DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
04-13-2012, 09:56 PM
#1
DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
Okay, people think bleeding the brakes is hard and is a two man job. Allow me to give some tips.
1. Acquire all the parts you need.
2. Jackup the right rear of the car.
3. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.
4. Remove the bleeder valve cover cap, its made of rubber and is usually black, it slips right off. You may have it missing, that's fine.
5. Attach your brake hose to the nipple. THE BLEEDER HOSE IS 3/16" IN INNER DIAMETER. You can get this crap at Ace hardware for 39 cents a foot.
6. Run the hose UPWARD through your spring, and then down and into a jug of some sort, a 5 quart oil jug is handy, or an old gallon of milk. fill it 1/3 the way with water if you don't want to worry if it will fall over and get brake fluid over things.
NOTE: See how you run the brake hose from the bleeder and looped it through the spring? When you open the bleeder and start bleeding, the fluid goes upward. So if you push the pedal and then let go, when the pedal is depressed the fluid (or fluid/air mix) goes out and the air goes upward. Thanks gravity. When you release the pedal, it will suck the mixture back in, but only the fluid goes back in because the air goes upward.
Not only does this trick allow you to bleed yourself, but if you are changing calipers and then need to bleed that side, it also cuts down on the amount of times you have to pump the pedal, and consequently, the amount of brake fluid being removed off of the car, so if you do this a lot, it may take it from a quart to a pint. Convenient, huh?
7. Open the bleeder valve. 10mm for calipers, 8mm for drum cylinders.
8. Pop the hood, and remove the cap from the top of the brake master cylinder's resovoir (the clear plastic container with the brake fluid. If you have two, the one for the brakes is the bigger one, the smaller one is for your clutch fluid)
9. Fill the master cylinder with DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid (ALL Hondas to date use this same fluid, including Isuzu built models like the Passport!)
10. Pump the pedal several times, each time from the top all the way to the bottom, 10 or 11 is fine. The important part is to make sure the fluid level doesn't go below below the minimum and empties the master cylinder. If it does, you've ingested air into the system, and that will have to be bled out again. There are ways to remove air from a master cylinder that was not bench bled, I will address that later.
11. Go check the bleeder hose. You use clear hose so you can see if there are air bubbles coming out of it. If there are any at all, even small ones coming out quickly, go back, refill the resovoir, and pump the pedal some more.
12. When all the air is out, close the bleeder valve.
13. Put the cap on, put the wheel on, lower the car.
14. Repeat this process with the other three brakes. The brake bleeding sequence on our Hondas is NOT farthest to closest. The sequence in which to bleed our brakes is, as per the service manual:
Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, Right Front.
15. When all 4 brakes are done, you have bled the car. I reccomend a good 20 to 30 pumps per brake when bleeding to flush the old fluid out.
If you ingested air into the system, or if this was not enough, or if you changed prop valves, ABS pumps or master cylinders, you may require a lot more bleeding. THis can be done by pushing about 5 to 6 quarts through the car, but this gets old very fast. Heres a way to save some cash.
First, ensure that all of the old fluid is out of the system by bleeding it, or if the car was recently bled, you can do this. It can be done with old fluid, but I don't reccomend it, I'll tell why at the end.
Go buy 12 feet of brake bleeder hose, yes 12 feet. Starting with the right rear brake, connect the bleeder hose to the brake, but instead of using the jug or waste container, run the hose to the master cylinder and stick it in the master cylinder resovoir. Use towels, use duct tape, use whatever you want so it doesn't fall out, because remember: Brake fluid is a mild paint thinner! If you get it on your paint, wash it off right away. Its best not to let brake fluid touch your car's paint at all, finger prints and smears suck.
Now open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Again watch to make sure the fluid level stays above the bottom, keep it at the top. With the bleeder like this, it goes in an endless loop. So any air bubbles at all are now going out the brake hose, into the master cylinder resovoir where they will go to the top and exit, once again, thanks gravity. So with the hose set like this you can go ahead and pump the pedal a hundred times if you'd like. Then of course, close the bleeder, careful with the fluid dripping, and repeat this in the same sequence. Now you don't need to use a shop's vaccum system to remove air with the system. I admit this will be time intensive the first time, but it'll save you money and brake fluid, and helps if you can't get to a shop, or are a track racer who has to bleed his brakes every day opposed to every year.
The reason you don't re-bleed with old dirty fluid is that brake fluid is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture readily. Thats why you have it capped. Over time, it will absorb moisture because that cap on your master cylinder isn't totally airtight, and as the pads wear, the fluid level goes down. It pulls air in while it goes down. So cycling in old fluid over and over is only going to add more moisture to the system, lowering the boiling point even more. In a full race application, if you cycled fluid through the system, you'd want to go and bleed each brake through with new fluid again.
1. Acquire all the parts you need.
2. Jackup the right rear of the car.
3. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.
4. Remove the bleeder valve cover cap, its made of rubber and is usually black, it slips right off. You may have it missing, that's fine.
5. Attach your brake hose to the nipple. THE BLEEDER HOSE IS 3/16" IN INNER DIAMETER. You can get this crap at Ace hardware for 39 cents a foot.
6. Run the hose UPWARD through your spring, and then down and into a jug of some sort, a 5 quart oil jug is handy, or an old gallon of milk. fill it 1/3 the way with water if you don't want to worry if it will fall over and get brake fluid over things.
NOTE: See how you run the brake hose from the bleeder and looped it through the spring? When you open the bleeder and start bleeding, the fluid goes upward. So if you push the pedal and then let go, when the pedal is depressed the fluid (or fluid/air mix) goes out and the air goes upward. Thanks gravity. When you release the pedal, it will suck the mixture back in, but only the fluid goes back in because the air goes upward.
Not only does this trick allow you to bleed yourself, but if you are changing calipers and then need to bleed that side, it also cuts down on the amount of times you have to pump the pedal, and consequently, the amount of brake fluid being removed off of the car, so if you do this a lot, it may take it from a quart to a pint. Convenient, huh?
7. Open the bleeder valve. 10mm for calipers, 8mm for drum cylinders.
8. Pop the hood, and remove the cap from the top of the brake master cylinder's resovoir (the clear plastic container with the brake fluid. If you have two, the one for the brakes is the bigger one, the smaller one is for your clutch fluid)
9. Fill the master cylinder with DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid (ALL Hondas to date use this same fluid, including Isuzu built models like the Passport!)
10. Pump the pedal several times, each time from the top all the way to the bottom, 10 or 11 is fine. The important part is to make sure the fluid level doesn't go below below the minimum and empties the master cylinder. If it does, you've ingested air into the system, and that will have to be bled out again. There are ways to remove air from a master cylinder that was not bench bled, I will address that later.
11. Go check the bleeder hose. You use clear hose so you can see if there are air bubbles coming out of it. If there are any at all, even small ones coming out quickly, go back, refill the resovoir, and pump the pedal some more.
12. When all the air is out, close the bleeder valve.
13. Put the cap on, put the wheel on, lower the car.
14. Repeat this process with the other three brakes. The brake bleeding sequence on our Hondas is NOT farthest to closest. The sequence in which to bleed our brakes is, as per the service manual:
Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, Right Front.
15. When all 4 brakes are done, you have bled the car. I reccomend a good 20 to 30 pumps per brake when bleeding to flush the old fluid out.
If you ingested air into the system, or if this was not enough, or if you changed prop valves, ABS pumps or master cylinders, you may require a lot more bleeding. THis can be done by pushing about 5 to 6 quarts through the car, but this gets old very fast. Heres a way to save some cash.
First, ensure that all of the old fluid is out of the system by bleeding it, or if the car was recently bled, you can do this. It can be done with old fluid, but I don't reccomend it, I'll tell why at the end.
Go buy 12 feet of brake bleeder hose, yes 12 feet. Starting with the right rear brake, connect the bleeder hose to the brake, but instead of using the jug or waste container, run the hose to the master cylinder and stick it in the master cylinder resovoir. Use towels, use duct tape, use whatever you want so it doesn't fall out, because remember: Brake fluid is a mild paint thinner! If you get it on your paint, wash it off right away. Its best not to let brake fluid touch your car's paint at all, finger prints and smears suck.
Now open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Again watch to make sure the fluid level stays above the bottom, keep it at the top. With the bleeder like this, it goes in an endless loop. So any air bubbles at all are now going out the brake hose, into the master cylinder resovoir where they will go to the top and exit, once again, thanks gravity. So with the hose set like this you can go ahead and pump the pedal a hundred times if you'd like. Then of course, close the bleeder, careful with the fluid dripping, and repeat this in the same sequence. Now you don't need to use a shop's vaccum system to remove air with the system. I admit this will be time intensive the first time, but it'll save you money and brake fluid, and helps if you can't get to a shop, or are a track racer who has to bleed his brakes every day opposed to every year.
The reason you don't re-bleed with old dirty fluid is that brake fluid is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture readily. Thats why you have it capped. Over time, it will absorb moisture because that cap on your master cylinder isn't totally airtight, and as the pads wear, the fluid level goes down. It pulls air in while it goes down. So cycling in old fluid over and over is only going to add more moisture to the system, lowering the boiling point even more. In a full race application, if you cycled fluid through the system, you'd want to go and bleed each brake through with new fluid again.
05-11-2012, 01:04 PM
#3
Honda-Tech Member
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
It may not be my place to say this, but I'm not even sure why BrakeExpert was banned? His write ups, DIY's and articles are a great asset to HT. Good to see him back.
05-11-2012, 02:32 PM
#4
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
It was censorship after the big software change when h-t lost all those people. 3 days after the downgrade to vbulletin, there was another site created with a similar name, and if you typed it, it auto-asterisked out and I got autobanned. I went through like 5 other screennames, people kept mentioning my name and got me banned. Thankfully Liberatariat was awesome enough to hear my plea to the mods. Thanks dude!
03-20-2013, 11:25 PM
#5
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Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
Wow, all you want is to help people. Is not like you're getting money out of it for making an awesome & fully detailed on what to do and not to do write up with reason that it will cause.
I wonder why water if we can't use old brake fluid. I understand water and oil dont mix, but what if we pump the brake and the water sucks in the brake line? Just curious. Btw I never know about the hose are available in auto store. I remember this from youtube. I was like wut where you get those special device.
I wonder why water if we can't use old brake fluid. I understand water and oil dont mix, but what if we pump the brake and the water sucks in the brake line? Just curious. Btw I never know about the hose are available in auto store. I remember this from youtube. I was like wut where you get those special device.
03-21-2013, 06:33 AM
#6
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Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
03-21-2013, 06:54 AM
#7
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
As you wear the brakes, the fluid level goes down because the fluid goes into the caliper. As this happens, the fluid in the resovoir goes down. Air is thus pulled in, thats why you see those guys with the wierd sock on the resovoirs. The air sucked in will have some amount of moisture.
Brake fluid has the ability to absorb moisture. If the two did not mix, you could have water atop your master cylinder or in the brake lines, causing freezing and cracking in the winter, and thus failure.
As time goes by, the more moisture in the fluid, the more the boiling point drops. Lets say you use DOT4 (as I reccomend) and its boiling point is 446 degrees F. Thats pure brake fluid. After a few years, its got moisture in it. The "wet" boiling point, or boiling point if its got lots of water absorbed in it, is now 311 degrees farenheit. The "general rule of thumb", albeit vague, is that brake fluid's boiling point drops about 20 degrees a year. Why this talk about boiling point? If your fluid boils...it turns to vapor. Then you are not using the MC to push on a liquid, but also to compress a gas. Gas compresses, liquid does not. So if you put like 10 year old fluid in the car, what if the boiling point has dropped so low that when you heat up your brakes, the fluid in the caliper overheats and turns to vapor. Now your brake pedal is compressing gas and the pedal will go to the floor before you get good pressure and the car won't stop so well.
Regarding not pressing the pedal to the floor, I've not heard of any possible damage, at least not on our Hondas. I've been through 48 brake combinations on my car, so I've bleed it a LOT, changing calipers so frequently. Honda engineers our cars for even any retard to mash on the pedal all day long - if that were to break the brake system, Honda would have been out of business a long time ago.
Brake fluid has the ability to absorb moisture. If the two did not mix, you could have water atop your master cylinder or in the brake lines, causing freezing and cracking in the winter, and thus failure.
As time goes by, the more moisture in the fluid, the more the boiling point drops. Lets say you use DOT4 (as I reccomend) and its boiling point is 446 degrees F. Thats pure brake fluid. After a few years, its got moisture in it. The "wet" boiling point, or boiling point if its got lots of water absorbed in it, is now 311 degrees farenheit. The "general rule of thumb", albeit vague, is that brake fluid's boiling point drops about 20 degrees a year. Why this talk about boiling point? If your fluid boils...it turns to vapor. Then you are not using the MC to push on a liquid, but also to compress a gas. Gas compresses, liquid does not. So if you put like 10 year old fluid in the car, what if the boiling point has dropped so low that when you heat up your brakes, the fluid in the caliper overheats and turns to vapor. Now your brake pedal is compressing gas and the pedal will go to the floor before you get good pressure and the car won't stop so well.
Regarding not pressing the pedal to the floor, I've not heard of any possible damage, at least not on our Hondas. I've been through 48 brake combinations on my car, so I've bleed it a LOT, changing calipers so frequently. Honda engineers our cars for even any retard to mash on the pedal all day long - if that were to break the brake system, Honda would have been out of business a long time ago.
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04-30-2013, 09:54 PM
#10
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Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
BrakeExpert,
You certainly are the expert on Honda's brake !
I joint this forum today so I can contact you in the future,
I am going to have some custom brake system for my Honda Fit,
and I think I will need to buy some parts from you.
If possible,
please PM me you direct email,
so it is easier for me to contact you.
Thank You
You certainly are the expert on Honda's brake !
I joint this forum today so I can contact you in the future,
I am going to have some custom brake system for my Honda Fit,
and I think I will need to buy some parts from you.
If possible,
please PM me you direct email,
so it is easier for me to contact you.
Thank You
03-02-2014, 10:50 PM
#12
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
Heres a note for people who havent heard it about brake fluid:
DOT 3 brake fluid is made for most cars, including all Hondas. Pretty much anything that isnt a big truck will use it. DOT3 is a requirement for a certain boiling point, and DOT4 is simply a higher temperature rating. ANY car that asks for DOT3 fluid may use DOT4...and vice versa actually. some new cars say DOT4 only, as these may be cars that run the brakes hotter, or want a longer life out of their brake fluid and want to state something like "no fluid maintainence for X miles".
DOT5 brake fluid is NOT COMPATABLE. Its got a different chemical composition and is intended for cars designed for it. I won't get into why, but it could affect internal components of the system.
There is a fluid called DOT5.1 and yes it was a stupid naming system. It was designed to have a higher boiling point BUT be compatable for most cars. As expected, DOT 5.1 has a higher boiling point than DOT4 and DOT3. DOT 5.1 is a fluid that IS USABLE in any car asking for 3 or 4. DOT5.1 and DOT5 are not compatable with each other.
So:
DOT3, DOT4, DOT5.1 all compatable with each other and have a higher boiling point rating.
DOT5 not compatable with 3, 4, or 5.1
DOT 3 brake fluid is made for most cars, including all Hondas. Pretty much anything that isnt a big truck will use it. DOT3 is a requirement for a certain boiling point, and DOT4 is simply a higher temperature rating. ANY car that asks for DOT3 fluid may use DOT4...and vice versa actually. some new cars say DOT4 only, as these may be cars that run the brakes hotter, or want a longer life out of their brake fluid and want to state something like "no fluid maintainence for X miles".
DOT5 brake fluid is NOT COMPATABLE. Its got a different chemical composition and is intended for cars designed for it. I won't get into why, but it could affect internal components of the system.
There is a fluid called DOT5.1 and yes it was a stupid naming system. It was designed to have a higher boiling point BUT be compatable for most cars. As expected, DOT 5.1 has a higher boiling point than DOT4 and DOT3. DOT 5.1 is a fluid that IS USABLE in any car asking for 3 or 4. DOT5.1 and DOT5 are not compatable with each other.
So:
DOT3, DOT4, DOT5.1 all compatable with each other and have a higher boiling point rating.
DOT5 not compatable with 3, 4, or 5.1
06-23-2014, 07:58 PM
#14
Steve at Heart
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
I used the last half of your post Brake Expert on my 89 si when I replaced the rubber lines with stainless, prop valve to 40/40 and master to 15/16th. Works well. Next will be the first half to get the nice firm pedal. Thanks for the lengthy post and great details.
07-01-2014, 10:34 PM
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Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
All good information. I've done brakes for 27 years, and its usually much easier than that. The line diameters are small enough that if you replace a hose, for instance, you can just reassemble, pop the top off the master (making sure it has a good fluid level, of course), and let gravity push the air out through the caliper bleeder. 95% of the time we just gravity bleed until we get a clear stream, then close the bleeder and pump the brakes up to seat the pads, open the bleeder one more time to get a last air bubble or two, and its good to go.
Its nice to have a pressure bleeder on hand if things look questionable, but I haven't had to use one more than a few times in recent years, and those were mostly tow-ins where sketchy work was done and we didn't know where to look for the air - pressure bleeding just saves time there.
On brake fluid, btw, I believe the boiling points and hygroscopic nature of DOT3 are much better now than they were in the old days. It used to be that rust and pitting were common in old calipers, but its pretty rare nowadays. Not that I'd ever leave a system or a bottle open, but brake fluid seems to work much better and last longer than it used to.
Its nice to have a pressure bleeder on hand if things look questionable, but I haven't had to use one more than a few times in recent years, and those were mostly tow-ins where sketchy work was done and we didn't know where to look for the air - pressure bleeding just saves time there.
On brake fluid, btw, I believe the boiling points and hygroscopic nature of DOT3 are much better now than they were in the old days. It used to be that rust and pitting were common in old calipers, but its pretty rare nowadays. Not that I'd ever leave a system or a bottle open, but brake fluid seems to work much better and last longer than it used to.
10-25-2016, 08:34 AM
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08-17-2017, 09:09 AM
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Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
Okay, people think bleeding the brakes is hard and is a two man job. Allow me to give some tips.
1. Acquire all the parts you need.
2. Jackup the right rear of the car.
3. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.
4. Remove the bleeder valve cover cap, its made of rubber and is usually black, it slips right off. You may have it missing, that's fine.
5. Attach your brake hose to the nipple. THE BLEEDER HOSE IS 3/16" IN INNER DIAMETER. You can get this crap at Ace hardware for 39 cents a foot.
6. Run the hose UPWARD through your spring, and then down and into a jug of some sort, a 5 quart oil jug is handy, or an old gallon of milk. fill it 1/3 the way with water if you don't want to worry if it will fall over and get brake fluid over things.
NOTE: See how you run the brake hose from the bleeder and looped it through the spring? When you open the bleeder and start bleeding, the fluid goes upward. So if you push the pedal and then let go, when the pedal is depressed the fluid (or fluid/air mix) goes out and the air goes upward. Thanks gravity. When you release the pedal, it will suck the mixture back in, but only the fluid goes back in because the air goes upward.
Not only does this trick allow you to bleed yourself, but if you are changing calipers and then need to bleed that side, it also cuts down on the amount of times you have to pump the pedal, and consequently, the amount of brake fluid being removed off of the car, so if you do this a lot, it may take it from a quart to a pint. Convenient, huh?
7. Open the bleeder valve. 10mm for calipers, 8mm for drum cylinders.
8. Pop the hood, and remove the cap from the top of the brake master cylinder's resovoir (the clear plastic container with the brake fluid. If you have two, the one for the brakes is the bigger one, the smaller one is for your clutch fluid)
9. Fill the master cylinder with DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid (ALL Hondas to date use this same fluid, including Isuzu built models like the Passport!)
10. Pump the pedal several times, each time from the top all the way to the bottom, 10 or 11 is fine. The important part is to make sure the fluid level doesn't go below below the minimum and empties the master cylinder. If it does, you've ingested air into the system, and that will have to be bled out again. There are ways to remove air from a master cylinder that was not bench bled, I will address that later.
11. Go check the bleeder hose. You use clear hose so you can see if there are air bubbles coming out of it. If there are any at all, even small ones coming out quickly, go back, refill the resovoir, and pump the pedal some more.
12. When all the air is out, close the bleeder valve.
13. Put the cap on, put the wheel on, lower the car.
14. Repeat this process with the other three brakes. The brake bleeding sequence on our Hondas is NOT farthest to closest. The sequence in which to bleed our brakes is, as per the service manual:
Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, Right Front.
15. When all 4 brakes are done, you have bled the car. I reccomend a good 20 to 30 pumps per brake when bleeding to flush the old fluid out.
If you ingested air into the system, or if this was not enough, or if you changed prop valves, ABS pumps or master cylinders, you may require a lot more bleeding. THis can be done by pushing about 5 to 6 quarts through the car, but this gets old very fast. Heres a way to save some cash.
First, ensure that all of the old fluid is out of the system by bleeding it, or if the car was recently bled, you can do this. It can be done with old fluid, but I don't reccomend it, I'll tell why at the end.
Go buy 12 feet of brake bleeder hose, yes 12 feet. Starting with the right rear brake, connect the bleeder hose to the brake, but instead of using the jug or waste container, run the hose to the master cylinder and stick it in the master cylinder resovoir. Use towels, use duct tape, use whatever you want so it doesn't fall out, because remember: Brake fluid is a mild paint thinner! If you get it on your paint, wash it off right away. Its best not to let brake fluid touch your car's paint at all, finger prints and smears suck.
Now open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Again watch to make sure the fluid level stays above the bottom, keep it at the top. With the bleeder like this, it goes in an endless loop. So any air bubbles at all are now going out the brake hose, into the master cylinder resovoir where they will go to the top and exit, once again, thanks gravity. So with the hose set like this you can go ahead and pump the pedal a hundred times if you'd like. Then of course, close the bleeder, careful with the fluid dripping, and repeat this in the same sequence. Now you don't need to use a shop's vaccum system to remove air with the system. I admit this will be time intensive the first time, but it'll save you money and brake fluid, and helps if you can't get to a shop, or are a track racer who has to bleed his brakes every day opposed to every year.
The reason you don't re-bleed with old dirty fluid is that brake fluid is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture readily. Thats why you have it capped. Over time, it will absorb moisture because that cap on your master cylinder isn't totally airtight, and as the pads wear, the fluid level goes down. It pulls air in while it goes down. So cycling in old fluid over and over is only going to add more moisture to the system, lowering the boiling point even more. In a full race application, if you cycled fluid through the system, you'd want to go and bleed each brake through with new fluid again.
1. Acquire all the parts you need.
2. Jackup the right rear of the car.
3. Remove the lug nuts and the wheel.
4. Remove the bleeder valve cover cap, its made of rubber and is usually black, it slips right off. You may have it missing, that's fine.
5. Attach your brake hose to the nipple. THE BLEEDER HOSE IS 3/16" IN INNER DIAMETER. You can get this crap at Ace hardware for 39 cents a foot.
6. Run the hose UPWARD through your spring, and then down and into a jug of some sort, a 5 quart oil jug is handy, or an old gallon of milk. fill it 1/3 the way with water if you don't want to worry if it will fall over and get brake fluid over things.
NOTE: See how you run the brake hose from the bleeder and looped it through the spring? When you open the bleeder and start bleeding, the fluid goes upward. So if you push the pedal and then let go, when the pedal is depressed the fluid (or fluid/air mix) goes out and the air goes upward. Thanks gravity. When you release the pedal, it will suck the mixture back in, but only the fluid goes back in because the air goes upward.
Not only does this trick allow you to bleed yourself, but if you are changing calipers and then need to bleed that side, it also cuts down on the amount of times you have to pump the pedal, and consequently, the amount of brake fluid being removed off of the car, so if you do this a lot, it may take it from a quart to a pint. Convenient, huh?
7. Open the bleeder valve. 10mm for calipers, 8mm for drum cylinders.
8. Pop the hood, and remove the cap from the top of the brake master cylinder's resovoir (the clear plastic container with the brake fluid. If you have two, the one for the brakes is the bigger one, the smaller one is for your clutch fluid)
9. Fill the master cylinder with DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid (ALL Hondas to date use this same fluid, including Isuzu built models like the Passport!)
10. Pump the pedal several times, each time from the top all the way to the bottom, 10 or 11 is fine. The important part is to make sure the fluid level doesn't go below below the minimum and empties the master cylinder. If it does, you've ingested air into the system, and that will have to be bled out again. There are ways to remove air from a master cylinder that was not bench bled, I will address that later.
11. Go check the bleeder hose. You use clear hose so you can see if there are air bubbles coming out of it. If there are any at all, even small ones coming out quickly, go back, refill the resovoir, and pump the pedal some more.
12. When all the air is out, close the bleeder valve.
13. Put the cap on, put the wheel on, lower the car.
14. Repeat this process with the other three brakes. The brake bleeding sequence on our Hondas is NOT farthest to closest. The sequence in which to bleed our brakes is, as per the service manual:
Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, Right Front.
15. When all 4 brakes are done, you have bled the car. I reccomend a good 20 to 30 pumps per brake when bleeding to flush the old fluid out.
If you ingested air into the system, or if this was not enough, or if you changed prop valves, ABS pumps or master cylinders, you may require a lot more bleeding. THis can be done by pushing about 5 to 6 quarts through the car, but this gets old very fast. Heres a way to save some cash.
First, ensure that all of the old fluid is out of the system by bleeding it, or if the car was recently bled, you can do this. It can be done with old fluid, but I don't reccomend it, I'll tell why at the end.
Go buy 12 feet of brake bleeder hose, yes 12 feet. Starting with the right rear brake, connect the bleeder hose to the brake, but instead of using the jug or waste container, run the hose to the master cylinder and stick it in the master cylinder resovoir. Use towels, use duct tape, use whatever you want so it doesn't fall out, because remember: Brake fluid is a mild paint thinner! If you get it on your paint, wash it off right away. Its best not to let brake fluid touch your car's paint at all, finger prints and smears suck.
Now open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Again watch to make sure the fluid level stays above the bottom, keep it at the top. With the bleeder like this, it goes in an endless loop. So any air bubbles at all are now going out the brake hose, into the master cylinder resovoir where they will go to the top and exit, once again, thanks gravity. So with the hose set like this you can go ahead and pump the pedal a hundred times if you'd like. Then of course, close the bleeder, careful with the fluid dripping, and repeat this in the same sequence. Now you don't need to use a shop's vaccum system to remove air with the system. I admit this will be time intensive the first time, but it'll save you money and brake fluid, and helps if you can't get to a shop, or are a track racer who has to bleed his brakes every day opposed to every year.
The reason you don't re-bleed with old dirty fluid is that brake fluid is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture readily. Thats why you have it capped. Over time, it will absorb moisture because that cap on your master cylinder isn't totally airtight, and as the pads wear, the fluid level goes down. It pulls air in while it goes down. So cycling in old fluid over and over is only going to add more moisture to the system, lowering the boiling point even more. In a full race application, if you cycled fluid through the system, you'd want to go and bleed each brake through with new fluid again.
11-19-2017, 02:21 PM
#22
Honda-Tech Member
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Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
Brakeexpert, would you mind pming me regarding purchasing a brake setup off you? I tried pming you but it wont let me for whatever reason. I just went to your recent threads and commented to get your attention.
thanks,
brad
thanks,
brad
01-19-2018, 01:25 PM
#24
Premium Member
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
Any guidance on bleeding the ABS system on an EG?
The FSM calls out a special tool, wondering if I can get by w/o...
The FSM calls out a special tool, wondering if I can get by w/o...
02-07-2018, 09:16 AM
#25
Premium Member
Re: DIY: Bleeding your brakes by yourself, it's not as hard as you think!
I was thinking that perhaps some shop rags around a 6 point socket on an extension and cracking the bleeder slowly would be adequate for dealing with the high pressure?
TIA,