Brakes and Fluid Change Questions

[Gaffa22]

I used 5.1, one litre was sufficient. Drain the reservoir using an old inkjet syringe. Bleed the rears first.
Strange the front nearside bleed nipple was solid. Can't understand why it wasn't rejected on assembly at the factory.
Unless it's used to reverse fill the system?
Someone mentioned the abs doesn't flush properly, but i have had no problems.

Did you use the two man or a pressurised bleed system ?

 

[flybobbie]

I used 5.1, one litre was sufficient. Drain the reservoir using an old inkjet syringe. Bleed the rears first.
Strange the front nearside bleed nipple was solid. Can't understand why it wasn't rejected on assembly at the factory.
Unless it's used to reverse fill the system?
Someone mentioned the abs doesn't flush properly, but i have had no problems.

Did you use the two man or a pressurised bleed system ?

The one man and block of wood system

 

[Gaffa22]

Not familiar with that one please elaborate

 

[Nictrix]

I must say that sometimes it is not very clear what is what under the bonnets of some vehicles and it could be easy to put the wrong liquid in the wrong place.

 

[Smartbear]

I used 5.1, one litre was sufficient. Drain the reservoir using an old inkjet syringe. Bleed the rears first.
Strange the front nearside bleed nipple was solid. Can't understand why it wasn't rejected on assembly at the factory.
Unless it's used to reverse fill the system?
Someone mentioned the abs doesn't flush properly, but i have had no problems.

I don’t think the fluid that sits in the abs module gets flushed unless you activate the abs pump with the right software :?
Rob

 

[Kugaman1]

Ive been looking into this.....

Ive got a little 1 way valve tube to allow one man operation.

2 things Ive read are this:

1 - you are not meant to allow the brake pedal to go fully to the floor when pumping, so some people put a brick or something in the way to prevent this.
2 - you are meant to engage the clutch and put a block of wood in the way to prevent it lifting back up. This has something to do with the fact that the clutch uses the same fluid.....

Not sure how true the above are and would be interested in others thoughts....

 

[Baza]

If your concerned about brake fade Have you considered changing to S/S Braided hoses whilst your changing Fluid. I did a whole change new discs/pads/hoses/fluid and also had my calipers overhauled and painted. The result was a sharper prolonged braking effect to which I believe the hoses played a major part.

 

[Gaffa22]

Ive been looking into this.....

Ive got a little 1 way valve tube to allow one man operation.

2 things Ive read are this:

1 - you are not meant to allow the brake pedal to go fully to the floor when pumping, so some people put a brick or something in the way to prevent this.
2 - you are meant to engage the clutch and put a block of wood in the way to prevent it lifting back up. This has something to do with the fact that the clutch uses the same fluid.....

Not sure how true the above are and would be interested in others thoughts....

Personally I dont like the one way valves and the pumping of the pedal for the reasons you mentioned in 1.
I have done fluid changes by using the gravity bleed method, so when it comes to changing the fluid in the Z4 I will either use gravity method and be patient or buy one of the fluid pumps like the sealey VS820

it was easier when you could get the Racing blue brake fluid but the blue dye wasn't Dot 4 compliant so they stopped making it, but having a different colour fluid made it so easy to see when you had the new fluid coming through

Dont know about the clutch as i don't have one
well actually I have two but i don't have a pedal

 

[Kugaman1]

So whats the gravity method?

 

[Gaffa22]

You just open the bleed nipple with a pipe attached into a container and let gravity pull the fluid through,
It can a while, the last car I did took 11/2 hours but I was detailing it at the time so it didn't matter

 

[Kugaman1]

Ah Ok, maybe that’s the way to go.....

Will probably do it next Feb/Mar when I take the winter wheels back off....

 

[ronk]

I used to use a Gunson tool - fill the reservoir and cap it with an assembly connected to a reduced pressure spare wheel. As the nipples were opened the fresh fluid was pushed out.

 

[Gaffa22]

Ah Ok, maybe that’s the way to go.....

Will probably do it next Feb/Mar when I take the winter wheels back off....

Start with the brake calliper furthest away from the master cylinder and work your way round, a pressure system like the Gunson suggested by ronk will make it a bit quicker.

 

[ronk]

I’m not sure if they’re (gunson gizmo,s) are still available?

 

[flybobbie]

I thought Gunson disappeared the same time as Sparkright.

The sort of things you find at the back of your Dad's shed.

I liked the Spark Tune, i think it was called, where you could see through a glass spark plug to set mixture.
The Sparkrite solid state ignition ok until the power resistor dry jointed i my TR7.

 

[Gaffa22]

Yes the Gunson Eezibleed is still available

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Automotive/d60/Mechanics+Tools/sd180/Gunson+Eezibleed+Kit/p82378?mkwid=s_dt&pcrid=227161890662&pkw=&pmt=b&gclid=CjwKCAiApdPRBRAdEiwA84bo39tsac_JyVefapzWMoR1BiNFLgq8yUta-4Znu-XUIQK4t5KsiDhTehoCClIQAvD_BwE

 

[bob4333]

I thought Gunson disappeared the same time as Sparkright.

The sort of things you find at the back of your Dad's shed.

'ere, I've still got one of those from the 1970's. Gunson Colourtune. Heavily used on my mk 2 Cortina GT

Still available from Machine Mart. Brilliant kit.