I thought I would share my experience since it ended up saving me a ton of money. I am not a mechanic in any way, shape or form - just a cheapskate armed with a service manual
I hope this helps someone else like me who has this problem and is not familiar with the system.
Have a propane torch and some PB Blaster handy.
The front brake lever/master cylinder operates the front AND rear brakes. There is a 4 way connector in front of the gas tank and it has the line coming in from the front master cylinder, and 3 going out, one to each front caliper and one to the rear caliper. There is a rear master cylinder near the foot pedal, the reservoir for it is under the seat. It has one line going out of it to a second fitting on the rear caliper. These are easy to trace.
The easy way to test both master cylinders is to remove the brake line leading out of them and cover the hole with your thumb. Operate the hand lever (front) or foot pedal (rear) and you should build pressure. You can let off slightly with your thumb to allow any air to escape.
I had a working front master cylinder, but when I squeezed the lever the fluid came out of the rear reservoir cap. Removed the rear caliper - nothing left of the rear pads. One piston was out and the other was flush with the caliper housing. I was going to take it to the shop, but after reading some posts online, it seemed the culprit could be a bad seal in the rear caliper, so I decided to take a chance.
Used PB Blaster and a little heat to get brake lines loose from caliper. Borrowed my father's line wrenches which I highly recommend you have.
Bought a caliper seal kit ($30) and rear pads ($40). Removed the Allen bolt holding 2 halves of caliper together. Tried air compressor to push pistons out of caliper - no go. One was sticking out so I wrapped a cloth around it and grabbed on as gently as I could with channel locks and eased it out. The smaller seal on this side had a piece missing out of it - bingo!
Now here's where the fun begins. I could not budge the other piston. Called for a price on a new caliper - $200. No way. So I sprayed some PB Blaster through the brake line holes and around the edge of the piston and let it sit awhile. In the end I used the torch to heat the surfaces of the caliper around the piston and took a pair of O-ring pliers (set to spread while squeezing the handles) and was able to get a good enough bite to rotate the piston and finally break it free. I chewed up some of the inside wall of the piston doing it, but since that doesn't touch anything, I wasn't too worried about it. Once I had the piston out and cleaned, I used coarse sandpaper on my multi-tool to smooth up the edge and outside.
I figured I'd be lucky if that piston would work, but I cleaned everything up, put it back together and bled the system and now I have front AND rear brakes.
Saved $170 on cost of the seal kit vs. new caliper (which the shop would have said I needed) plus labor costs.
Now I can get my yard cleaned up
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