Bleeding front brake 93 model

[grumpy72]

Ok. My brake lines are full of air. Heres my question. The front master cylinder is odd shaped, at an angle, looks like it only holds a thimblefull of fluid. How in the world do you do this with such a small reservoir? Should i mount a larger aftermarket one on there?

[triton28]

If you have a rectangular, OEM master cylinder you can level the reservoir by turning the handlebars to one side or the other. This will give you the maximum amount of fluid in the reservoir. If the fluid reservoir is not rectangular then perhaps some PO fitted an aftermarket reservoir and I can't offer any ideas on that.
DO NOT allow any fluid to contact the body plastic panels as it will dissolve the ABS content of the panels in no time. Be sure to cover everything under the master cylinder with some cloth or something in case some fluid does get out of the reservoir.
As well, be aware that if you quickly let the lever return to the at rest position the fluid will pop up from one of the 2 tiny holes on the bottom of the reservoir. I believe it is the pressure release hole which does that, the front hole.
With a watchful eye to the level the OEM is not hard to keep full, just be careful of spills and don't let the level run dry.

[grumpy72]

Its oem. Its so smalo because of the touring type handlebars. Nearly every piece of plastic is off. This was going to be a parts bike. But i really want to get it running and the brakes working. Thank you for the response.

[GrandpaDenny]

Its oem. Its so smalo because of the touring type handlebars.

Have you owned other motorcycles that had bigger brake fluid reservoirs, or are you comparing it to a car's brake fluid reservoir? Just curious, as these are not unusually small, they are the same size as every other bike I've owned. Perhaps some newer bikes with multiple piston calipers might have larger ones, I don't know. Maybe they just seem smaller. The rear brake reservoir is round and at first glance appears larger, but it is actually roughly the same capacity, if not a little smaller (only operating one caliper vs. two front calipers).

[grumpy72]

I have owned at least 75 motorcycles. The reservoirs on suzukis,yamahas, hondas, kawasakis all are twice as big inside as the one on the voyager. The odd shape of the handlebars and its angular mounting caused this to be necessary. It would be nice if my mightyvac would speed up the process but about 2 pumps and its time to refill the reservoir. I will get it done eventually. Also burping at the banjo can get some big bubbles out. Even turning the handlebars on this 93 voyager does not get it level. So you have a horizontal triangle to fill. I wondered about taking the master cylinder off and taping it to the handlebar to get it truly level, then remount properly afterwards.I will get it done eventually

[grumpy72]

I just saw I joined this forum november 2013. I did not know it had been that long.

[grumpy72]

looks like I will be buying a 2000 model soon, that has much less problems than mine does. I will use mine to fix it