Next to the splooge hole

[xs1100newb]

Hello all,
I finally got that snap ring removed so I was able to remove the master cylinder. I cleaned everything up and it looks good now.

I just removed the reservoir and I am lucky I did because there was a lot of crap under the reservoir and the splooge hole was completely clogged. I have gotten the splooge hole all clean but I noticed an additional hole about 1.5 cm from the splooge hole. What is the purpose of this hole. It appears to lead to nowhere. Is it actually a hole and do I need to clean it?

I tried cleaning it but I removed about 1mm of material and no more will come out. It is either rock hard crap or I found the bottom of the hole.

Thanks,
Adam

[crazy steve]

There's two holes down there. There's the larger hole, which is the main passage for fluid into the master cylinder bore. This hole is about 1/8" in diameter. Next to it is the imfamous splooge hole; this hole looks like they started to drill it but stopped. If you look VERY close, there's a tiny hole at the bottom of it. To clean this, you need a very small stiff wire; pull one out of a wire brush. Work this until the wire goes through, then wiggle it around to knock the corrosion out of there. These can get clogged really bad, so you have to work at it..

THAT'S the splooge hole....

[xs1100newb]

Thanks. This makes more sense now. The hole that I thought was the splooge hole is actually the regular hole and the hole that I thought led to nowhere is actually the splooge hole.

I looked at the tech tips before posting this question but I couldn't figure out what was going on. After reading your post it all made sense.


Adam

[xs1100newb]

Ok, so my splooge hole is messed up pretty badly.

Everything else in the brake system is clean and ready to go, but I cannot clear the splooge hole. It is clogged with something that is pretty hard and I cannot get a thin wire through the passageway. Any ideas? Are there any chemicals I could use or any tools that would be of use?


Adam

[Ken Talbot]

You may need to use a pin vice to "drill" your piece of wire from a brush through the blockage. Or, you could use an appropriately small enough drill in the pin vice to carefully drill it out.

[crazy steve]

I scraped at mine with a X-acto knife until the 'drilled' part was as clean as I could get it, then started working the wire in there. This is a total PITA when they're really clogged, so be patient...

[xs11lover]

I had to use a bunch of really thin wire, I stole my wife's jewelry & florists wire & had to bend a bunch of pieces over working it. A thicker wire won't go through that tiny hole. Keep working at it.

[xs1100newb]

Can anyone give me an idea of how large the hole is?

Adam

[natemoen]

Little smaller than a sewing needle.

[ManitoulinLad]

guitar string

From a guitar I used the smallest guitar string - it was okay for the size and really stiff due to what its really used for. Being really long when it did bend up I just pulled it out & cut off the bent part - no worries of loseing it in the hole cause its too long. It worked great for me & I still got tons left over for whenever next time. I used my just my hands to move it around - Dan

[natemoen]

Should never be a next time as long as you change the fluid regularly.

[cywelchjr]

Right on. Mine was nice and clean and working well when I got it, and I do a full fluid change out each time I change the pads (I'm just that way about it), and figure I'm not gonna have any problems with mine. Now that said, I'll be pulling mine apart next winter to strip and repaint them, but just because their ugly, to the point that *I* can't stand them, and I'm not generally much bothered by ugly in a bike.

I will however be doing some other improvements at some point, so I might just be replacing the calipers with HD ones instead, and I'll likely rebuild the rear MC and such and replace the rear disk as well cause the thing is chewed up (it was like that when I got the bike, but I'm getting tired of changing the pads almost faster than the fronts) .

That and of course SS lines, but since my brakes actually work pretty well, I'm planning on dealing with the seat first, cause my redneck seat cover is not holding up well. So I guess I'm gonna be ordering that saddlemen seat setup since I can't get an off the shelf cover with my already custom seat.

[Ken Talbot]

Can anyone give me an idea of how large the hole is?

The wire brush wire I use for this measures out at 0.012"

[xs1100newb]

Ok, I was able to get it.

I got a thumb tack put it over the hole and tapped it with a screw driver. I then cleaned everything up with a piece of wire from a wirebrush.


I have reassembled the master cylinder and when I squeeze the lever the cylinder does not return as it should. It does eventually return but it is slow. Will this change once I put fluid into the system?

I did not lubricate the bore with anything before putting it back together, but it was still wet with brake fluid.

Adam

[natemoen]

You should lube everything up with brake fluid as you put it together. If all the parts are in there correctly it should work right once everything is good and wet.