bleed is beyond me.

See that black bit that you get with the Shimano kit? That goes on the hose, you push the hose onto the bleed nipple, then push the black bit down onto the bleed nipple and it holds the tube in place.

I spend ages mucking about with mine to limited avail – brakes permanently a little bit spongy, occasionally alarmingly so.
Eventually I gave in and bought a new master cylinder – just bled that up now and it’s perfect. Not impressed with the current shimano brakes – I’ve had to replace the master cylinders on both my XTs to get them working.

See that black bit that you get with the Shimano kit? That goes on the hose, you push the hose onto the bleed nipple, then push the black bit down onto the bleed nipple and it holds the tube in place.

Ah! now I know! 😀

‘top me sen’ – Op you don’t live a city famed for it’s ceramics do you?

To avoid spongy shimano brakes even after bleeding make sure you bleed them with the reach adjuster screwed right out and also the servowave adjuster screwed right out. When bled reset them to their preferred positions. Some air can get trapped in them otherwise.

See that black bit that you get with the Shimano kit? That goes on the hose, you push the hose onto the bleed nipple, then push the black bit down onto the bleed nipple and it holds the tube in place.

I used an Epic Bleed Kit borrowed from a mate that didn’t have this part included. I would buy a Shimano kit but they are nowhere to be found where I’m from and I’ve already ordered a kit from Epic bleed solutions that as far as I know doesn’t contain anything to clamp the syringe hose to the nipple.

I’ve read that it can be done with an olive from the hose shortening kit but I tried and it didn’t fit over the tubing.

Does anyone have any DIY solutions to this?

Does anyone have any DIY solutions to this?

Make similar from 2 zip ties – I can picture what I mean, I just can’t put it into words 😕 I am only 8, though…

FWIW I haven’t had a an issue with the tube slipping off the nipple – my probs. have been with leaky reservoirs 😡

I had the same thing with a set of saints, tried everything under the sun, used a litre of oil over the course of a month………sold them in the end and bought some hopes, they bled up in 5 mins lol

the Epic kit has a threaded syringe to screw onto the reservoir nipple

FOLLOW UP:

Given the fact that I’m writing this you may have gathered I haven’t topped me sen. (@jekkyl: I’m from Leeds originally, are they famous for ceramics?)

I gave up in the end and bought some Avids, shortened both hoses, bled and fitted them within an hour.

I gave the Shimanos to a mate to have a go at and he seemed to have a bit more success, mainly due to one major reason. He used GENUINE SHIMANO FLUID!!

I think the cheap shit from Halfords was too thick and the pump at the lever wasn’t necessarily air but the fact that the caliper couldn’t retract fast enough.

Anyhoo:

FS: a pair of hardly used Shimano SLX brakes (pre-bled to hell and back)

MOD: I realise this isn’t in the classifieds forum, it’s for comedic effect only so no need to tick me off!! I’ll post it properly at some point ;o)

How much?

Are you trying to get be into trouble with mods??

I’m planning on testing the Avids out this week, I’ll post on the classifieds forum next week sometime but it’ll be about £75 posted for the pair, (no discs, no adaptors)

I gave the Shimanos to a mate to have a go at and he seemed to have a bit more success, mainly due to one major reason. He used GENUINE SHIMANO FLUID!!

I thought Shimano brakes used mineral oil rather than brake fluid?!!

Yes, they do.
❓

Avids !!!!!
Nowyour real troubles begin 🙂

I had Avids in everything since I ditched Hope about 8 years ago (looked nice but needed constant bleeding and boiled too easily for me, even the Ti 6 pots!).

Used Juicy 5s on XC, trail and DH bikes and never really had an issue.

I don’t know why they have such a bad rep.

I still fail to understand this desire to bleed brakes.
10 year old Hopes, 5 year old Hopes, 9 year old Shimano, year old Hopes, 7 year old Shimano all on bikes in use at my house.
Never had to bleed them even when shortening hoses.
Never had them boil
Had the pads fade once [which is interesting) on a very hot day and a lot of heavy braking.
Only had dealings with 3 sets of Avids, they work but a pain in the arse to set up.

@Dales Rider
😯 you haven’t bled them when you shortened the hose?? That’s impressive.

Assuming of course your levers aren’t all spongy and pump up like a cheap watch. (Does that simile even work??)

To be fair I have also had brakes that have lasted a similar amount of time and the boiling issue was in Morzine, which is kinda different.

There was a link on here ages ago when Rose Bikes started selling Shimano brakes with much cheapness – showed how to shorten hoses/swap levers without a re-bleed. Worked for me.

Many stories of successful Shimano shortening with no bleeding afterward – managed mine no problems and I am as mechanically gifted as a dead otter.

Cheers

Danny B

Nope no bleeding when shortening a hose, its quite an easy feat most people can do.
Maybe I dont boil brakes as I tend to use them as little as possible 🙂

They are £55 each at Rose at the mo. no discs, no mounts.

iv had 2 sets of new shape shimano’s in my workshop in the last 2 weeks and iv had nothing but trouble with them but found if u remove the pads and edge the pistons out slightly ,pump some fluid in from caliper end to fill the gap behind then push them back in,it presurises the system more and gives more bite,
on the avid note I have some 1st gen elixi’r, juicy carbons and juicy 5’s all work superb with little fuss from day 1 I am very much still a fan after owning hope/shimano/magura.

I’d advise against doing the above, I’ve overfilled an Xtr lever this way and it blew the lever bore cap due to the additional fluid with no where to go.

New Shimanos can hide air in strange places, hanging them up and down while bleeding really helps if youve got air stuck. Bled a set of m785s over 12 months ago, with loads of use and still perfect. As long as you get a good bleed to start with you shouldn’t need to rebleed 🙂

I had similar issues and also ended up ditching them for Avids which have been fine, though I could still do with bleeding them as I had to shorten the hoses on those as well.