I flushed my brake fluid today.

[DavidC]

A couple questions.



With this, is it necessary to have the open hose end that goes onto the bleeder valve dipped into a bucket of clean brake fluid or no?



How much brake fluid does it take to flush our system?



What is the sequence for bleeding (right rear, left rear, right front, left front?)

No the bottle is empty as the pressure bleeder forces the fluid thru the system. The only way to stop the flow is to close the bleeder.



I used 1 and 1/2 quarts just to make sure it was cleaned as the fluid was 5 years old. A minimum of 1 quart is required.



I started furthest from the master cylinder and worked my way back. I do not think it really matters with a pressure bleeder where you start as long as you do all 4.



After doing mine the brakes worked at least 30% better. Of course the original fluid that came with the truck was 5 years old, a lot of mountain towing (heat). The original fluid looked like grape juice.



Dave

 

[Rman]

2 quarts will do it if you're careful. Get three to be safe and dump extra from each wheel. I have one of the motive units, it's very nice. Alcohol works good to clean the system out for storage. I stored mine without cleaning one time and it took a while to clean all the "old" fluid out for the next use.



Or hey, just leave it in there the life of the truck, that's good for it

 

[STEVEBROOKS]

I'm planning to do this soon too, and would like others' recommendations on a brand of brake fluid.



Thanks,

Steve

 

[PatrickCampbell]

Cool guys thanks. I just ordered one. I have not changed the fluid since I bought my truck over a year ago and it has 180k miles on it (bought with 160k). The brakes feel fine so I am sure they will be even better after this. I am just about to start hauling heavy so I figured I should do this.



HangingAroundThe3rdGenForumWithHis2ndGenAgain,

Patrick

 

[DF5152]

which cap adapter do you have?

 

[PatrickCampbell]

0101 - does anyone know how you are supposed to clean the cannister when you are done?

 

[LightmanE300]

Wow I'm surprised this thread is still going Just a tip for you guys that are using the motive bleeder. . Although it is easiest to fill the bleeder with fluid and bleed per the instructions, with just a little more effort you will have way less cleanup. What I do is typically before putting the motive cap on the reservoir, is fill it to the brim - you can remove a good portion of the old stuff out of the reservoir if you like, just do not completely drain it as you don't want to introduce air into the system if you can help it. Anyway fill the res to the brim, hook up the bleeder, pressurize to 15psi, and start bleeding. You should be able to do two brakes before the fluid gets all the way near the bottom of the reservoir. At that point depressurize, refill the res to the brim, and do the others. Two or maybe 3/final top off fill are all that should be required, and then you have a squeaky clean motive bleeder I've had mine for years and no fluid has ever touched the bleeder!

 

[PatrickCampbell]

How do you know when the good fluid is to the end of the lines, i. e. when to close the bleeder screw?

 

[LightmanE300]

How do you know when the good fluid is to the end of the lines, i. e. when to close the bleeder screw?

The old fluid is typically dark/discolored, and when you are bleeding at the brakes it's easy to tell when you've got nothing but clean/new fluid coming thru, which is when you cap it off.



Some brands like ATE have the same fluid in two different colors. In my mb diesel I use ATE super blue with great results. It comes in blue and gold, so it is painfully obvious when the new fluid is coming through...



When I did my truck I used some valvoline synpower fluid I got from autozone I believe that was dot 3/4, and despite being a relatively similar color and the truck not being that old, it was still easy to see the change to the clean/new fluid. Hope this helps.

 

[rbattelle]

Wow I'm surprised this thread is still going Just a tip for you guys that are using the motive bleeder. . Although it is easiest to fill the bleeder with fluid and bleed per the instructions, with just a little more effort you will have way less cleanup. What I do is typically before putting the motive cap on the reservoir, is fill it to the brim - you can remove a good portion of the old stuff out of the reservoir if you like, just do not completely drain it as you don't want to introduce air into the system if you can help it. Anyway fill the res to the brim, hook up the bleeder, pressurize to 15psi, and start bleeding. You should be able to do two brakes before the fluid gets all the way near the bottom of the reservoir. At that point depressurize, refill the res to the brim, and do the others. Two or maybe 3/final top off fill are all that should be required, and then you have a squeaky clean motive bleeder I've had mine for years and no fluid has ever touched the bleeder!

Wow, I can't believe you do that! The thing I like best about the Motive bleeder is you just fill it up and it takes care of the rest!



-Ryan

 

[PatrickCampbell]

Having a hard time getting this thing to seal. Any tips? The "conical" section "points" DOWN into the resevoir, correct?

 

[rbattelle]

Having a hard time getting this thing to seal. Any tips? The "conical" section "points" DOWN into the resevoir, correct?

Conical? None of my adaptors are conical! Maybe you have a different model?



Anyway, I find sealing the adaptors against the reservoir is by far the hardest part. It works best if you put a little fresh brake fluid on the rubber gasket, and do your best to ensure it remains nice and flat and centered on the reservoir when you tighten it down. Also, I normally bleed at <10 psi (usually I stick to 7-8 psi), which means the sealing is a bit easier.



Keep playing with it and be patient... you'll get it.



Oh, and if I recall correctly on the Dodge I didn't run the chain all the way around the master cylinder itself; I only ran it around the plastic reservoir. I think it worked better that way.



-Ryan