Bled Brakes without a Helper

[Rickter Spatz]

Following a couple posts by 2stroke I've seen here, I tried flushing the brake fluid in my '98 Explorer since I don't think it's ever been done and sounds like brake fluid deteriorates after a few years.

Wanting to pull some of the existing and dirty-ish fluid from the reservoir and not having a turkey baster, I used and old quart sized bottle from brake fluid and drilled a hole in the top. I had to put a wrap or 2 of electrical tape on it but it fit tight enough that I sucked most of the fluid out of the rez in 2-3 attempts.

I should've used a longer piece of tubing as mine kept wanting to fall over and I had to sit my bottle on a gallon jug to get it closer to the bleed valve. My clear tubing fit pretty tightly but I didn't trust it and used a small cheap-o locking pliers and just turned it right along with the 9mm wrench. My first go at the farthest wheel I had air bubbles but once I got going no bubbles and fluid flowed clearer after several pumps.

I used a stiff piece of card board to hold the brake pedal down after pushing down slowly. Closed valve. Released slowly. Checked reservoir level every 2nd or 3rd time and topped off as needed. One pump doesn't seem to pull that much from the rez.

I lost track of the number of pumps/trips from bleeders to brake pedal and instead reverted to just eyeballing the water bottle. Over a dozen trips at least for the farthest and maybe less than 6 for the closest. 1/4 or more of the bottle filled from the farthest bleed - passenger rear - and then a little less from each one as I got to the driver's front. The farthest seemed to push out the most dirty fluid and fluid from the fronts seemed pretty clean.

Used nearly the whole quart - could be 20% left.
Brake pedal is still what I consider soft - when engine is running. Brakes work exactly the same as far as I can tell and not an issue or I'm just used to them. I think I'm ready for front pads (does that make a difference in pedal feel?) otherwise have been reading interesting threads on bleeding ABS, etc. for spongy or soft pedal. When I say soft pedal in my case I mean it seems to travel quite a way before engaging any brake, but then brakes fine. In the winter I'll notice the ABS engaging when I over brake on snow and ice so i assume that's an indication that it is working.

Thanks to the site and 2stroke for the recommendations and technique on brake fluid maintenance!

 

[RangerX]

Nice write up!

 

[SupaSwope]

I battled the spongy pedal for a while. I went threw almost everything. Pads, Rotors, Fluid Flush, New Master Cylinder. I ended up adjusting the brake booster itself to get desired results.

 

[koda2000]

I have a little one-man brake bleeding kit I bought at an auto parts store over 10 years ago. It was very inexpensive and consists of a piece of clear plastic line, a couple of adapters (that I've never had to use) a check valve and a plastic bottle. The check valve is the most important part of the kit.

You put some brake fluid in the bottle. The bottle cap has a piece of line that goes into the fluid and the plastic line from the bleeder attaches to the cap. The check valve is the part that attaches to the bleeder. It has little fingers that hold it tight on the bleeder and some sort of rubber seal inside of it.

You attach the check valve to the bleeder, open the bleeder and pump the brake pedal (making sure you keep plenty of brake fluid in the master cylinder). It allows the old fluid and any air to be expelled into the bottle w/out allowing any air to get sucked back in. I've used it a few times (when I didn't have someone to help me) and it did the job.

Autozone used to carry brake bleeders with a check valve build into them. They came in a package of two and were in the HELP section (probably a Dorman product). I've never tried these, but they seems like a great idea.

 

[deadernie]

I did the solo bleed job with a power bleeder from Harbor Freight. It worked well with the exception of the contraption that was supposed to hold a bottle if brake fluid upside down and keep the reservoir full.

I did use a bit of Teflon tape on the bleeder screws and kept a close eye on the master cylinder because you can drain it pretty quick.