Reeses peanut butter in clutch reservoir

[Guywiththefishtattoo]

Hi all , new owner of an 84 interstate . PO didn't use it much in the past few years and I am having clutch issues now. I have read many of the posts here about similar issues to what Iam experiencing (clutch slippage at high rpms , total slippage when bikes hot and in summertime Louisiana traffic). I have read that clearing the fluid return hole may fix these problems . Below is a picture of what I found in my reservoir ! My question is this - should I bleed the whole system and try to clean out the MC ? Or is this look to nasty to salvage so I should just replace the c , slave, lines ( and if all else fails clutch assembly)? Thanks any and all advice or suggestions appreciated!

[Aussie81Interstate]

Flush it out - first use a paper towel to absorb most of the rubbish - then use some wd40 to wash it out - then I would put some fresh fluid in it and try and pump some nice clean fluid through it.

[Hoosier Jack]

Oh my, think about how cruddy those lines will be. I would think about changing them too.

Looks like someone ate the chocolate first and left the PB.

[dingdong]

WD40 is petroleum based do not use in clutch or brake systems. I would use clean brake fluid only unless you intend to disassemble and clean. Flushing (bleeding) with clean brake fluid to clean the lines and the slave cylinder (which by the way will look just like that) will need cleaning also.

[Ghostman]

I bought an 86 1200 with low miles some years ago and the clutch reservoir had the same thing. Unfortunately I also found the same in the slave cylinder on the back of the engine. I wound up taking them apart and cleaning it all out and also flushing all of the lines clean. The downside was underneath the gunk in the slave cylinder was corrosion by moisture trapped under the gunk. The slave had to be cleaned of the corrosion and rebuilt.

[WingAdmin]

Flush it out - first use a paper towel to absorb most of the rubbish - then use some wd40 to wash it out - then I would put some fresh fluid in it and try and pump some nice clean fluid through it.

No no no, not WD-40!!! Use brake cleaner, which evaporates completely. WD-40 leaves behind an oily film which is absolutely not compatible with brake fluid! Never use WD-40 on anything that ever touches brake fluid.

Sop out as much of the peanut butter as you can with paper towels, then spray out the remainder with brake cleaner, repeating the paper towel cleaning until it gets as clean as you can get it. Then remove the brake line at both ends and spray brake cleaner down the line until it has flushed the goop out of the brake line.

Do the same with the slave cylinder - lots of brake cleaner until it's as clean as you can get it.

Let the brake cleaner dry (it won't take long, it's a volatile solvent), put everything back together, fill with fresh brake fluid, and bleed the system. With any luck, you'll be back in business.

[virgilmobile]

Ahhh..so your the guy running on greenwell springs road.
Glad to wave at y'all .
Keep us posted.Its a nice bike.

[deanbw]

Never liked reeses peanut butter cups, Bought one for a girlfriend once while out riding around about 40 years ago, she bit into it while we were talking, chewed, swallowed, then looked at the rest of it in her hand and there was the remaining half of a little maggot. I laughed my ass off, she however failed to see the humor.

[Aussie81Interstate]

My apologies for mentioning WD40 - I was just looking for something that was aerosol based to wash the crap out. Brake cleaner should have been an obvious choice.

[Guywiththefishtattoo]

Thank you everyone for the responses ! Don't worry I haven't used wd40 yet , but will likly replace everything anyway if it doesn't work after cleaning the whole system . Happy to be here updates to come .

[Scooter363y]

Now would be a good time to upgrade to stainless brake lines

Scott

[Johnf1059]

I just recently got a 94 Interstate. My clutch and brake master cylinder looked like that also. Not quite that bad, I cleaned them out with brake cleaner and flushed the system with clean brake fluid till it came out clear. Clutch and brake are working fine. Only thing is the sight glass in both master cylinders still have a orange color to them. Couldn't get anything in there to clean them.

[tktrnr]

I flush brake and clutch fluids and change coolant and differential fluids every other year. It's too easily done to not do it.

[Johnf1059]

I highly recommend getting a 1 person vacuum bleeding apparatus. Makes it that much easier. I've never owned one until I got my wing. I first bought a cheep plastic one that didn't work so I took it back and bought the all metal one. About $60.00 at advance auto. It made the job so much easier. I actually have good back brakes now! The po said it needed brake pads on the back that's why they didn't work very good but it had air in the lines. The pads were fine!!

[wingman12]

I had a similar experience with a very neglected 1982 gl1100I that I restored for a lady friend of mine. when I checked the rear master cylinder it was full of gray mud and the rear brake pads had not worked in years, it took 3 days of soaking the area around the pistons with liquid wrench. I finally was able to break the pistons free by placing the old pads on the piston and using a small "C" clamp, compressed the pistons into the caliper, then hooked to the right front brake line and slowly got the pistons to move outward while removing shims I place between the pistons and the caliper walls, both came out with no damage, what a mess to clean out that gray dirt. several cans of brake clean, rebuild all brake calipers and both master cylinders and had to replace the front master cylinder reservoir because if cracked when being removed to clean and rebuild.