bleeding brakes

Mustang5L5 · Aug 6, 2007

Mustang4119 said:
I will be only doing the fronts because i didnt remove the rear brake lines. So even before starting it i remove the cap and fill it to the recommended line. That should be enough, why would it ever run out of fluid and then suck all the air in. Thats alot of brake fluid. Once you open bleeder isnt the whole process like 10 sec at most not even since pedal goes to floor quick.

You can very easily run the master cylinder dry and start sucking air. It would only take 8-10 strokes of the pedal to drain it.

To properly bleed the brakes, you should do the rear. Bleeding the brakes is an important part of maintainence that nobody ever does. You should do it MINIMUM ever 2 years. I do mine yearly and each time i notice a huge improvement in pedal feel.

Reason you do the rears first is to purge the old fluid from the longest lines first and then work to the shortest lines. It will take a number of pumps to do this, so it's why you need to have someone monitor the MC and keep it topped off.

Even if you only want to do the fronts, you should do it enough to get the air out and flush all the old fluid out. The more old stuff you get out the better.

Mustang4119 · Aug 6, 2007

Mustang5L5 said:
You can very easily run the master cylinder dry and start sucking air. It would only take 8-10 strokes of the pedal to drain it.

To properly bleed the brakes, you should do the rear. Bleeding the brakes is an important part of maintainence that nobody ever does. You should do it MINIMUM ever 2 years. I do mine yearly and each time i notice a huge improvement in pedal feel.

Reason you do the rears first is to purge the old fluid from the longest lines first and then work to the shortest lines. It will take a number of pumps to do this, so it's why you need to have someone monitor the MC and keep it topped off.

Even if you only want to do the fronts, you should do it enough to get the air out and flush all the old fluid out. The more old stuff you get out the better.

I read that bleeding means flushing the system out until you see clean brake fluid. All I want to do is bleed front brakes, i swapped back to stock calipers and brakes and i replaced front lines. I am just going to fill the MC to the recommended line and then attach the hose to the right caliper and bleed it, have some pump 5x then hold i open bleeder and see fluid comes out until a good stream with no bubbles then close it. Ok im done then do the drivers side. Why do people keep repeating process and pumping? I dont want to drain fluid out and replace with new fluid. It does not matter, I just want no air in it. can i do this?

Mustang5L5 · Aug 6, 2007

You can't pump the pedal an extra 5 times to flush the fluid out???

Mustang4119 · Aug 6, 2007

Mustang5L5 said:
You can't pump the pedal an extra 5 times to flush the fluid out???

what do you mean? I pump the pedal 5 more time while the bleeder is open? I thought you hold down the pedal until it goes to the floor, then close the bleeder. I just want to bleed my brakes, i am getting rid of the car, i just want no air in it. I will just put new fluid into the MC with the old fluid. Its not a big deal. When the bleeder is open and the pedal goes to floor, how much does it squirt out and how long do you keep it open?

Mustang5L5 · Aug 6, 2007

Mustang4119 said:
what do you mean? I pump the pedal 5 more time while the bleeder is open? I thought you hold down the pedal until it goes to the floor, then close the bleeder. I just want to bleed my brakes, i am getting rid of the car, i just want no air in it. I will just put new fluid into the MC with the old fluid. Its not a big deal. When the bleeder is open and the pedal goes to floor, how much does it squirt out and how long do you keep it open?

Hook up hose and bottle to bleed screw. Open bleeder. Have friend begin to slowly pump pedal. Fluid will come down hose and into blottle. Watch it to make sure bubbles come with it. It helps to lightly tap the caliper with a hammer while this is going on. Make sure you watch the master cylinder because 8 pumps of the pedal can drain it, so keep it topped off. There is no way to do this without using a bottle of fluid. I know you just want to get the air out, but you will still need to force a lot of fluid through to do this.

When you are satisfied all the air is out, close the bleeder and go to the other side.

That's the simplest way to do it. If that's still not quick and easy enough, just slap the calipers on and hope it stops well enough until the next owner takes it away because there is no other way to bleed the brakes.

Mustang4119 · Aug 6, 2007

Mustang5L5 said:
Hook up hose and bottle to bleed screw. Open bleeder. Have friend begin to slowly pump pedal. Fluid will come down hose and into blottle. Watch it to make sure bubbles come with it. It helps to lightly tap the caliper with a hammer while this is going on. Make sure you watch the master cylinder because 8 pumps of the pedal can drain it, so keep it topped off. There is no way to do this without using a bottle of fluid. I know you just want to get the air out, but you will still need to force a lot of fluid through to do this.

When you are satisfied all the air is out, close the bleeder and go to the other side.

That's the simplest way to do it. If that's still not quick and easy enough, just slap the calipers on and hope it stops well enough until the next owner takes it away because there is no other way to bleed the brakes.

so what about the 5x pumping then hold the pedal on the 5th and open bleeder slowly, pedal goes to the ground and fluid comes out, then close bleeder when pedal is to the floor? dont i put new fresh fluid in the bottle with the hose so it does not suck any air up?

Mustang5L5 · Aug 6, 2007

Why are you puming the pedal before opening the bleeder?? That won't really do anything.

Yes, put a little fluid in the bottle so no air gets drawn up. Just go smooth with the pedal. No fast jerky pumps. Keep it slow and only fluid will come out and no air will go in.

You could go to autozone and buy a pair of speed bleeders for your calipers. Swap them out with your bleeders.

Then all you need to do is open the bleeder and pump the pedal. It's a one-way valve so no need to worry about air going back in. It's the simpliest method.

Silvergto2 · Aug 6, 2007

I have a crazy idea, why dont you buy these http://www.speedbleeder.com/. I just did my rear brakes over the weekend and bleed the entire system all by myself. I bought the speedbleeders for the front and back calipers and got the bag with hose that attaches to the bleeder. They have a check valve in them so you dont have to worry about air getting in the system between pumping the brakes.

Mustang4119 · Aug 6, 2007

maybe im thinking too much about this. how come every how to do bleeding says to pump 4-5x before opening bleeder and on last one hold down pedal and it will drop down to floor when opening bleeder. I remember i did that on my rear brake before once with a friend.

Mustang5L5 · Aug 6, 2007

I used to do it that way too until i figured out you didn't need to.

Mustang4119 · Aug 7, 2007

i rounded the nuts, they were so hard to loosen even with wd40, the 3/8" flare barely fit on it, i couldnt use a 10mm wrench because how would i tighten it with hose on. So i just put wheels back on and drove car brakes are working fine, a little mushy but who cares, seems normal.

Mustang5L5 · Aug 7, 2007

Mustang4119 said:
i couldnt use a 10mm wrench because how would i tighten it with hose on.

You put the wrench on first and just leave it there until you are done

air in your lines is dangerous.

Mustang4119 · Aug 7, 2007

Mustang5L5 said:
You put the wrench on first and just leave it there until you are done

air in your lines is dangerous.

well they are rounded and wrench side did not work on either side, i tried to use the circle side that acts like a rachet.

ebk06 · Sep 4, 2007

Sorry to revive this post but damn..........i feel sorry for whoever was in front of this guy after he "bled" his brakes. Some things should just be left to professionals if you cant grasp the concept or have this much trouble understanding what is being explained. I honestly hope you finally took the car to a mechanic or someone with some knowledge because judging from this thread thread you are truely inept.

tiptone · Sep 5, 2007

Mustang5L5 said:
I used to do it that way too until i figured out you didn't need to.

It's just an easy way to avoid sucking air back into the brake system without having to worry about the end of the drain tube being submersed in brake fluid. If you pump them 4-5 times and hold it the last time then open the bleeder, let the pedal go to the floor and close it back there's no chance that air can go back in. Both ways work equally well, one is just a little easier to tell someone who has never done it before, heck I still do it that way because it's the way I learned.

shook0002 · Sep 5, 2007

WOW who knew something so simple could get so complicated. Just throw speed bleeders on it.

BobHyatt · Sep 5, 2007

Mustang4119 said:
i rounded the nuts, they were so hard to loosen even with wd40, the 3/8" flare barely fit on it, i couldnt use a 10mm wrench because how would i tighten it with hose on. So i just put wheels back on and drove car brakes are working fine, a little mushy but who cares, seems normal.

There's your problem... they are _not_ 3/8" fittings. Go metric, young man, go metric. And you won't be stripping them ever again.

BobHyatt · Sep 5, 2007

Mustang4119 said:
well they are rounded and wrench side did not work on either side, i tried to use the circle side that acts like a rachet.

Don't use a gearwrench for this. You need to open and close the thing. Buy a regular wrench, or use the gearwrench end to break the bleeder loose, then use the open end to open/close it while bleeding (you do not have to crank down to close the thing, snug will do just fine). Once you are done, flip the gearwrench over and tighten it down snugly. Don't go nuts, it will round/strip if you gorilla it...

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