brake fluid in clutch

[pffog]

I fix most anything myself. I'm WAY ahead on the money, and there's knowledge, independence, and satisfaction that goes with it. If I beat myself up over a little mistake once in a while I'd be quite unhappy. Write it off, move on, and be happy with the money you save in the longer term.

Yea, yea, yea, just say it. I'm a cheap SOB too,


I need the $$$ to buy tires and gas.

[deilenberger]

jbarneshb, (real name? We're friendly around here..)

The year/model of your bike? Please read: http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?46055. While as far as I know all hexheads used mineral oil in the clutch circuit, I've been known to be wrong on this sort of thing.. I'll edit the thread title once we know that info.

Thanks for your cooperation!

[racer7]

jbarbeshb,
Not trying to rub salt. As was noted, anyone who turns wrenches a bunch will sometimes make an error- we're all human and people make mistakes, hopefully with a low frequency influenced by learning. If one makes a careless error, especially if frequently, one needs to get out the game of wrenching unless that person likes paying others to correct the errors but the "once in a while from lack of knowledge" thing can happen at any time which is why building knowledge and contacts is key- greatly reduces chances.

For most of us, the screwup usually involves something simple like a bolt busted off the creates a complex repair situation that could have been avoided. You got bitten in a way that in the worst case could lead to a very expensive repair job so now you need to make some careful choices based on what you've read and what you're seeing so you don't land on "worse case". Most of us have been down that route, too

One excellent solution to necessarily high dealer prices (have to cover that overhead) is a qualified independent BMW mechanic near you. I've got a friend who was a long time dealership mechanic and owns many of the specialized tools needed for complex jobs- met him through the local BMW club. Very likely you might be able to find someone who is at least as close as your dealership and more cost effective especially if you use your local club members as an info source.

Many of us males have that bit of stubbornness where we can't let go of something we started. Sometimes its more useful to take a step back and ask what your time, sanity, and $ are all worth to you and try to make a Spock / rational choice about how to proceed. In my case, I can easily do any routine service as well as much complex stuff and it irks me a bit to let anyone else do it. But I've also got some health issues and sometimes some time issues- and I also hate letting my machines go way past their service intervals or to run them with damaged systems- I hate to buy new stuff or repair things that could have been spotted and easily corrected during a service and I don't belong to the school that accepts just handling breakdowns with plastic. As other pressures and issues in my life have increased, I have found it easier to let one of my competent pro friends do work for me- for the few $ it relieves all brain space the item would otherwise occupy- keeps me using my time and energy for riding rather than wrenching...

[jbarneshb]

I pulled my slave cylinder off and could see no leakage. I reprimed it with a syringe and flushed it a couple of times with Magura Blood Mineral Hydrualc fluid. It operates the same as before. After a couple of hundred miles it hasn't lost any fluid. I'm just going to monitor the level in the reservoir and if nothing changes, I'm going to leave it.

[racer7]

If you've got all the wrong fluid out, flushed everything, and all appears normal the system ought to be good for use for at least a while and maybe as good as new. The wild card is whether any of the brake fluid has soaked into the sensitive rubber bits and slowly doing damage.
As a guess, its looks like you've going to get of without any serious issues.
Nice work......

[jbarneshb]

Well I didn't get lucky. I noticed fluid level had gone down a little in clutch resovoir. I couldn't see anything at cylinder on handlebar so I pulled the slave cylinder. It was leaking. I bought and installed a used one off ebay. After using about 8 ounces of fluid to get it primed I figured out I should have filled the cyllinder first. I took the old one apart and could see the seal was eaten up. Just flushing or bleeding the system I probably didn't get any of the brake fluid out of the slave cylinder. I hope this is the last of my problems.