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how much money can i blow on a brake bleeder

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
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grayslake
so, i used to bleed brakes a lot, like before every track day and sometimes halfway through them. one of the amazeballs things about the brz though is i just do it once and go. in any case, i always bugged a buddy who helped, who also did most of the work. i needed to bleed them after replacing a dust boot and popping a piston out though, so i got a bleeder to help and set up doing the simple one man no cleanup "dry" method, which works great. although is not the cheapest.

bleed2.jpg


it's basically just a standard nice motive bleeder, with some more hose attached and some valves. this way fluid can simply be added to the reservoir so the bleeder doesn't need to be cleaned. you don't need to keep pumping it up either since the pressure is contained.

Best Brake Bleeder / Best Brake Bleeding Method

aside from the ping pong table in the dining room and dirtbike in the living room, you may also notice the industrial grade air compressor in the garage and conclude i'm a moron and could have done something similar with like $10 in parts. which is true, but this gave me a little project and article to write, plus i can take this anywhere.

also, my first how to video. hopefully no mistakes, i actually rendered it and did not even watch the final product. :p
 

greasy

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Jun 25, 2007
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When I flushed my entire system I did not have to pump the unit much at all.

I am a little bit confused though, so you are filling the MC when it is close to running out of fluid vs. just having the fluid in the bleeder? I am not trying to be a dick, but outside of the not having to clean the bleeder, what are the advantages of doing it this way?
 

greasy

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There is really no reason to clean the actual bleeder unit as only new fluid sits inside if you are consistently/frequently flushing with the same fluid.
Also if you are using a old fluid catch reservoir, no mess should be at the bleeders on the caliper.

If you did want to clean the unit it probably take all of 5 minutes to dump the unused new fluid from the reservoir into your old fluid disposal container and then take a few shop towels to wipe off the inside of the bleeder.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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There is really no reason to clean the actual bleeder unit as only new fluid sits inside, especially if you are consistently flushing with the same fluid.
Also if you are using a old fluid catch reservoir, no mess should be at the bleeders on the caliper.

If you did want to clean the unit it probably take all of 5 minutes to dump the unused new fluid from the reservoir into your old fluid disposal container and then take a few shop towels to wipe off the inside of the bleeder.
I cleaned yours when i used it. There was some blue gunk at the bottom and in the black piece. Dunno what it was though
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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When I flushed my entire system I did not have to pump the unit much at all.

I am a little bit confused though, so you are filling the MC when it is close to running out of fluid vs. just having the fluid in the bleeder? I am not trying to be a dick, but outside of the not having to clean the bleeder, what are the advantages of doing it this way?
I lost 1-2 psi each corner so i just gave it a few pumps inbetween
 

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
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grayslake
When I flushed my entire system I did not have to pump the unit much at all.

I am a little bit confused though, so you are filling the MC when it is close to running out of fluid vs. just having the fluid in the bleeder? I am not trying to be a dick, but outside of the not having to clean the bleeder, what are the advantages of doing it this way?

so this is really a wet vs. dry method question. when you do clean it's youre supposed to use denatured alcohol. the main advantage of this one is really that it's just easy clean up, and you keep the fluid in your bottle too. which most of the time i'd avoid using again anyway, although this time i used the one i opened in the spring.

then the advantage to the valves for the dry method is just not having to pump up air pressure again.
 

greasy

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I cleaned yours when i used it. There was some blue gunk at the bottom and in the black piece. Dunno what it was though

I lost 1-2 psi each corner so i just gave it a few pumps inbetween

Maybe you are just dirty. ;)

Honestly cleaning it is not a big deal, at least not enough to warrant creating a setup like this (unless I am missing some other benefit). Like I said it would not take long.

In my opinion it seems that there is more risk running the MC too low or spilling brake fluid in the engine bay trying to pour it into the MC and/or just as much time wasted trying to refill the MC with more fluid.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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Maybe you are just dirty. ;)

Honestly cleaning it is not a big deal, at least not enough to warrant creating a setup like this (unless I am missing some other benefit). Like I said it would not take long.

In my opinion it seems that there is more risk running the MC too low or spilling brake fluid in the engine bay trying to pour it into the MC and/or just as much time wasted trying to refill the MC with more fluid.
Yeah probably took me 2 mins to clean it lol
 

greasy

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once brake fluid is opened it and exposed to air, it should be used asap because moisture contamination is my understanding, ironically I actually confirmed this with Justin last night as I got rid of the 1/10 remaining SRF I had after flushing clutch/brakes awhile back.

ASAP is a relative term, if you are flushing your system once a month for track days opened brake fluid is not going to be an issue. If you flush your system only once per year, it would be wise to just get new fluid.
 

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
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grayslake
once brake fluid is opened and exposed to air, it should be used asap because moisture contamination is my understanding, ironically I actually confirmed this with Justin last night as I got rid of the 1/10 remaining SRF I had after flushing clutch/brakes awhile back.

yeah i plan on doing it again in the spring and doing 0-2 more track days this year. plus with how high the fluid can handle vs. temps i've seen myself getting to, i figured even if it has absorbed some moisture, that it's more than capable enough of getting me through the rest of the year. still doing some other work though, i'll bed them probably tomorrow or the next day. we'll see if i make my own post about losing my brakes at 140
 

Bruce Jibboo

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Apr 18, 2008
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Elgin
I actually wonder how often I should be flushing the SRF even if there are 2-4 track days per year, I was surprised to actually see DOT3 on the MC but probably because of the lower temps on the components.

I have a feeling I won't even reach 30% of the dry boiling point so in all reality the SRF would probably hold up a long time, I guess no real harm in flushing once a year though.

Castrol React SRF Brake Fluid | Castrol New Zealand | Brake Fluid - Car Products | Castrol New Zealand | Car - Motor Oil & Lubricants | Castrol New Zealand | Products | Castrol New Zealand | Castrol - Motor Oil & Lubricants | Castrol New Zealand
 
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