Anyone ever flushed brake fluid? Help?
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,088
Likes: 188
From: Brooklyn
Anyone ever flushed brake fluid? Help?
wats up CL, I have an 01 GS430 with 112k and was wondering if anyone has flushed and bled the brake lines? Ive done it before on a maxima and it made the brakes alot more responsive but I was told by a mechanic with THIS car it can ruin the brake master cylinder which is very expensive to do. Can anyone who did this before tell me how they did it and what they noticed as far as improvements? Thanks CL!
You could crack all 4 brake lines at the caliper and gravity bleed them BUT NOT LETTING THE MC RUN DRY OR BELOW THE LOW MARK (Notice the caps). Just add fresh brake fluid to top it off. Get a bottle of BF that's sufficient for the gravity bleeding process, then the regular bleeding. Re-tighten your brake lines, then bleed as normal : RR-LR-RF-LF
Good time to add SS brake lines, new pads or rotors GL
Good time to add SS brake lines, new pads or rotors GL
Driver
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 97
Likes: 12
From: Melbourne, Australia
This has been covered in many threads, including quite a few on this front page at the moment - but it is a little all over the place.
Personally, I would be bleeding from the calipers one by one and taking your time.
On this car the overview procedure is this.
Press the brake pedal 40 times to obtain the proper brake fluid level in the res bottle.
Bleed the fronts first in the conventional way. (Yes the fronts first.) Top up the res as you go and don't let the level fall below the min line. ie open bleeding nipple, press, hold, release, close the bleeding nipple. Same as any car.
Then, when you do the rear calipers, turn the key to on, get someone to press the brake pedal and let the brake motor push the fluid out for you. Only let the brake motor run for 10 seconds or so at a time. Keep an eye on the res as the fluid will come out fast. Don't turn the engine on when you do this, just the key to the on position.
Good luck.
Chris
Personally, I would be bleeding from the calipers one by one and taking your time.
On this car the overview procedure is this.
Press the brake pedal 40 times to obtain the proper brake fluid level in the res bottle.
Bleed the fronts first in the conventional way. (Yes the fronts first.) Top up the res as you go and don't let the level fall below the min line. ie open bleeding nipple, press, hold, release, close the bleeding nipple. Same as any car.
Then, when you do the rear calipers, turn the key to on, get someone to press the brake pedal and let the brake motor push the fluid out for you. Only let the brake motor run for 10 seconds or so at a time. Keep an eye on the res as the fluid will come out fast. Don't turn the engine on when you do this, just the key to the on position.
Good luck.
Chris
This has been covered in many threads, including quite a few on this front page at the moment - but it is a little all over the place.
Personally, I would be bleeding from the calipers one by one and taking your time.
On this car the overview procedure is this.
Press the brake pedal 40 times to obtain the proper brake fluid level in the res bottle.
Bleed the fronts first in the conventional way. (Yes the fronts first.) Top up the res as you go and don't let the level fall below the min line. ie open bleeding nipple, press, hold, release, close the bleeding nipple. Same as any car.
Then, when you do the rear calipers, turn the key to on, get someone to press the brake pedal and let the brake motor push the fluid out for you. Only let the brake motor run for 10 seconds or so at a time. Keep an eye on the res as the fluid will come out fast. Don't turn the engine on when you do this, just the key to the on position.
Good luck.
Chris
Personally, I would be bleeding from the calipers one by one and taking your time.
On this car the overview procedure is this.
Press the brake pedal 40 times to obtain the proper brake fluid level in the res bottle.
Bleed the fronts first in the conventional way. (Yes the fronts first.) Top up the res as you go and don't let the level fall below the min line. ie open bleeding nipple, press, hold, release, close the bleeding nipple. Same as any car.
Then, when you do the rear calipers, turn the key to on, get someone to press the brake pedal and let the brake motor push the fluid out for you. Only let the brake motor run for 10 seconds or so at a time. Keep an eye on the res as the fluid will come out fast. Don't turn the engine on when you do this, just the key to the on position.
Good luck.
Chris
^^^^^^Somebody has done their research..
This is exactly the way to do it manually, that is if you do not have techstream to enable bleed mode on bmc for you.
You could crack all 4 brake lines at the caliper and gravity bleed them BUT NOT LETTING THE MC RUN DRY OR BELOW THE LOW MARK (Notice the caps). Just add fresh brake fluid to top it off. Get a bottle of BF that's sufficient for the gravity bleeding process, then the regular bleeding. Re-tighten your brake lines, then bleed as normal : RR-LR-RF-LF
Good time to add SS brake lines, new pads or rotors GL
Good time to add SS brake lines, new pads or rotors GL
Driver
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 97
Likes: 12
From: Melbourne, Australia
I have Techstream, however, my carpark at home is uneven and if I connect Techstream up it throws up the yaw sensor error code. I have to re-set it again on a level surface. LOL It's a pain in the backside.
BTW, I have had this car for 12months and owned a JZS147 Aristo in Australia for a few years before that, so I know these cars pretty well now. I do most of the work myself unless I haven't got time, the equipment, or the job requires a hoist. With the practice and forums like this, along with the service manual most work is relatively hassle free. I enjoy doing it.
Chris
BTW, I have had this car for 12months and owned a JZS147 Aristo in Australia for a few years before that, so I know these cars pretty well now. I do most of the work myself unless I haven't got time, the equipment, or the job requires a hoist. With the practice and forums like this, along with the service manual most work is relatively hassle free. I enjoy doing it.
Chris
I have Techstream, however, my carpark at home is uneven and if I connect Techstream up it throws up the yaw sensor error code. I have to re-set it again on a level surface. LOL It's a pain in the backside.
BTW, I have had this car for 12months and owned a JZS147 Aristo in Australia for a few years before that, so I know these cars pretty well now. I do most of the work myself unless I haven't got time, the equipment, or the job requires a hoist. With the practice and forums like this, along with the service manual most work is relatively hassle free. I enjoy doing it.
Chris
BTW, I have had this car for 12months and owned a JZS147 Aristo in Australia for a few years before that, so I know these cars pretty well now. I do most of the work myself unless I haven't got time, the equipment, or the job requires a hoist. With the practice and forums like this, along with the service manual most work is relatively hassle free. I enjoy doing it.
Chris
Alot of dealerships are even slacking and cut alot of corners, it seems to be a growing trend unfortunately..
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Driver
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 179
Likes: 1
From: CA
This has been covered in many threads, including quite a few on this front page at the moment - but it is a little all over the place.
Personally, I would be bleeding from the calipers one by one and taking your time.
On this car the overview procedure is this.
Press the brake pedal 40 times to obtain the proper brake fluid level in the res bottle.
Bleed the fronts first in the conventional way. (Yes the fronts first.) Top up the res as you go and don't let the level fall below the min line. ie open bleeding nipple, press, hold, release, close the bleeding nipple. Same as any car.
Then, when you do the rear calipers, turn the key to on, get someone to press the brake pedal and let the brake motor push the fluid out for you. Only let the brake motor run for 10 seconds or so at a time. Keep an eye on the res as the fluid will come out fast. Don't turn the engine on when you do this, just the key to the on position.
Good luck.
Chris
Personally, I would be bleeding from the calipers one by one and taking your time.
On this car the overview procedure is this.
Press the brake pedal 40 times to obtain the proper brake fluid level in the res bottle.
Bleed the fronts first in the conventional way. (Yes the fronts first.) Top up the res as you go and don't let the level fall below the min line. ie open bleeding nipple, press, hold, release, close the bleeding nipple. Same as any car.
Then, when you do the rear calipers, turn the key to on, get someone to press the brake pedal and let the brake motor push the fluid out for you. Only let the brake motor run for 10 seconds or so at a time. Keep an eye on the res as the fluid will come out fast. Don't turn the engine on when you do this, just the key to the on position.
Good luck.
Chris
I had read about gravity bleeding and thought that was the way to go, but sounds like gravity bleed won't work on this car with abs. Don't want to have anything done at all until I know what is safe (kind of scary reading about how easy it would be to damage the master brake cylinder).
Also, does anyone know how much brake fluid I would need to have on hand to complete this process? Would two quarts be enough?
Last edited by PlotPoint; Dec 2, 2012 at 01:33 AM.
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Or you can just suck out the fluid from your reservoir and fill it back up every time you change your oil. Eventually it will be clean. Not as good as bleeding but risk free. Make sure you pump the brakes 40 times before doing this or you will overfill the reservoir. Also, make sure you don't touch the brake pedal or turn on the ignition until after you fill the reservoir
My girlfriends dad has been a mechanic for 18+ years. He says that bleeding the brakes and filling back up with new fluid isn't worth the work. Every time he has done this for a customer the fluid comes out hardly dirty and hardly darker than brand new fluid. Basically it's not worth the hard work and isn't necessary unless you just REALLY want to do it.
Just some food for thought. Top it off and just call it a day.
Just some food for thought. Top it off and just call it a day.
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