Frustrated Dweeb too.....

I saw this great YT video of a BMW tech showing oil can reverse slave bleed... Got a small hand oil can, rigged to go, purged as much air from tubing, mashed my face into fender well, started pumping, fliud spilling out near top of can!!! Not screw down cap area... I don't want to run my Motive wet... Any recommendations on a better pump for reverse bleed? I also need my left arm to be five inches longer.....

Live and learn....

 

went thru the samething. I eventually ran the motive wet. just do it. it will saves you so much headache. cleaning the motive is much easier task relatively.

 

^ +1

My plan is run motive wet every 2 years and do brakes and clutch slave at the same time. Then on the odd years, when brakes only, do it dry. That's the plan anyway

 

Maybe I don't uderstand you right, but if you have a Motiv bleeder already, just run that dry. Fill the brake/clutch reservoir to the top, pinch the overflow tube off, then get under the car and attach a plastic tube to the bleed nipple on the slave, crack it open and let the fluid run into a container. Stop the flow, check fluid level in reservoir, refill if necessary and bleed some more until you are happy. Job done.
PS, I use 15 lbs in the Motiv.

 

I did a full 13pt bleed with motive dry... Then saw threads or videos saying the clutch bleed in particular may not get all the air out with top down approach? Anybody else see or hear that observation?

 

the channel to slave is higher than to the brakes. If you are not careful. you'd be just pumping air into the slave. at first, I thought My slave was done. needed replacement. but it was a silly mistake. ran it wet and it was all good.

 

No. I have not heard that.
First hand experience of using the dry method as described by crg53 worked for me. The clutch system performs fine afterwards...does not feel like any air left in the system.

 

What's the problem with running the Motive filled with fluid?

 

I got air in my clutch last time I did a brake/clutch bleed, let the fluid get too low in the reservoir. Refilled it and bled the clutch again, and as far as I can tell, I got all the air out, it feels exactly like it did before.

 

Some people have had problems with the plastic lines on the motiv bleeder deteriorate over time, and then burst, resulting in brake fluid spraying all over everything.

 

^+2 It's just easier to run it wet...

 

Am I missing something?

You're suppose to run the Motive with fluid in it. If the tubing is going bad replace it with Tygon 2075 tubing. I used to use it on motorcycles to see if there was air in the system right at the master and it looks kinda cool, because the tube was clear were it used to be black. But anyways, it's brake fluid resistant and also doesn't sweat.

 

The only reason to run the Motive wet is if you are doing a full bleed.
I particularly don't like handling brake fluid unless I have to. So if I'm only doing the slave, I do it dry and top off the brake reservoir when I'm done.

 

I like doing it dry, my main reason is, the fluid is not exposed to air as much as if you pour/splash it into the Motive bleeder. Yeah, Yeah, I know not a big difference, but "what the heck" also no cleanup of the Motive bleeder.

 

the clutch pickup point is higher than the brake line point in the reservoir, if you run it dry, it's really easy to suck air into the system which is a real pain to get out. To do the clutch slave dry you have to keep topping up every few ml you bleed. Search - members say something like open for 6 secs and top up. That's out from under the car , disconnect, top up, reconnect, re pump, under the car? Each to their own, but for me, you do it wet, you can just open that slave for a good 30 secs and get some significant ml or 'flush' of the system.