Brake Fluid Capacity??? Where to find...

I don't ever recall seeing a spec on this..... especially considering the increased capacity as the pads wear down...With new pads and shoes, fill it to the "max" line using fresh brake fluid from a sealed container.

I wanted to find out because I'm fashioning a crude power bleeder and want to use a suitable sized container. Rather than use something like a mason jar (1 pint) and have to refill it between wheels I'd rather use a larger container that would hold enough fluid for all four, plus about 25% to prevent any air getting into the feeder hose.

So far the most challenging part is finding an air tight container that can hold 20 lbs of air pressure that has a top wide enough to fix a schraeder valve and hose barbs to. The small mouthed HDPE (window washer fluid) containers split at the seems and you can't get your hands in their anyway.

The mason jar works well enough (green mountain gringo salsa, good stuff) if you get good seal on the hose barbs and screw the lid on really tight. It should hold 20 lbs of pressure long enough to bleed a wheel, and will move 8 oz of fluid (water so far) until the pressure runs out.

Not a big deal, just having some fun experimenting.

I would guess that 2 liters ( one quart is about 946 milliliters) should be plenty.

That's kind of where I was leaning, what's two quarts about one half gallon? I can't remember. Anyway the mason jar won't cut it. Filling, pressurizing, bleeding, depressurizing, filling, pressurizing, bleeding, etc..... without spilling any brake fluid, yeah right. That would be 16 steps for the whole car, not good.

Trick is to find a sizable airtight container that can be modified in the manner I described. Not as easy as it sounds. There are some PETE containers (1 inside the triangle) but not sure how this form of plastic will react to brake fluid or hold pressure. I'm sticking to HDPE containers (2 inside the triangle) for now.

I'll post an update if I am successful.

I found it in the factory service manual. It's 4 1/5 gallons. Not sure what this in metrics...

4 and 1/5 gallons of brake fluid? Can you confirm that?

Sure that is not pints or quarts?

Honestly, I have no way of knowing and don't mean to second guess you, just seems like a lot.

If that's the case I might just pony up the $80 for the motive product since I'll probably never find a suitable container that size.

Thanks, Matt

Tom Line opined in news:4211127d snipped-for-privacy@news.iglou.com:

CAN NOT POSSIBLY be gallons!!!!

In liquid, would be either 4.2 pints or maybe 4.2 deciliter

KMart sells a helium balloon kit for about $20. Comes with a bunch of balloons and a one time use, non-returnable helium tank. This grates against my reduce-reuse-recycle personality, but I wound up buying one when my helium tank relief valve blew the day of a birthday party.

Now I have a smallish steel tank that can certainly hold 20psi.

If you don't want helium ballons, maybe a visit to Beverages and More for a

5 liter keg of beer for $11.99. A quick Google for keg pressure looks like 10psi is the nominal home pressure.

If it's 4½ gallons you would be better off modifying a pump garden sprayer ! I don't think I've ever used more than a quart in a system with all new tubing.

Bill

Trouble with the small keg idea is that I could not get inside of it to screw the 1/8" hose barb to the 1/4" hose barb, not to mention the rubber and 1/2" steel washers, 1/4" feeder hose...

Like building a ship in a bottle, which is why I wanted a large diameter screw top container. The mason jar actually works pretty well for a hack, if I can just find a larger size.

I considered that idea, with a smaller one I saw on a shelf at home depot, but again the top/neck was too narrow to fasten anything from the inside.

The cooling system is barely that big....

Came across this...

... and and (justthrew that last one in wishing I could see your eyes when you saw the price. There's lots on the market. I will caution about storing fluid in any situation where the original container has been breached. I always recommend buying a couple or more (if required) small containers. The big benefit of most store bought bleeders is that the fluid and the air are separated.... If the garden sprayer bleeder runs out of fluid, we can expect a surge of air to plaster our paint with brake fluid.... this usually happens about 15 minutes before you realize that brake fluid makes great paint remover...

HTH.

Hey that ace pressure sprayer is definately the way to go! I already figured out the siphon tube on the underside of the resevior cap, well at least in theory anyway.

One improvement I would make is a 1/4" ball valve at the end of the

1/4" tube to bleed out the air prior to attaching to the fluid resevior.

That 800 dollar jobber is a waste! ha ha

Thanks! Matt

Thread the items onto a coat hanger that has been fished through the hole and out the neck.

The barb ought to be a through-wall. Essentially a hollow threaded rod with a shoulder washer already on the "inside" end.

I would put a standard shrader valve on for the pressure supply. Pump it up to 20psi, let the pressure drop as the fluid is forced out, it should have enough to last the job. You don't need a steady air supply.