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Help! Bleeding brakes


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Cleaned the fronts up today as they were binding. I stupidly pushed one of the pistons out so lost abit of fluid. Got it all back together and now the pedal is spongey, which I thought it might be. I don't have a brake bleeding kit though so is there any other method to get the air out? The missus old man is gonna try and find some tubing to hopefully help me and can we do just the one caliper? It's front drivers side.

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Put the tube on the bleed nipple and make sure the other end is in a bottle/container, with someone in the drivers seat, unlock nipple and depress the pedal and when all the air bubbles are out lock off the nipple, if there is lots once the driver has depressed the pedal all the way down hold it down until you've locked off the nipple then repeat process until you just get clean fluid (no bubbles) and you may have to keep topping up resovoir in between.

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Cheers guys, try and find some tubing after the bbq! :rolleyes:

 

Can I do just that caliper as you normally start from the rears?

Since air should only be in the one that popped out you can do just that one - obviously there is nothing stopping you from doing the others, but it doesn't sound as though you need to.

 

I remember when I was young and foolish just getting a long piece of tubing and feeding it from each caliper to the brake fluid reservoir, pressing the brake pedal and watching for the bubbles to stop before closing the bleed valve, rather wasteful of fluid, but the real problem was that the aerated fluid didn't have a chance to de-aerate before being used again.

 

ho hum.

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He found the bit of tubing he uses, thought he'd binned it at first and was thinking of using a straw! Got it bled though and stops ok, did a few emergency ones aswell. A lot of muck came out though so might benefit from a complete change?

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I don't think much got in as I got the piston back in quickly but the pedal just went to the floor!! Worked if you pumped them but that's no good in an emergency! :)

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When you feed the piston back, one would assume the resivoure is open? If so the only brake pressure needed is final contact recovering the piston pressure point, one or two pumps will achieve this.

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I think I had better buy myself a proper brake bleeding kit in case I get caught out like this again, any recommendations? The Eezibleed seems the best one but seems pricey for what is essentially a plastic bottle and clear tubing?

 

Also how long does brake fluid last once opened?

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I think I had better buy myself a proper brake bleeding kit in case I get caught out like this again, any recommendations? The Eezibleed seems the best one but seems pricey for what is essentially a plastic bottle and clear tubing?

 

Also how long does brake fluid last once opened?

 

get yourself a bit of hose and a glass jam jar, tried and tested method cheap and effective, only downside is you need a second person to push the brake pedal

 

once opened and exposed to air it starts absorbing water, even in a half full sealed tin ! so use and throw is the best policy

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I think I had better buy myself a proper brake bleeding kit in case I get caught out like this again, any recommendations? The Eezibleed seems the best one but seems pricey for what is essentially a plastic bottle and clear tubing?

 

Also how long does brake fluid last once opened?

 

get yourself a bit of hose and a glass jam jar, tried and tested method cheap and effective, only downside is you need a second person to push the brake pedal

 

once opened and exposed to air it starts absorbing water, even in a half full sealed tin ! so use and throw is the best policy

 

Yeah might do that, it's not like I have to bleed them that often.

 

So it might be worthwhile bleeding all of the calipers then if I have to bin it. Cost me £6.50 and I used about 50ml!! So 450ml should be enough to do all of them again?

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  • 1 month later...
I think I had better buy myself a proper brake bleeding kit in case I get caught out like this again, any recommendations? The Eezibleed seems the best one but seems pricey for what is essentially a plastic bottle and clear tubing?

 

Also how long does brake fluid last once opened?

 

get yourself a bit of hose and a glass jam jar, tried and tested method cheap and effective, only downside is you need a second person to push the brake pedal

 

once opened and exposed to air it starts absorbing water, even in a half full sealed tin ! so use and throw is the best policy

 

Yeah might do that, it's not like I have to bleed them that often.

 

So it might be worthwhile bleeding all of the calipers then if I have to bin it. Cost me £6.50 and I used about 50ml!! So 450ml should be enough to do all of them again?

 

I have a Gunson Eezibleed on my shopping list although I haven't yet decided to do the brakes myself and might still get the garage to do them. They seem to have gone up a bit on eBay since I've been dithering, although still a saving over Halfords price of a few quid.

I used to use a jam jar, tube, and assistant years ago - and the assistant was later superceded by a tube with a one-way valve (retained the jam jar) - might still have it somewhere, but I am happy to spend a few quid on this bit of kit.

 

Steve O.

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