I finally had a chance to bleed the brakes today after doing the pads and rotors a couple weeks ago. I read around about bleeding the brakes and watched a ChrisFix video about it, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1NvtUwfRJc
Supplies:
Bleed the brakes:
Chock your front wheel, break the lugnuts on each wheel, and jack up the rear of the car first.
Put your jack stands under the car. I like to settle my car on them before raising it slightly off of them with the jack again. The jack holds the weight, the stands are there in case the jack fails. I like to make sure the stands will catch it correctly if necessary.
Take off both rear wheels and set aside. I took this opportunity to swap to my winter wheels/tires to kill two birds with one stone.
Use a turkey baster to clear out your master cylinder of most of the old fluid and deposit it in a bottle. Keep in mind, new brake fluid is clear with a slight yellow tint to it. Here's what my old fluid looked like after almost 78,000 miles and 4.5 years.
Star with the right, rear brakes. Look at the side of the caliper closest to the car. Locate the bleeder valve. (Note: pics are from the left side of my car since I had better lighting.)
There's a rubber cap on the end protecting the nozzle. Pull it off. The rear caps came off easily on mine.
If you haven't already, put the bleeding kit together. Add some of your new, clean brake fluid to the bottle (I forgot that step) so that if the system sucks up anything out of the bottle, it gets clean fluid instead of air. Hang the bottle from your strut with the included magnet. Fiddle with its placement and you can get the bottle to rest a little bit on other parts of the suspension back there, to help alleviate some of the weight once it starts filling up. You want the bottle and tube higher than the bleeder valve to help keep air bubbles from making their way into the system. I put my brake fluid master-catch bottle with funnel below the bleeder assembly for any drips and for quick access to empty the small bottle. I also put some towels and a piece of cardboard down below that to keep the driveway clean.
Fill your master cylinder up to the MAX line with your new, clean brake fluid. Use your 10mm wrench to open the bleeder valve. Press the brake pedal down firmly and smoothly. I did it seven times before my bottle filled up and had to be emptied. When you empty it, close the bleeder valve first, then put the tubing into your funnel and let the fluid pour out until the catch bottle is empty. Hook it back up. I pressed my pedal another 3 - 5 times before closing the valve, wiping off any fluid, replacing the rubber cap, and mounting my wheel. Empty your catch bottle, fill your master cylinder back up to MAX, and move to the other side.
When you've completed the rear, repeat that process on the front with a 9mm wrench, starting on the right side again. Once you're finished, clean up, torque your lugnuts on each wheel to spec (I put mine at 82 ft-lbs). Done. I went for a short drive to check how things were working. Seemed fine to me. Whole process took me about 2 hours because I'm super slow. Find out how to dispose of the brake fluid in your area. Some shops will do it for you, other places have municipal disposal sites or events. Auto parts stores recycle oil, but almost none do brake fluid.
You're done!
Supplies:
- 9mm wrench for the front brakes
- 10mm wrench for the rear brakes
- Jack, jackstands, wheel chocks
- Shop towels
- DOT3 brake fluid (32 oz)
- Plastic funnel (optional)
- One-person brake bleed kit - I picked mine up from NAPA for like $6. Here's an example of the kit at Harbor Freight since I can't immediately find a NAPA link for it: http://www.harborfreight.com/one-man-brake-bleeder-kit-37201.html
Bleed the brakes:
Chock your front wheel, break the lugnuts on each wheel, and jack up the rear of the car first.
Put your jack stands under the car. I like to settle my car on them before raising it slightly off of them with the jack again. The jack holds the weight, the stands are there in case the jack fails. I like to make sure the stands will catch it correctly if necessary.
Take off both rear wheels and set aside. I took this opportunity to swap to my winter wheels/tires to kill two birds with one stone.
Use a turkey baster to clear out your master cylinder of most of the old fluid and deposit it in a bottle. Keep in mind, new brake fluid is clear with a slight yellow tint to it. Here's what my old fluid looked like after almost 78,000 miles and 4.5 years.
Star with the right, rear brakes. Look at the side of the caliper closest to the car. Locate the bleeder valve. (Note: pics are from the left side of my car since I had better lighting.)
There's a rubber cap on the end protecting the nozzle. Pull it off. The rear caps came off easily on mine.
If you haven't already, put the bleeding kit together. Add some of your new, clean brake fluid to the bottle (I forgot that step) so that if the system sucks up anything out of the bottle, it gets clean fluid instead of air. Hang the bottle from your strut with the included magnet. Fiddle with its placement and you can get the bottle to rest a little bit on other parts of the suspension back there, to help alleviate some of the weight once it starts filling up. You want the bottle and tube higher than the bleeder valve to help keep air bubbles from making their way into the system. I put my brake fluid master-catch bottle with funnel below the bleeder assembly for any drips and for quick access to empty the small bottle. I also put some towels and a piece of cardboard down below that to keep the driveway clean.
Fill your master cylinder up to the MAX line with your new, clean brake fluid. Use your 10mm wrench to open the bleeder valve. Press the brake pedal down firmly and smoothly. I did it seven times before my bottle filled up and had to be emptied. When you empty it, close the bleeder valve first, then put the tubing into your funnel and let the fluid pour out until the catch bottle is empty. Hook it back up. I pressed my pedal another 3 - 5 times before closing the valve, wiping off any fluid, replacing the rubber cap, and mounting my wheel. Empty your catch bottle, fill your master cylinder back up to MAX, and move to the other side.
When you've completed the rear, repeat that process on the front with a 9mm wrench, starting on the right side again. Once you're finished, clean up, torque your lugnuts on each wheel to spec (I put mine at 82 ft-lbs). Done. I went for a short drive to check how things were working. Seemed fine to me. Whole process took me about 2 hours because I'm super slow. Find out how to dispose of the brake fluid in your area. Some shops will do it for you, other places have municipal disposal sites or events. Auto parts stores recycle oil, but almost none do brake fluid.
You're done!
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