E36 needs new brake pads . . .

But I *do* worry about it, one little slip and it's in there.

Whatever works for you is fine. Quite how pushing brake fluid back up to the master cylinder can damage the system escapes me - perhaps someone can explain? Last weekend, I replaced *well* worn pads on a friend's '85 Alfa Spider without cracking any bleed nipples. It only took two hours and the brake pedal is rock solid.

One little slip and it's in there? How? Loosen nozzle, push piston, fluid is displaced out of the valve, tighten nozzle...how can air get in? But what if it did somehow anyway? It'd be easy to get back out, no big problem. Not trying to start a petty argument understand, I just don't follow...

----- Kill ratio of Palestinian children to Israeli children 5.7-to-1, Israel's favor. Kill ratio of all Palestinians to Israelis: over 3-to-1.

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Of the two ways to do it, one of them has some possibility of letting an air bubble into the cylinder. The other one doesn't. It's really not worth debating if you're happy with cracking the bleed valves for this purpose.

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:19:23 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" waffled on about something:

I've got an MOT test on my E36 at the weekend, mine's an auto too, and I've been doing my best to remember to apply the handbrake for the last few weeks and going round the block with it one click on just to clean the shoes up, I never use it, I just push the shifter into park. Seems silly that they could technically fail the car on a handbrake that is actually less of a mechanical lock that the gearbox park.

Dodgy.

Nah, go abscond the turkey baster from SWMBO. Tell he you have no idea what happened to it but she is free to go out and buy a new one.

You can only do that once, and I already did. I hid it somewhere but I never could find the damned thing again.

Other thing is one of those pump spray kitchen cleaners, etc. Rinse well before use. Just put the intake pipe in the reservoir and pump into a container.

I personally had never thought about openning the bleed nipple, and on the face of it, it seems a good idea, however, personally, I would still push the fluid back to the reservoir, but I would do it one caliper at a time, and then pump the brake up. Whilst doing it, I would also open the reservoir and put an absorbant rag over the top. You could also take some fluid out with a medical syringe, which are quite cheap on EBay, then put it back in afterwards (but again, I would be interfering with the equilibrium of the system, the yin and yang -

1. I dont believe I could damage the system
2. I do not want to open a closed system and lose fluid which I will probably want to replace
3. I probably wont have topped the fluid up throughout the duration of the pads life, the reservoir quantity is such that it can accommodate both new and old pads
4. I like to avoid fluid mess

Saying this, both methods work, and the bottom line is whatever makes you feel most comfortable.

Or just use any old piece of pipe - dip it in, thumb over the end withdraw the pipe to an alternative container take thumb off and repeat.

FWIW, I went to the trouble to pull out my Bentley Manual.

page 340-5 (Brakes):

1. Slowly press piston back into caliper. Use care not to damage piston dust seal. See Fig. 6.

NOTE----

Open caliper bleeder screw when pressing piston back into caliper. Catch expelled fluid in appropriate container. This procedure is highly recommended in the case of cars with ABS.

Open the bleeder screw only when applying force to the piston. Do not allow air to be drawn in through the bleeder screw.

. . .

----- Kill ratio of Palestinian children to Israeli children 5.7-to-1, Israel's favor. Kill ratio of all Palestinians to Israelis: over 3-to-1.

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Would that be the same manual as

If they can't get it right on their own web site, I'd rather ask someone who actually has the manual before mail-ordering it.

Andrew

Yep, that's it.

Well, no. But it doesn't state on the cover (or anywhere else, that I'm aware of) that it does.

I didn't catch that.

----- Kill ratio of Palestinian children to Israeli children 5.7-to-1, Israel's favor. Kill ratio of all Palestinians to Israelis: over 3-to-1.

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I actually have an old 50cc syringe (minus the hypodermic needle) that I keep in the garage for sucking out the old brake fluid. Works a charm...

I know the BMW TIS is not as authoritative as a Bentley manual, but it specifically say to push the caliper pistons back using special BMW tool 34 1 050 and to pay attention to the rising fluid level in the expansion tank.

I thought maybe the manual did cover it but got missed off the web page.

Oh well, looks like Mr. Haynes gets a sale instead. Unless the 320i is so similar to the 325i that the Bentley manual will do?

Cheers,

Andrew

Doorhinge.

^^^ Well, what do *they* know?

Uh-oh, special tooooollllllssss. When I first bought my beamer, I called a local dealership with a specific question about oil changing, and the dip on the phone was sure to tell me that I would need a, uh, a special tool...... I'm still not sure what he meant, unless it was the big socket for getting the top off the filter housing with. I just went to NAPA and bought one, nothing special about it; would make a good headknocker though.

BTW, does your BMW TIS tell you about "lifetime" fluids? A lot of the crap from BMW ain't worth the paper it's written on.

----- Kill ratio of Palestinian children to Israeli children 5.7-to-1, Israel's favor. Kill ratio of all Palestinians to Israelis: over 3-to-1.

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Trouble with these gut feelings about 'extended' lubricant life is that they are just that - gut feelings. I doubt any individual has done the same research as the maker. And before you mention 'free' servicing on a new car as the reason, not every country gets this.