todinlaw

I was at the track this past weekend and I had to bleed my brakes and left my bleeder at home. So I borrowed one and the person who lent it to me was going through an elaborate clean out process. He told me he puts the fluid inside the bleeder and then pumps it into the reservoir. I told him I just hook it up to the reservoir and just use air pressure from the bleeder to push the fluid in the reservoir. So I just keep adding fluid to the reservoir. So what is the right way to do it. My way works fine and its no mess. ????

Darren

I agree with you, I'd rather not have to clean out the fluid from the bleeder every time. You obviously just have to make sure you dont run the master dry

Chris M.

Me too. The only disadvantage to this method is that in order to get a full flush I have to pump up the bleeder twice to avoid running the master dry.

InTheAir

Technically, Motive recommends filling the bleeder and pressurizing the system. That way, there is ample fluid available to purge the system which minimizes the chance of getting air bubbles in the lines.

However, many people (like me and you) choose to just use the bleeder as a pressure source. This requires us to unpressurize the system a couple times while bleeding to fill up the reservoir, but it also saves fluid overall, saves cleaning time, and minimizes any mess.

LouZ

I adapted my hose with connectors used for air lines, now I screw on the cap, attach the hose to the canister, pressurize and bleed. When it is time to refill, I just unplug the hose from the canister, unscrew the cap and refill, then cap on and hook up to the still pressurized container.

InTheAir

Interesting idea, Lou.

todinlaw

My Power bleeder came with the quick disconnects above already installed. I got the pro model that was a bit more expensive I bet that is why. I just use a baster to suck out the old crap and then fill it with fresh. then I only have to refill a few times. I though that was the the best way.

Chris M.

You don't want bits of old fluid mixing with the new fluid. The times I did use the filled method I would clean and dry the reservoir to make sure I had nothing but fresh fluid in the system.

Good method. Do you pump it up higher than normal to account for whatever pressure you do lose when you disconnect the hoses?

kurt M

A flush needs to be almost a full quart to flow enough throught the lines to pick up a good % of the old fluid. How is anyone flushing on 2 stop and fills? The Motive is easy to clean. Hold the cap up letting the rest dangle. Spray brake cleaner into the cap letting it fill and rinse the cap, gasket and hose runing into the tank. Slosh the tank out and spray more into the tank for a final rinse. Spray the pump a little, let everything evaporate for 5 min or so and store.

From my experence stopping and filling risks spills on the car from handling/pouring fluid near the car over and over, air into the MC and clutch (clutch fluid pickup is well above the brake in some) and takes far more time than the 2 min spent cleaning the tank after. YMMV

Brake fluid eats paint but is water clean up. Any time you are dealing with brake fluid keep a sopping wet rag nearby to hit any spilled fluid.

AudiOn19s

Once I open a can / bottle of brake fluid it either goes in the car, or gets disposed of. If I don't use it I won't put it on the shelf and then go back weeks later and use brake fluid that's had a broken seal and been sitting on the shelf.

So I pour it in the bleeder like Motive suggests and use what I need. Dispose of the rest. If you purge the bleeder line correctly per their instructions there's no mess to worry about cleaning up, it's a very neat and tidy process.

Andy

Larry Herman

I used to do it dry, but wet is much more satisfying. What were we talking about?

Oh yeah, when I did it dry, I ran 2 reservoirs (from full to half way) through each brake. That equals about a quart of fluid. It took a considerable amount of time to do this. Now I just fill the motive bleeder up, get it done and clean it out. Much easier and faster.

Veloce Raptor

I use the Motive by itself when I bleed just the calipersa. When I flush the whole system, I fill the Motive's reservoir.






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

mooty

LMAO, you had me going there.

M758

I bleed brakes every track day to keep them nice and firm.

So I have used my motive something like 100+ times. I always put in a little fluild and pressuize. Then bleed each coner of the car till there are no air bubbles. I typically take out about 4-5 oz of fluid per day. Since there is fluid in the bleeder I never run the master dry. Interstingly since I bleed so often I never have performed a proper flush in years. In effect after 4-5 days I have moved all new fluid in there anyway. I also save my new unused fluid and put it back in the can. Yes a no-no, but considering how dry it is here in Az and how often I run though the stuff I never have any issues.

Now you may consider bleed each day excessive, but it is actully a nice thing to since putting the car on jack stands lets me inspect the car easily and I need to get it on stands anyway since I rotate the tires around the car each day too to even up the wear. So it does not take long to it.

Flying Finn

I used to fill the bleeder with new fluid (that's what the manual tell you) and never had any mess or cleaning problems etc. until the friggin' hose broke and all the fluid was sprayed everywhere! Ever since I've done the bleeding with "dry method" instead.

It's more time consuming to do it "dry" but hosing and washing the whole trunk was pretty damn time consuming too!

If you do it "wet", change the hose every now and then or at least when it's dried up and feels hard.