Sir Harmony

I did a medium overhaul of the car in the last 2.5months. Funny how an alternator craps out and you end up spending $3k replacing and upgrading an assortment of things. Modding is too freakin addictive.

Anyway, the last thing I did was to replace the rotors and brakes. One front caliper was replaced because it was failing. Two rear calipers were removed and painted. Now I bled the brakes yesterday, and the fluid looks like garbage. It's murky and utterly disgusting. All the calipers were bled, but I'm now thinking of draining the fluid the easiest way possible. Using a 2 person bleeding (for air) process will take forever. I did that years ago in another car.

Can I simply immerse the tube into fresh fluid, open the valve, and have someone pump the brake repeatedly (without closing the valve at all)? Or will that cause air to enter the system when the pedal is released with the valve open (tube immersed the whole time)? I just want to know the fastest and least expensive way to do this. Btw, I've always used over the counter Dot 4 fluid (Prestone or valvoline, so I don't know why the fluid looks like this within 2-3yrs)

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

That will do nothing for you. It will just push the same fluid back and forth.

You have to do it the long way...

EdgarB

iTrader: (2)

open the bleeders over night and take the cap off the reservoir. Go to bed and let gravity do the work.

k_cash1432

iTrader: (9)

Wow thats pretty ballsy if you run out of fluid...

Keep bleeding it like you did the calipers, or get a mitivac with the bleeder features and bleed it with the mitivac starting at the furthest from the master and pump it out till you get clean fluid and go the the next furthest. The furthest one will take the most but after that the next furthest one will be faster since the main line is new fluid it will just be from the T that has old fluid. Doesnt take much take your time and do it right.

JaYZeig

iTrader: (11)

^^ditto..

i agree on opening the bleeders, but this should'nt take more than 20 min.
to let them gravity bleed with the cap off the resevoir. the cap off will allow
atmospheric pressure to push the fluid through the lines, once you see fluid
coming out, close all bleeders, and obviously this will be a 2 person job, but go
about bleeding your brakes. while periodically checking fluid level.

ghardester

A Miti Vac pump is a great investment and lets you bleed your brakes or change out all the fluid, all by yourself. It is a pistol grip contraption that is very simple to use. I think I paid about $40.

Now I do annual brake fluid changes. One year with blue DOT 4, the next year with amber. So it is easy to tell when the old fluid is out and new in.

joecar

One person bleeding (all 4 corners at the same time): http://motiveproducts.3dcartstores.c...108_p_121.html

k_cash1432

iTrader: (9)

If thats the one im thinking it is we use to have one at the shop i worked at and it was more of a pita if you tried to do more than one side at a time. Worked best if you put it on the master pumped it up and went to the furthest bleeder put a clear hose on it and put it into a bottle so you dont have a mess and crack the bleeder...

Sir Harmony

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've always bled the brakes in the order k_Cash described, but I just stumbled onto this last week: http://zeckhausen.com/bleeding_brakes.htm. Skip down to where it says order doesn't matter. What are your thoughts on that? After reading that last week, I bled the calipers in no particular order. It was LR,LF,RR,RF. I haven't driven it yet or checked for pedal resistance since the battery died during the procedure. But it would be interesting if order didn't matter.

I purchased a mitivac pump a few years ago, but it failed after a few uses. I then decided that the old fashion way was the most effective. Maybe I'll give it another try.

Joecar, I nearly purchased one of those years ago, but decided against it since it was vehicle specific.

I have an interesting question: does air enter the system when the bleeder screw is open and fluid is leaking out, or is that only when the caliper is depressed and released. I know air gets in from vapor, but how else?

joecar

The vehicle specific part of the Motive bleeder is the cap that goes on the reservoir... IDK if they make a generic one, but I'm sure it's easy to DIY (crimp on a quick change coupling).

joecar

I prime/pressurize the Motive bleeder (10 psi), I open all 4 caliper bleeders (clear tubes into clear bottles), I walk around the car tapping each caliper with a rubber mallet...

I can see when there is no air, and I can see when new fluid comes out...

the Motive bleeder makes it dead easy

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

you can get earl's solo-bleeds to replace the caliper bleeder screws. Then you can just open them, and pump the **** out of the brake pedal to flush new fluid through the system. I did this on my 2002 a few years ago, think i used 3 qts of brake fluid and had a sore leg afterwards.