While riding some trails today I was cruising along and grabbed the hand brake to slow down to go around a nice deep water hole. The brake lever just sqeezed all the way in.... man what a bath I took. I tried the brakes (back and front) nothin. So I packed it in for the day. After getting home and cleaning the quad I found that when you sqeeze the front brake lever, fluid comes out of the rear brake fluid res. (just under the cap) I cleaned the cap and threads, re-installed, making sure it was tight and it still leaks out fluid and theres still not much pressure when sqeezing the hand brake. I ran a search but couldnt find anything about this, Any ideas ? thanks,Bob

 

I am not sure about this one but did the cap have a gasket of anykind. Check to see if it does and it might need a new gasket.

Ronnie

 

Sounds like you might need a new master cylinder. Mine did the same thing and replacing the master cylinder took care of it. If you pumped the cylinder too low and pumped any air into your lines you'll need to bleed your brake lines too.

 

When this happened to me, I replaced the rear master cylinder thinking that was it, but I was wrong. Check your rear brake pads and caliper too. If the pads wear out too much, you'll need to replace the rear caliper, or repair the seal in the caliper.

I'm 100% positive that it is most likely one of these two things.

 

Like Offrdr15 suggested, you have a bad seal, or something else wrong with your rear caliper. These two units operate the same rear caliper, but are seperate, fluid wise. Please post what you find for curiousity sake. If you do replace the master cylinder, make sure you update to the 2001 unit. I could be wrong, but this is kinda what it sounds like.

Good Luck,
Ken

 

The rear caliper seals are bad.
The only way brake fluid can go from the hand brake to the foot brake reservior as you describe, is through a faulty internal seal in the caliper.
The rear brake uses hydraulic pressure acting on different portions of the caliper piston ( one for the hand brake, one for the foot brake ) to apply force to the brake pads. There is a seal between those two areas that is leaking and allwing the fluid to pass from the hand brake system to the foot brake system.

 

Thanks so much for the responses guys, once again you've proven the worth of this forum. Its really great to have access to so many talented folks who have "been there & done that". I'm not a mechanic (obviously) but I do enjoy and take satisfaction from doing the job myself. But this was a new one to me so I figured before I just start replacing things I would check it out. Thanks again for the info. Bob