Brake bleeder advice

I've never actually had to bleed brakes before. I normally just have the fluid replaced every two years when I get the MoT done.

But I'm fitting larger brakes to my wife's E28 M535i and it looks like it's time to take the plunge and do it myself. Can anyone recommend a good brake bleeder from personal experience?

Reply to
John Burns
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You and your wife as a team are pretty good as long as the car is in the air and all 4 wheels are off the vehicle (not imperative but makes life easier) and all the windows and or doors are open.

What you need is a piece of 1/8" bore vacuum tubing (Ford dealer about £3 for Escort or whatever about 30" long) and large jam jar (Dolmio Pasta jar is ideal)

2 x or 3 x DOT 4 brake fluid (or DOT 5.5 if you can afford it) Before you fit the new calipers use a brake pipe clamp to compress the rubber hose (NOT MOLE GRIPS) to stop fluid dripping out and air getting in.

Working one wheel at a time - say front left. Clamp hose and disconnect from caliper.

Do the work - new disc new brackets a new caliper and tighten everything up.

Loosen bleed nipple and connect brake hose (unless being really silly and fitting Goodrich Stainless braided) and get lady wife to depress the brake pedal

- do not force. put small amount (1" deep) new brake fluid into jar and push one end of hose onto bleed nipple and the other end in jar below fluid level. Release tube clamp and the pedal should fall to the floor. tell wife to hold it on the floor by using the words DOWN-HOLD You tighten lightly the bleed nipple. You shout to wife UP You loosen nipple and shout DOWN-HOLD.

Repeat until no bubbles come from the hose in the jar.

Repeat for all 4 wheels. DO NOT FORGET TO CHECK MASTER CYLINDER FLUID LEVEL AFTER EVERY 5 PUMPS of the brake pedal.

Someone will say start at the wheel farthest from the master cylinder bt I have found out it doesn't really matter as long as you get all the air out. By the time you have finished you would have probably changed all the fluid anyway.

Steve

Reply to
Oscar

JoshIII adds:

The ABS system will interfere with the brake bleeding process, even when the car's ignition is off (and key is out).

Steps must be taken to reset the ABS Braking System each time the unit detects and closes off a leaking brake line (namely the line you are currently bleeding).

Background: The ABS system incorporates broken or leaky line sensing that shuts down any of the four brake lines (one per wheel) when it detects a line is unable to hold its pressure.

Haynes type service manuals never mention this hazard or what steps to take to reset the ABS system when bleeding the brakes.

To reset the ABS Braking System you have to start the engine for a few seconds, and apply the brakes with all brake lines bleeder valves closed. The ABS System will sense that all 4 brake lines are holding their pressure, functioning properly, then reset itself.

Next, turn the ignition off, and continue bleeding the brake lines.

Until next time, Good Braking!

JoshIII josh3i at hotmail . com

Reply to
JoshIII

I get on ok with the Gunson Easybleed. Just make sure the master cylinder cap they supply is fitted correctly and not cross threaded. And all the pipes are secure. And above all observe their notes on the pressure of the spare tyre that's used to provide the air to push the fluid through - in this case less is preferable to more. Taking in the above, it's a cheap and easy way of bleeding any system without help. But do keep an eye on the levels when bleeding - it's so fast it's easy to run out and have to start again. BTGTTS

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Oops! forgot that bit.............. BTW Josh - any chance of resetting your line length to 60+ so that your post is easier to read!

Thanks for the reminder.

Steve

Reply to
steve-caner

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