Bleeding brakes, and now rear won't hold pressure

OK. I'm loosing my mind here. Hopefully some of you can help.

I bled the front brakes on my '06 first and everything went fine.

But here's the problem. I went to bleed the rear, and committed the ultimate sin. I emptied reservoir my mistake. So I refilled it, and pumped out what I thought was all the air in the line. So now pressure will build in the system, and it feels strong. But if I wait a second or two, the rear pedal pushes the full length of travel with little or no resistance. I have gone through 2 bottles of DOT 4 with no bubbles coming out when I release the bleed nipple.

This is driving me crazy! Could I have air in the manifold that connects the front and rear brakes? And if so, how do I get that air out? I called the dealer, and he said I could have air trapped at the top of the caliper. But the nipple is towards the top of the caliper. I even tried tapping the caliper with a rubber mallet to work out some bubbles. No luck. I have tried sucking the fluid out with a vac, no bubbles. I even put a little teflon tape around the threads of the nipple, no bubbles.

Help!!

Thanks.

I realize this may be a trivial point, but just in case i'll mention it anyway. When you bleed the rear brake on a GenII (ABS) you need to bleed both the nipple on the rear caliper and the center nipple on the front right hand side caliper.

JamesK said:

I realize this may be a trivial point, but just in case i'll mention it anyway. When you bleed the rear brake on a GenII (ABS) you need to bleed both the nipple on the rear caliper and the center nipple on the front right hand side caliper.

Click to expand...

Well, I'm about to have an Ahh-ha! moment! So, I take it I build pressure in the rear, then bleed the front right?

Yep! Remember that you have "linked" brakes, so one of the pistons in the front is pressurized by the rear brake pedal.

jasona1700 said:

JamesK said:

I realize this may be a trivial point, but just in case i'll mention it anyway. When you bleed the rear brake on a GenII (ABS) you need to bleed both the nipple on the rear caliper and the center nipple on the front right hand side caliper.

Click to expand...

Well, I'm about to have an Ahh-ha! moment! So, I take it I build pressure in the rear, then bleed the front right?

Click to expand...

I would suggest double checking the front brakes just in case, since it is possible that you used the center nipple on the RHS front caliper to try to bleed the front brakes - just a thought.

JamesK said:

jasona1700 said:

JamesK said:

I realize this may be a trivial point, but just in case i'll mention it anyway. When you bleed the rear brake on a GenII (ABS) you need to bleed both the nipple on the rear caliper and the center nipple on the front right hand side caliper.

Click to expand...

Well, I'm about to have an Ahh-ha! moment! So, I take it I build pressure in the rear, then bleed the front right?

Click to expand...

I would suggest double checking the front brakes just in case, since it is possible that you used the center nipple on the RHS front caliper to try to bleed the front brakes - just a thought.

Click to expand...

Well, another trip to my garage...bled the center nipple.. and who woulda guessed... my brakes are like new again!! Thank you so much for your quick response. This was my first time bleeding with linked brakes, so i didn't even think to check the front. Didn't even notice that center nipple when I bled the front right. Test rode the bike, ABS and brakes are great.

Now I can sleep tonight! :yahoo:

Just worth noting...

Yamaha brake bleed procedure dictates:

1. Bleed both fronts (right & left),

2. Bleed linked rear (center nipple on right front caliper),

3. Bleed rear.

If you still have mushy brakes, simply rinse and repeat.

Timely thread; mine are due for a bleeding. Probably would've screwed it up. Still might

Thanks for the tips guys. I had a soft rear pedal on my '08 AE. I was a little intimidated by the ABS having never bled an ABS bike before. I followed the instructions here and it came out perfect. Thank you again.