garrett376

Today I decided to get underway on my brake fluid change on my C4 - so I started the first part which consisted of bleeding everything except the PDAS locks, which I'll do this weekend when I get a hammer to borrow.

In the spirit of not wasting time, since this is well documented on RennList and other sites, I thought I'd add some fill in pictures and information that I found helpful.

Overall, the process was extremely simple - the pressure bleeder sure makes the process simple!

I started with the left rear brake - for no apparent reason other than I started on the left side - ideally starting with the right rear might have been better, but this was fine. I bled the left rear, then the left front then moved to the right side...

garrett376

Here is the bleeder installed at 25psi, with the reservoir line pinched off with a pair of vise-grips on the soft part of the overflow line...

Despite Jeff C's comment that it's annoying to bleed with a dry bleeder, I did it anyways. I don't want to deal with a bleeder full of fluid that will probably go bad by the time I use it again... It is annoying when you have to refill the reservoir because you have to depressurize, then fill, then repressurize which takes a lot of pumps to get to 25psi! Makes me want a smaller pressure bleeder container so there's less volume to fill with air!

One helpful tip is to remember to pinch off the overflow line before pressurizing! During one refill iteration of the reservoir, I forgot to pinch off the line. I had filled the reservoir with a lot of fluid, above the max mark, and pumped a bit before realizing the line wasn't pinched - needless to say, the overflow blew some brake fluid on the ground from the overflow outlet - which is hidden up there somewhere!

garrett376

here's the setup at the brake caliper - I had yellow fluid in there to start with, and used Ate Super Blue fluid as the replacement. It sure makes it easy to tell when all the old fluid is out. This shows the yellow at the start of the bleed....

garrett376

and here is when I know it's all out --- now it's blue! I used the Super Blue not for it's better performance from a fade standpoint, but just so I'd know the old fluid was all out of the system...

garrett376

here's a closer look at the location I pinched off the line - the reservoir level sensor is pretty interesting - like a toilet float!!

garrett376

Following the brake bleed, I followed Adrian's good instructions for bleeding the accumulator (black ball), then the solenoid block. This was quite easy to do. I was amazed that out of the accumulator came BLACK brake fluid! Whoa!!! I wonder how old the fluid was!! Wish I had the old records!!

So now that the fluid is all new throughout EXCEPT for the lines going to the locks and the locks themselves, I will be ready to bleed those tomorrow! Oh yeah, and the clutch!

Excellent!