Brake bleeding

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,092
Location
Stoke area
Hi,

I have to change my brake fluid this week in my mk4 golf, I've been informed buying a power bleeder is the easiest way.

Can anyone recommend one?

Another quick question, can anyone recommend brake fluid and how much?

Do you also get issues with the ABS unit etc when doing this?
 
people will recommend halfrods DOT5.1 but i dont recommend this. it did cause me to have a longer brake pedal, and a few people had the same issue. someone did some research and found it was intended for systems with esp etc so was "thinner"

i have since changed to ATE super blue and the pedal was perfect after one single flush. i bled and rebled on the halfords fluid without and success

therefore get a simple ate brake fluid from eurocarparts, get a pressure bleeder from halfords though and its a doddle

you wont have issues with the abs unless you get air in there, which you shouldnt.

to make the job as simple as possible, use ate blue and you can tell when the new fluid has flushed through
 
I'd also recommend buying some stainless steel nipples from Hel performance after 2 of mine (mild steel originals) snapped. This will future proof you and is less likely to seize.

They are only around £2 each for M7/M8/M10 (your size will vary on car)

Andy
 
I've never used one of those bleeding kits before i just did it the old fashioned way get a friend to pump the brake pedal whilst you undo the bleed nipple to let any air out.
 
thedazman67 said:
I've never used one of those bleeding kits before i just did it the old fashioned way get a friend to pump the brake pedal whilst you undo the bleed nipple to let any air out.
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It's also the most fun way :D I've been a brake bleeding assistant for my Dad for as long as I can remember :p
 
thedazman67 said:
I've never used one of those bleeding kits before i just did it the old fashioned way get a friend to pump the brake pedal whilst you undo the bleed nipple to let any air out.
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Thats the better way of doing it, those vacuum bleeder kits are good for nothing but popping the master cylinder.

If your car uses dot 4 fluid stay with that as there is no guarantee the seals in the braking system can support dot 5

Also while changing the brake fluid you shouldn't have any air come through as your essentially refilling with new fluid while pumping out the old, your more likely to pop a seal trying to pump fluid through a empty system.
 
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Just look in your handbook to see what you should use, normally dot 4 but whatever they recommend then use that
 
Matt82 said:
people will recommend halfrods DOT5.1 but i dont recommend this. it did cause me to have a longer brake pedal,
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DOT5.1 is a mineral fluid, not the synthetic DOT5 which is well known to retain air. If you had a longer pedal it would suggest you didn't get all the air out!
 
trust me, i bled and rebled that system a million times, ive known others have the same problem and it appeared to be down to the viscosity

the car was bled whilst on ramps and stands to put it at funny angles to get air out.... nothing worked, until i put a normal dot4 back in
 
well, I popped to halfords and purchased a manual for the car, going back tomorrow to get the bits I need and then I'll try this friday.

Just annoyed because some divvy parked their people carrier on the other side of the road instead of in front/behind me resulting in me getting a broken wing mirror :mad:
 
I have an EZBleed from Halfords, it runs from the air pressure from a tyre, and was a god save for my Clutch and Brakes in my Corrado (the missus was pleased too, she no longer had to come out and pump the pedal in the dark :P ).

Little advice though, the EZBleed is about £10 cheaper if you find someone with a trade card. They are dead easy to get, if you've ever used Unipart or JMC/Friction Linings, they'll usually give everyone trade prices, take an invoice into halfords and they'll give you a card.

I'd only recommend it if you're flushing old with new (assuming your brake system allows you to do this from the furthest corner), I've had issues doing it on ABS systems when starting from empty before, and for the sake of £20-30, I'd take it to an indy, if that was the case.

For the record, I used Halfords own 5.1, and it was fine, a huge improvement over the old Dot4 that was in there.
 
I just use a standard one way valve type bleeder, bought one from halfords for £6 I think, attach it to the nipple loosen the nipple and just pump the brake pedal until all the air is out, make sure you keep the reservoir constantly topped up though or you will just be undoing all you work by putting more air in!, a litre was enough for a full flush so if you are just bleeding 500ml would be sufficient.

Oh and all cars will have a brake bleed order (will tell you in the manual) for example mines nearside front, offside front, nearside rear, offside rear.
 
It also maybe worth looking in the workshop manual if doing it the old fashioned way as the 200SX had a specific order you had to bleed the system in.

When i did mine i noticed a little spongyness, with advice from the owners club they said just force the ABS to trigger by performing an emergency stop obviously not on a public road and it will gradully firm up the brake pedal which it did. Not sure why this worked but it did.

Also braided lines make a hell of a difference to brake pedal feel.
 
Get WD40 on the nipples for a good few days before hand if it's an older car. I learn't the hard way when I sheared the nipple on the rear caliper of my 306. New caliper time it was.
 
Gaverick said:
Get WD40 on the nipples for a good few days before hand if it's an older car. I learn't the hard way when I sheared the nipple on the rear caliper of my 306. New caliper time it was.
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WD40 only works where it can penetrate in which is rare for many seized bolts, its very very useful if you have a very tight bolt that you turn back and forth.

The main issue with bleed nipples is that the metal is simply too weak and the nipples often over tightened, plus the use of different metals creates a lovely welding effect.

even wit hall the care in the world if a nipple is going to snap, it will snap.
 
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