The Great Brake Mystery

I am going to put this out to see what if any ideas you all may have. My 2015 Base has had brake pedal fade since it was a pup! But it is an interesting condition that as of today no one can put a finger on.

In an attempt to fix the issue here is what we have done.

1- Added a big brake kit hoping it would solve the problem - just magnified the issue

2- Multiple digital wrench ABS brake bleeds

3- Fluid Change

4- Manual activation of ABS on gravel road.

5- Checked the master, you can hold pressure on the pedal and it holds firm.

The condition is extremely perplexing because at or around sea level the brakes perform consistently pretty well. Occasionally after a long run without using the brakes you may get a slight pedal drop at first application, quick pump and you have full pedal.

This is where it gets weird - In the mountains at most any altitude with lots of hills the pedal will drop to the floor inconsistently. Come back down out of the mountains and the pedal comes back to normal.

My guess is there is still air somewhere in the system most likely the ABS block. Thinking possibly the change in altitude is allowing the air to escape due to a difference in pressure.

Would love to hear any other opinions!

Thanks

Quote from Dave@DDMWorks

I saw something about "bake" and thought there was going to be cookies or sprinkles

You must be mistaken it says brake but I was baked when I started the thread

Quote from dangerdarrell

I have never been able to get my brakes to stay bled. I heard that StickerDick put in a Gerling type brake master cylinder. I looked those up fo my clutch also. Look great but you have to weld in a plate to attach them.

I am going to try 2 more things next week,

1- replace the master / fluid and do another digital wrench brake bleed

2- check to make sure the steering is zero'd out - that could be messing with the ABS system

After that I will try replacing speed sensors

Quote from FunCycle

Good Luck

Thanks

I forgot to mention that I have tried you trick every time my wheels are off to be cleaned (you can imagine how many times that was)

Still no luck

Quote from Miller Time

Response from Polaris would be "that's normal" for a 2015 GRAY SS, however, if it was RED, they would say that there is a brake problem.

^{Hey I resemble tat remark}

Update:

Yesterday we replaced the brake master and ran 2 pints of high Temp racing brake fluid thru the system. Bleed each wheel multiple time with the digital wrench ABS bleed funtion and then did a second round of manual bleeds. Just wanted to make sure we didn't have some debris in the system that may be causing the problem.

There was a considerable difference in the feel of the pedal during the bleeding process..

I drove the old girl as hard as possible thru some back country roads for an hour mashing the brakes and activating the ABS

SO FAR ALL IS GOOD

The true test will be when we get her up in the mountains - hopefully this weekend

I saved the old master and we will tear it open to see if we can find the cause of the mystery pedal fade!

Quote from Dave@DDMWorks

You installed a factory Polaris master cylinder right? I know we were talking about aftermarket, etc. Just wanted to confirm.

Really hoping this takes care of your problem so we can get the next track day setup

Yes sir a stock master from the mother ship

If we get a brake in the rain Saturday I will make a climb up to the mountains to confirm we got it beat!

I save the old one and will bring down next trip so we can do an autopsy

Quote from JoeF.

Mine has had mushy brake pedal since I new, had it to dealer quite a few times, bleeding brakes never lasted more than a few weeks.

I had the famous brake light start coming on Late last year.... figure I get around to that eventually.

I read a post quite a few months ago that talked about bleeding the top of block just under master cylinder, so I busted it lose and took a few seconds for fluid to finally come out, tightened it up and got in, pedal felt better, so every time I would go for drive it did that.....few months later, brakes are solid, brake light has not come on anymore.... go figure!

You got off easy - I spent more money on brake fluid than gas.

I hope this gets it