Brake fluid by nature attracts moisture.Even sitting in a garage.Dot 5 I thought was silicon base and has a higher oxygen content giving you the feeling of a slightly mushy feeling.When you open a can of brake fluid it can start to deteriorate in six months.I by small cans.I worked in a friction house in my twenties and these guys with hot rods would bring in there master cylinders and wheel cylinders and I’d hear them say they restored the brakes before they parked it and then say that was twenty years ago and they looked terrible.I would have to send them out to get them sleeved because of the pitting.This was also before synthetic brake fluid was around.

Just had mine flushed via the recall that HD sent out. My bike is an ‘08 Ultra that my dad bought from the original owner with 1,200 miles on it. I bought from him with 29,000 on it 2 yrs ago. It now has 44,500 on it. It’s never had the brakes flushed until now, nor has it had any problems with brakes whatsoever.

Until now that is. After the flush, I drove it home 20 miles with no issues. The next day, I get on it to go to work, no front brakes. The lever hit the bars. Pumped it a couple of times and got them back. I thought, ok, there’s air in the system. Went ahead and drove to work so I could take it back in on my way home. They bled the system, said it was good. Came back out and said the lever hit the bar as they were backing it out. Put it back on the machine and rebled the system. Then, he came out and said the ABS module is bad and even though the flush caused it, Harley won’t cover it because I had no proof that they had been flushed by a Harley tech every 2 years like the manual says. The part alone is $375 and 2 hours labor. The part can only be bought and installed through a Harley certified tech. So I’m looking at over $500 for something that was caused by the Harley recall.

The Harley tech that I deal with, I’ve known these guys for years, said that I’m not alone, my bike was the 6th or 7th one THIS WEEK that this has happened to. He said to call Harley customer service and complain.

That is what the tech said as well, it’s usually the other way around, which leads me to believe there’s still air in the system. I don’t have any associated ABS lights either. Not sure what I can do, other than bleed it again and hope for the best.

I’ll pull the ABS fuse later and if that changes anything.

Not sure if any of the others hit the bar or were the hard pedal/lever, I was too pissed to think about asking that. They said it was the ABS module that is bad. What happens with hard pedal/lever is that rust on the pistons in the module from moisture in the old fluid breaks loose and causes the piston to stick closed thus causing the hardness and no breaks.

I guess what bothers me the most is that for 44,500 miles I have not had one brake issue at all, they hook up their computer to do their recall and BAM, instant brake issues and they’re not responsible for it.

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