Installed clip ons on my Monster 696 with new Pazzo levers and unfortunately had to crack the banjo bolts at the master cylinder to get the line routed correctly through the headlight. Now I cannot get the **** thing to work.
I've tried bleeding the brakes using a vacuum pump from Cycle Gear; I've tried tying the clutch lever overnight with a zip tie; I've tried letting it sit for awhile and gravity bleed; I've tried using a 60cc syringe to force fluid into the system from the slave cylinder; and I've tried removing the slave cylinder and compressing the piston with a c-clamp.
No matter what I do, the bike lurches and dies when I drop it into first. I've gone through 12 ounces of brake fluid and am at my wit's end.
Please help.... and if you're in the Houston area, I may even be willing to pay to have you come over and help. This project has been a train wreck.
I always gravity bleed, but without any vacuum device.
Open the bleeders and just tap the lever. Keep the master full and let it happen.
Check routing of clutch line . . .
Did you by any chance dissemble the lever from pump?
Re-bleed the clutch circuit:
Open the bleeder on the clutch slave and pump the master, keeping it full at all times, as soon as you have the clean fluid coming out, close the bleeder at slave and pump 3 times, hold the lever pulled and open the bleeder, close, repeat at least 3 times always checking fluid level in reservoir . . .
Also keep the fluid reservoir as close to horizontal as possible.
It sounds like it must be air in the lines still then...
I messed around with it for another two hours this morning. Going to try leaving it zip-tied again until tomorrow.
Whenever I see the phrase "new levers" followed by generic clutch problems I have to ask if the master cylinder free play at the lever actuator pin was correctly adjusted. Did you address this already?
BK
I've only seen this on two 80's Japanese bikes, but sometimes bikes with wet clutches can get their clutch plates stuck together if they have been sitting for a little bit. It happened on my first bike (81 yamaha xv750) after a week or two, and a friend of mine bought an 86 Nighthawk with a steep discount because all of a sudden the clutch wouldn't disengage when the guy went to sell it. In both cases, it was solved quickly once the rear wheel was off the ground. All I did was put the bike in the highest gear, pull the clutch lever, spin the rear wheel as fast as possible (without spark plugs, I think), and then slam on the rear brake. That jarred the clutch plates loose, and they worked perfectly after that. The big difference is both of those bikes had center stands, so it was much quicker to do that. I'm not sure if you have a rear stand or not, but if you do, or have another way of getting the rear wheel off the ground, I would recommend giving that a shot.
Any update? I'm thinking i have the same problem.
Iirc my pazzos had to have the screw adjusted to work correctly