Brake Fluid Change....... One To Do Your Self Or Get The Garage To Do

[Chris_edeson]

just had my service today and need to change the rear pads and have a brake fluid change....

 

pads are fine, i bought some off seloc and can do myself....

 

re the brake fluid change, as a novice is this easy for me or shall i just pay some1 to do it?

 

Thoughts please!

 

[chorton_1]

Easy to do, with 2 choices: 1) Eezibleed 2) 2nd person

 

With Eezibleed, fill the bottle, connect to resevoir, connect to tire to create pressure. Attach clear hose to a brake nipple, release the nipple with appropriate spanner and watch fluid come out into a suitable receptacle, re-tightening nipple having flowed a 'decent' amount of fluid. Repeat around all other corners.

 

With 2 people, fill the reservoir, attach clear hose to nipple and whilst the one person presses down the brake pedal the other releases the nipple. You should always re-tighten before the pedal is fully pressed down. However, some people do multiple presses of pedal before tighten on the last time, some people do one press and re-tighten at a time, repeating many times. The latter is arguably better, but in truth both work. Keep topping up the resevoir.

 

Of the 2 options, Eezibleed is more hassle, sometimes fails to get the flow necessary for major bleeds but is a controlled one man job once you're into it. The 2-man option can get to a result quicker and is easier to set up.....providing you have 2 people.

 

All in all it's an easy job, particularly if shown how.

 

A few things to watch - don't overtighten the brake nipples and don't let the resevoir run empty!

[jonamacg83]

Eezibleed is the best option IMO, straightforward to use and makes a two person job into a job that can be done single handedly with ease. Horses for courses though I suppose. Either way, a fluid change is nothing that someone of a practical nature couldn't do.

 

Jonny

[Martin R]

Also do the clutch at the same time. The reservoir feeds both. My clutch fluid was as black as a hat. The bleed nipple is on top of the slave cylinder.

[Phil S1]

There's a useful photographic guide on the elisenet website under the 's/s brake hose' heading, starting at step 25. It mentions inverting the front calipers to be sure of getting all the air out although I've never found the need for this personally. Lots of other good info on there too. Here's the link anyhow http://elisenet.com/

[Chris_edeson]

thanks all.. dunno if im brave enough to have a go !!!

[MrSimba]

Liam @ MMG has a tube / bottle from the calliper with a cap on it that he sticks onto his vax and then he sucks the fluid through the calliper into the bottle just topping up the cylinder when needed, a very quick and easy way to bleed the brakes and with the suction pressure from the vax absolutely no air is left in the system when done

[rocketian]

Many, many years ago I worked for a short time on the assembly line at Rover - or BL as it was then or was it just Leyland.... . We were building the Austin Princess, and Maxi - I told you it was a long while ago. For a while I was on brake bleeding. I was in a pit under the line and the car came over head - I losened the nippples and attached a vacuum line to each wheel. The vac line had a clear section so you could see the bubbles. Someone else attached a pressurised feed to the reservoir and the fluid flowed until the bubbles stopped - during which time I would be shuffling backwards hoping the bubbles stopped before we reached the end of the pit. When the vac pipes came off they would spill brake fluid down my arms and at the same time I had to tightened 4 big nuts on rear subframe with a big ring spanner.!

 

So in my experience all you need to put new fluid in the brakes is a moving assembly line, a long pit, two vacuum tubes and and a mate with a pressurised fluid supply.

 

Draining the old fluid on the Princess was never a problem - they did that all by themselves and were provided with a little light on the dashboard that thoughtfully told you when the fluid was gone - which was comforting as you drove into the wall.

[Phil S1]

Ah, they don't make 'em like they used to!

Many many years ago when I used to race radio controlled cars, a gang of us would hire a car for a weekend to go to various meetings around the country. On two occasions, for some strange reason, we had a Princess or it could've been an Ambassador, I didn't choose it I know that, I'd not even learnt to drive at that time! For some strange reason, whilst 'hurtling' along a motorway with all our precious radio control luggage in the boot, the boot lid decided it wanted to open.....all by itself! Two different cars, both did it. Thankfully we never deposited said luggage all over the fast lane, but a swift trip to the hard shoulder was called for each time. Fortunately for us, there was sufficient brake fluid at the time

[hotpurple]

I used an easibleed when I did mine. It's a doddle to do. I used Halfords DOT4 Racing fluid, which did really well for the track day but doesn't last long in regular use before the brakes need bleeding again. DOT 5.1 (Halfords is fine again) is a much better bet for everyday use as it has a better wet boiling point than DOT 4, meaning that it lasts longer before you have to change it again (huge simplification but it's the long and short of it).

 

Chris

[chorton_1]

So in my experience all you need to put new fluid in the brakes is a moving assembly line, a long pit, two vacuum tubes and and a mate with a pressurised fluid supply.

 

Haha! Is being a member of a strong trade union also a requirement?

[Martin R]

Haha! Is being a member of a strong trade union also a requirement?

 

Indeed it is. When i started at Longbridge Red Robbo was the senior steward. They made Mini,s and Allegro,s ( quite possibly the worst car ever built ) I had approx 3 months on strike in my first 12 months there. The mass meetings involved 25K people and a show of hands on the hill at Cofton Park. God i feel old sometimes.

[rocketian]

I was there right at the end of the Red Robbo era - with Michael Edwardes in charge, only for about 6 months but not one strike at all, though there were some mischief makers trying to stir things. Phil_s1, it was probably a Princess, the Ambassador is an Indian version of the Morris Oxford !

 

After BL I went to the gloriously named "Propellants Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment at Westcott, between Bicester and Aylesbury - an industry I am still in - you think you Lotus can accelerate - you've seen nothing. We make a motor (for a missile) that if you put it on the back of you Elise and pressed the button when the traffic lights turned yellow - you would be passing 1000mph by the time the lights changed to green !