potdog

Hi all you guys how much fluid do you have to run through to do a fluid change. And is there any special way way to bleed brakes like Volvo cars 240 .Or just start at the furthest away from master cylinder cheers.

linderpat

no special magic to it. Bleed as you would any other car. Be careful of letting air into the system, especially if you have ABS system. That can become a real PIA to get rid of the air.
Use a little over a pint total.

kawi825

Motive power bleeder was the best $50 I've ever spent. Make sure you get the proper cap for our cars

dr bob

Potdog--

Bleeding order depends on your car. Early cars with diagonal brakes do it rears then fronts, while later cars get fronts then rears, starting farthest from the maste cylinder. For your RHD car, that would be left front then right front, right rear then left rear. Rear is wicky because of brake line routing. If you use a power bleeder as recommended by others, the order is less critical.

I budget 2 liters of fluid for a complete flush. The system holds about a liter. For a while I was using ATE fd, swapping between the blue and the gold colors so I could see when there was no lod fluid remaining. It took a full 2 liters pushed through to get all the blue fluid out for the gold, so I've used that knowledge regardless of what fluid is put in. The ATE blue fluid is no longer sold in the US, thanks to government concerns that we might confuse the blue fluid for something else. Any good DOT4 fluid will do for street driving.

I use a suction bulb to get some of the old fluid from the reservoir, as much as I can. Then refill the reservoir with new fluid. I also use a power bleeder, mostly because it allows me to do the whole service myself. So far so good.

linderpat

Dr Bob - I have never had luck with my motive power bleeder, and usually get the missus to help. I suspect it is a cap issue. What size cap do you use with yours? Also, do you power bleed with the canister empty or with brake fluid in it? I have heard from others that better results are obtained by using the empty canister method, and just having the air in the canister push the fluid out through the reservoir.

ThetaTau87

I LOVE my power bleeder. I've used it on every car I own and it works flawlessly. The cap I have fits Porsche, Audi, VW and probably others. The cap must fit tightly and seal well on the master cylinder reservoir.

10psi is about all you need to bleed the system fairly quickly. More pressure can speed up the process slightly, but you also run the risk of exploding your reservoir. It was never designed to be pressurized.

I fill the Motive pressure tank with fluid so that I don't have to constantly check/refill the level of the reservoir to keep air out of the system. When done it is important to release the pressure by opening the pressure tank on the bleeder first. This will draw the excess fluid in the hose to the reservoir back into the tank and not make a mess when you remove the pressure cap from the reservoir. A turkey baster works to remove any excess in the reservoir so that it is not over filled.

potdog

Cheers guys for replies should have said its for L.H.D.S4 . Not the SE.

dr bob

Ed--

I made my own power bleeder back in the day, using a handy cheap garden sprayer. The cap is a Genuine ATE cap, the same one that comes on the car. I modified it by drilling a hole and adding a fitting to connect the sprayer hose. Low-tech solution to a really low-tech problem.

I use it with fluid in the canister. One time I failed to monitor the level in the canister, and pushed air into the system. It was a pretty massive effort to get all the air out of the ABS unit and all the other hiding places, to get the pedal back up high and hard again.

jpitman2

MityVac worked for me right up the end - as I tried to remove the cap I pulled one end of the resevoir out of the master cyl grommet! No problem with the bleed itself though. I have had a grommet fail in ~ 8 years from replacement, so it might pay to replace them WYAIT.

jp 83 Euro S AT 56k