Brake bleeding - how to make a pressure bleeder

Muncher

Muncher

Muncher

Soldato
Joined
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Ipswich
I thought this might be handy for some of you guys.

The most effective way to bleed the brakes and clutch on your car is to use one of these:

SEAVS820.jpg


http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?MAN=S...stem&PID=109708

Sealey Power Bleeder® Brake Bleeding System

One-man brake and clutch bleeding the professional way. Bleeding requires no external power source - simply fill and pump. Reservoir holds 2.5 litres of hydraulic fluid - flush the entire system with one fill without the risk of running the reservoir dry. Pressure range makes unit suitable for use with ABS systems. Fitted with Ø42mm cap and suitable for most European models. For other applications order optional VS820UA Universal Adaptor.

List price £105.69
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The idea being you fill it up with new brake fluid, fit it to the brake fluid reservoir, pump it up and the pressure forces the fluid through the system, replacing the system and expelling any air as you open the bleed nipples one by one. Except, that's a bit pricey for my liking.....

So, I made one myself :)

Parts required:
ASDA Power Sprayer
Spare fluid reservoir cap
Araldite

Simply purchase a pump up garden sprayer from ASDA for £10 and chop the end off the rubber hose.

Buy a replacement fluid reservoir cap, I think one from pretty much any car will work, I two from a local scrapyard for a pound :)

Drill a hole in the cap so the hose fits through with as snug a fit as possible. Poke it through the top with about 5cm poking through. Put some a liberal coating of araldite on both sides of the hole to secure it and make it air tight.

If you then cut off the protruding bit so it just reaches the maximum mark on the reservoir, then whenever you have finished bleeding the brakes, and release the pressure it will automatically siphon the fluid down to the correct level, providing the bleeder is lower than the reservoir.

Let it dry and bingo, you have your own pressure bleeder for a smidge over a tenner :)

bleeder.JPG
 
**** me they are expensive! Like the ghetto one though, even has a pressure guage! So lemme get this straight on how to use:

1. Fill with new fluid
2. Attach to res
3. Pump it up!
4. open bleed nipples one by one to bleed out air..

..how do you know when to stop bleeding? (you can tell its somthing I havn't done yet, only done top-ups and bleeding not an entire fluid change)

NS
 
You stop bleeding when the fluid that runs out of the bleed nipples is clear and has no bubbles. On the Elise you should also turn the front calipers upside down and tap them to remove air.

If you're emptying the fluid altogether, just pump it up without any fluid in and it will empty all the lines and calipers of fluid.

The standard ones are silly expensive, £100 odd and it can't cost more than £3-4 to produce.
 
Firestar_3x said:
You can buy ones that work off your spare tyre, about £10 iirc, work really well.
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Yes, I have one but the capacity in them is not enough to change the fluid completely in one go. They also won't set the fluid to the correct level in the reservoir.
 
Nice post there, Mr Muncher, Sir :)

Very useful idea. I think I may make one of them up for my cars. Have some stars :)
 
5 stars! You posted this at the perfect time! :)

My car is sitting on the driveway right now, with no fluid in the brakes - and I thought there is no way for me to bleed it on my own.

If I can get to Asda today, I may have a bash at building one of these. The only problem is that I'm gonna have to use a push bike to get there (5 miles in the rain), and it does look rather huge - what's the rough size of the pump up garden sprayer from ASDA?

Also, is there anyone else apart from a scrappy that might sell fluid reservoir caps (somewhere like halfords)?
 
MikeHunt79 said:
5 stars! You posted this at the perfect time! :)

My car is sitting on the driveway right now, with no fluid in the brakes - and I thought there is no way for me to bleed it on my own.

If I can get to Asda today, I may have a bash at building one of these. The only problem is that I'm gonna have to use a push bike to get there (5 miles in the rain), and it does look rather huge - what's the rough size of the pump up garden sprayer from ASDA?

Also, is there anyone else apart from a scrappy that might sell fluid reservoir caps (somewhere like halfords)?
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It's about a foot tall, you can probably fit it in a backpack on your bike with the top bits open.

I thought Halfords might do them but I couldn't find any there though I didn't ask at the counter. Wilco motor spares didn't seem to have any either, but it's quite a common item so not that difficult to find.
 
B&Q didnt do any that would be suitable, and my 2 local ASDA stores dont have them in stock :(.
My Ezibleed is hopeless.
 
Muncher said:
It's about a foot tall, you can probably fit it in a backpack on your bike with the top bits open.

I thought Halfords might do them but I couldn't find any there though I didn't ask at the counter. Wilco motor spares didn't seem to have any either, but it's quite a common item so not that difficult to find.
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A foot? That should be fine, I've got a big backpack which should cope with that.

I've got to get a litre of dot 5.1 also, so I'll ask about res caps while I'm at the counter. :)

Hopefully the rain should lay off a bit, and I'll ventre to asda/wilco/b&q/halfords land. :cool:
 
moss said:
B&Q didnt do any that would be suitable, and my 2 local ASDA stores dont have them in stock :(.
My Ezibleed is hopeless.
Click to expand...

I found B&Q did something similar but it wasn't quite as good and cost about £19 I think, it was only by chance I went over the road to ASDA and found that one.
 
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