VS 1400 Clutch Bleeding Tips

Clutch Bleeding VS 1400
2 Versions

Blackbeard's Version

Take off the secondary drive cover (the chrome cover just in front of your drive shaft). Remove the bleed valve rubber cap and attach a three foot piece of clear tubing that fits tightly over nipple on the bleed valve located on the slave cylinder. Put the loose end of the
tubing in a jar or container. Try to support the bike upright, and swing the handlebars far right to the stops to get the clutch reservoir level as you can. Cover the gas tank and other painted surfaces of the bike with a tarp or plastic sheet. (Brake fluid will ruin your paint.
I'm glad I used a cover because the brake fluid spit up out the the reservoir like a tiny geyser several times during the flushing process). Take off the clutch master cylinder cover plate, remove the rubber diaphram, suck out the old fluid (I used a small plastic turkey baster
you can at WalMart for about a buck), clean out any dirt/debris, and fill with new DOT 4 fluid. Open the vent valve a quarter turn with an 8mm wrench and squeeze the clutch several times until the reservoir is about empty (don't let any air get sucked into the bottom of the reservoir!) Refill and repeat until clear fluid comes out of the vent valve. (This only took about two or three refills of the reservoir). When clean fluid comes out of the clear tubing, you're done. Watch out that you don't suck air back up into the vent valve during this process. I had a buddy help me close the bleeder valve after each squeeze of the clutch lever to prevent air bubbles from getting sucked back into the slave cylinder. New brake
fluid is completely clear (the one I used), so if you have a dark caramel color fluid, it means it's time to replace it! A 12 fl. oz. bottle was enough to flush out all old fluid in the clutch, front, and rear brakes. To do this solo, you can purchase Speed Bleeders which have a check-valve built into the bleeder so fluid can only go out and air cannot come back in. I bought these but have not yet tried them. Hope this into helps you, and any other Intruder Alert
member that may be having similar problems!
Blackbeard

This method Courtesy Of Blackbeard @ The Cafe

Chuck's Version

I use a MityVac and it works great. Here's what I do for a quick, air free flush. For the clutch, I turn the handlebars to the right, cover the bike with plastic and take off the res. cover. Fill the reservoir to near full. (If changing the fluid, clean out the existing fluid with a little turkey baster or clean paper towel). To prevent sucking air through the threads on the loosened bleeder nipple, I took the bleeder nipples out, cleaned them in alcohol and applied Threadlock Thread Sealant - This is some special Threadlock brand pipe dope stuff and is white in color. I put it on the threads and installed it previously. Place a small stainless steel hose clamp over the tube from the MityVac to the bleeder nipple and put it on and clamp the hose tightly to the bleeder so it doesn't suck air. You can also use Teflon tape on the bleeder nipples per directions on the MityVac web site, but I used the liquid sealant and it worked nicely. If you don’t do this, you will suck air bubbles and can’t tell if they are coming from the hydraulic system or from around the nipple.

Now I have fluid in the reservoir and the line and clutch is empty, and the bleeder is CLOSED. I pump the clutch lever slowly a bit to get fluid into it's pump then I pump the MityVac up and get a good vacuum and use a 8mm ignition wrench to open the bleeder a half turn for about a second and then quickly close it. Check the reservoir and add fluid and repeat. I have the tube from the bleeder going UP to the pump. This keeps the fluid against the bleeder and you can see it coming up the tube. This method sort of shoots the fluid through the lines and prevents air floating back. The MityVac pump keeps it's vacuum this way and doesn't need very much pumping. You can do it quickly, wrench in one hand and adding fluid in the other. As soon as I get a .oz or so of fluid out of the bleeder I close it and test for air at the junction of the line attachment point to the reservoir.

I pump the clutch lever slowly and watch for air bubble rising from the bottom of it. Then I wrap a paper towel around the banjo bolt to the reisivour and open it slightly and slowly squeeze the clutch lever, hold the lever and close the Banjo bolt. Replete a few times and tighten. Slowly work the lever a bit, then go and do some more bleeding. Top off the reservoir and seal. Then torque the banjo bolts to the correct setting. Took longer to type this than to do it.

This method Courtesy Of Chuck @ The Cafe

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