DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, easier than you think
BrakeExpert
New Wagonist
Okay, people think bleeding the brakes is hard and is a two man job. Allow me to give some tips.
1. Acquire all the parts you need.
2. Jackup the right rear of the car.
3. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.
4. Remove the bleeder valve cover cap, its made of rubber and is usually black, it slips right off. You may have it missing, that's fine.
5. Attach your brake hose to the nipple. THE BLEEDER HOSE IS 3/16" IN INNER DIAMETER. You can get this crap at Ace hardware for 39 cents a foot.
6. Run the hose UPWARD through your spring, and then down and into a jug of some sort, a 5 quart oil jug is handy, or an old gallon of milk. fill it 1/3 the way with water if you don't want to worry if it will fall over and get brake fluid over things.
NOTE: See how you run the brake hose from the bleeder and looped it through the spring? When you open the bleeder and start bleeding, the fluid goes upward. So if you push the pedal and then let go, when the pedal is depressed the fluid (or fluid/air mix) goes out and the air goes upward. Thanks gravity. When you release the pedal, it will suck the mixture back in, but only the fluid goes back in because the air goes upward.
Not only does this trick allow you to bleed yourself, but if you are changing calipers and then need to bleed that side, it also cuts down on the amount of times you have to pump the pedal, and consequently, the amount of brake fluid being removed off of the car, so if you do this a lot, it may take it from a quart to a pint. Convenient, huh?
7. Open the bleeder valve. 10mm for calipers, 8mm for drum cylinders.
8. Pop the hood, and remove the cap from the top of the brake master cylinder's resovoir (the clear plastic container with the brake fluid. If you have two, the one for the brakes is the bigger one, the smaller one is for your clutch fluid)
9. Fill the master cylinder with DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid (ALL Hondas to date use this same fluid, including Isuzu built models like the Passport!)
10. Pump the pedal several times, each time from the top all the way to the bottom, 10 or 11 is fine. The important part is to make sure the fluid level doesn't go below below the minimum and empties the master cylinder. If it does, you've ingested air into the system, and that will have to be bled out again. There are ways to remove air from a master cylinder that was not bench bled, I will address that later.
11. Go check the bleeder hose. You use clear hose so you can see if there are air bubbles coming out of it. If there are any at all, even small ones coming out quickly, go back, refill the resovoir, and pump the pedal some more.
12. When all the air is out, close the bleeder valve.
13. Put the cap on, put the wheel on, lower the car.
14. Repeat this process with the other three brakes. The brake bleeding sequence on our Hondas is NOT farthest to closest. The sequence in which to bleed our brakes is, as per the service manual:
Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, Right Front.
15. When all 4 brakes are done, you have bled the car. I reccomend a good 20 to 30 pumps per brake when bleeding to flush the old fluid out.
If you ingested air into the system, or if this was not enough, or if you changed prop valves, ABS pumps or master cylinders, you may require a lot more bleeding. THis can be done by pushing about 5 to 6 quarts through the car, but this gets old very fast. Heres a way to save some cash.
First, ensure that all of the old fluid is out of the system by bleeding it, or if the car was recently bled, you can do this. It can be done with old fluid, but I don't reccomend it, I'll tell why at the end.
Go buy 12 feet of brake bleeder hose, yes 12 feet. Starting with the right rear brake, connect the bleeder hose to the brake, but instead of using the jug or waste container, run the hose to the master cylinder and stick it in the master cylinder resovoir. Use towels, use duct tape, use whatever you want so it doesn't fall out, because remember: Brake fluid is a mild paint thinner! If you get it on your paint, wash it off right away. Its best not to let brake fluid touch your car's paint at all, finger prints and smears suck.
Now open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Again watch to make sure the fluid level stays above the bottom, keep it at the top. With the bleeder like this, it goes in an endless loop. So any air bubbles at all are now going out the brake hose, into the master cylinder resovoir where they will go to the top and exit, once again, thanks gravity. So with the hose set like this you can go ahead and pump the pedal a hundred times if you'd like. Then of course, close the bleeder, careful with the fluid dripping, and repeat this in the same sequence. Now you don't need to use a shop's vaccum system to remove air with the system. I admit this will be time intensive the first time, but it'll save you money and brake fluid, and helps if you can't get to a shop, or are a track racer who has to bleed his brakes every day opposed to every year.
The reason you don't re-bleed with old dirty fluid is that brake fluid is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture readily. Thats why you have it capped. Over time, it will absorb moisture because that cap on your master cylinder isn't totally airtight, and as the pads wear, the fluid level goes down. It pulls air in while it goes down. So cycling in old fluid over and over is only going to add more moisture to the system, lowering the boiling point even more. In a full race application, if you cycled fluid through the system, you'd want to go and bleed each brake through with new fluid again.
I hope this helps people!
1. Acquire all the parts you need.
2. Jackup the right rear of the car.
3. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.
4. Remove the bleeder valve cover cap, its made of rubber and is usually black, it slips right off. You may have it missing, that's fine.
5. Attach your brake hose to the nipple. THE BLEEDER HOSE IS 3/16" IN INNER DIAMETER. You can get this crap at Ace hardware for 39 cents a foot.
6. Run the hose UPWARD through your spring, and then down and into a jug of some sort, a 5 quart oil jug is handy, or an old gallon of milk. fill it 1/3 the way with water if you don't want to worry if it will fall over and get brake fluid over things.
NOTE: See how you run the brake hose from the bleeder and looped it through the spring? When you open the bleeder and start bleeding, the fluid goes upward. So if you push the pedal and then let go, when the pedal is depressed the fluid (or fluid/air mix) goes out and the air goes upward. Thanks gravity. When you release the pedal, it will suck the mixture back in, but only the fluid goes back in because the air goes upward.
Not only does this trick allow you to bleed yourself, but if you are changing calipers and then need to bleed that side, it also cuts down on the amount of times you have to pump the pedal, and consequently, the amount of brake fluid being removed off of the car, so if you do this a lot, it may take it from a quart to a pint. Convenient, huh?
7. Open the bleeder valve. 10mm for calipers, 8mm for drum cylinders.
8. Pop the hood, and remove the cap from the top of the brake master cylinder's resovoir (the clear plastic container with the brake fluid. If you have two, the one for the brakes is the bigger one, the smaller one is for your clutch fluid)
9. Fill the master cylinder with DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid (ALL Hondas to date use this same fluid, including Isuzu built models like the Passport!)
10. Pump the pedal several times, each time from the top all the way to the bottom, 10 or 11 is fine. The important part is to make sure the fluid level doesn't go below below the minimum and empties the master cylinder. If it does, you've ingested air into the system, and that will have to be bled out again. There are ways to remove air from a master cylinder that was not bench bled, I will address that later.
11. Go check the bleeder hose. You use clear hose so you can see if there are air bubbles coming out of it. If there are any at all, even small ones coming out quickly, go back, refill the resovoir, and pump the pedal some more.
12. When all the air is out, close the bleeder valve.
13. Put the cap on, put the wheel on, lower the car.
14. Repeat this process with the other three brakes. The brake bleeding sequence on our Hondas is NOT farthest to closest. The sequence in which to bleed our brakes is, as per the service manual:
Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, Right Front.
15. When all 4 brakes are done, you have bled the car. I reccomend a good 20 to 30 pumps per brake when bleeding to flush the old fluid out.
If you ingested air into the system, or if this was not enough, or if you changed prop valves, ABS pumps or master cylinders, you may require a lot more bleeding. THis can be done by pushing about 5 to 6 quarts through the car, but this gets old very fast. Heres a way to save some cash.
First, ensure that all of the old fluid is out of the system by bleeding it, or if the car was recently bled, you can do this. It can be done with old fluid, but I don't reccomend it, I'll tell why at the end.
Go buy 12 feet of brake bleeder hose, yes 12 feet. Starting with the right rear brake, connect the bleeder hose to the brake, but instead of using the jug or waste container, run the hose to the master cylinder and stick it in the master cylinder resovoir. Use towels, use duct tape, use whatever you want so it doesn't fall out, because remember: Brake fluid is a mild paint thinner! If you get it on your paint, wash it off right away. Its best not to let brake fluid touch your car's paint at all, finger prints and smears suck.
Now open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Again watch to make sure the fluid level stays above the bottom, keep it at the top. With the bleeder like this, it goes in an endless loop. So any air bubbles at all are now going out the brake hose, into the master cylinder resovoir where they will go to the top and exit, once again, thanks gravity. So with the hose set like this you can go ahead and pump the pedal a hundred times if you'd like. Then of course, close the bleeder, careful with the fluid dripping, and repeat this in the same sequence. Now you don't need to use a shop's vaccum system to remove air with the system. I admit this will be time intensive the first time, but it'll save you money and brake fluid, and helps if you can't get to a shop, or are a track racer who has to bleed his brakes every day opposed to every year.
The reason you don't re-bleed with old dirty fluid is that brake fluid is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture readily. Thats why you have it capped. Over time, it will absorb moisture because that cap on your master cylinder isn't totally airtight, and as the pads wear, the fluid level goes down. It pulls air in while it goes down. So cycling in old fluid over and over is only going to add more moisture to the system, lowering the boiling point even more. In a full race application, if you cycled fluid through the system, you'd want to go and bleed each brake through with new fluid again.
I hope this helps people!
Comments
awesome right up i never thought of the 12ft idea im gunna do that asap. thanks!
I have the highest respect for you.I've learn a lot from you from various forums.Number 10 only works for new MC.The prob with old MCs form a ridge from normal use so when you press the piston pass this point it grooves,tears rips the MC piston seal leading to MC leaks.Pumping the pdl is fine just don't pump all the way down.
Excellent post though for the budget-minded one-man show!
I just did this when upgradring to my EX front brakes and EX master. Worked great. Good info BrakeExpert.
Now you're bleeding the brakes.You push the piston pass the 25mm(1") mark say to 40mm(1.6").The seal is going to rip over all the junk like sand paper.Very similar to the ridge found in a worn out engine piston bore(the ridge at the top).That's why I say ,"Pumping the pedal is fine just don't pump all the way down..
thats usually how it goes when most of the readers time is spent reading instead of doing...
It's so simple it's borderline retarded.
I started with the rears.
Followed instructions to a T.
When I opened the bleeder valve I noticed that not only was fluid going up through the clear hose but it was coming out of the edes of the bleeder valve itself. You could even wiggle the valve as well. So it got me thinking - "Does this mean that the valve is loose enough to be sucking air back in?"
So I abandoned this method and went with the traditional 2 man open valve/press - close valve/release method. I didn't wanna take any chances.
same thing happened to me, and air was introduced.
so now i have to redo the usual way.