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Brake fluid leaking- help

L

Lebowski

Member
My brake cylinders both front and back are leaking fluid that destroyed a lot of the master and rear cylinder paint. I have changed my FLSTN original handlebars to Beach bars and had to change the brake cables as well.
I realize that the rear cylinder was not necessarily removed for that and only the front brake lines were replaced-is there any chance that the rear master cylinder was removed when i changed my original exhausts (to V&H Big shots staggered) in the past? or did this happen because of bad reassembly if the cylinders were opened to refill with brake fluid and not reassembled properly or the heads were not screwed back tight enough during servicing?
I do not mean to sound stupid - really do not know how these things work:(
All i know my 2008 FLSTN has 11000 Km on and i have it for almost 3 years now and all this is very frustrating-having to change master and rear cylinders to chrome kits will cost me a lot and it feels quite unfair:((
Any ideas on how this came to be or what i could do to fix it?
 
Don't know about your 08 but my 05 had a problem with the front and rear master cylinder leaking around the top seal. My dealer replaced the front because some of the paint had been eaten off and replaced the seal on both. Since than no problems.
 
The seals on the master cylinder cover both front and rear can deform if the screws are over tightened and they may then leak
glycol based brake fluid is very good at stripping paint

Brian
 
The problem with a lot of leakage situations with the master cylinders is that the cover screws are run in to tightly and compress the cover gasket under the cover causing leaks. It's important that you follow the torquing values when tightening the cover screws to avoid the leakage.

If you watch the cover gasket when tightening it with a screwdriver, it will go so far and if you tighten it more it will flatten out and that's where the leak comes from.
 
I hope my dealer will be willing to do the same-will give them a call tomorrow.
My warranty has expired but i believe that the right thing would be to have both kits replaced with the same ones.
Never touched the screws myself :( Hopefully my dealer will replace them.

glider said:
The problem with a lot of leakage situations with the master cylinders is that the cover screws are run in to tightly and compress the cover gasket under the cover causing leaks. It's important that you follow the torquing values when tightening the cover screws to avoid the leakage.

If you watch the cover gasket when tightening it with a screwdriver, it will go so far and if you tighten it more it will flatten out and that's where the leak comes from.
Click to expand...

Would loosening the screws a bit help stop the leakage???
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you think it would help, then loosen them. I can't tell from here if it would help. Give it a try.
 
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