dak911

I have been reading the postings about using a pressure bleeder to flush brake fluid...is there a problem with using the old "pump and bleed" system?

02TX996Cab

Pump and bleed isn't a problem as long as you have lots of time and a friend to help you (in my experience). A pressure bleeder makes the job easy for one-person to complete, for the brakes. You'll still need a friend to bleed the clutch slave cylinder (for manual-transmissions).

jumpy chunky

A Motive pressure bleeder is well worth the money spent IMHO. Just finished flushing my brakes.
I've given up on the pedal procedure. If you pump the manual recommends only pumping brakes 3/4 of the way towards floorboard in older vehicles like ours.
Damage to master cylinder may occur if you stomp to an extreme. Also there are nine bleed screws to activate.

DGI

Im going to be ordering a Motive bleeder in the near future and am looking forward to bleeding the brakes on all my cars.

A little help for a newbie however. Each caliper has two screws, I get that. Whats the ninth?

cds72911

Clutch slave on manual transmission cars.

DGI

Im assuming this feeds off of the same reservoir and would need to be bled every time the brakes are bled?

jumpy chunky

Yes,. Gets fed from same reservoir. Manual recommends doing both every two years I'm pretty sure. Bleed the outside bleed screw on caliper first .

wyovino

I"m another happy customer of the Motive bleeder. It makes the job quick and easy.

cds72911

I was recently told (here on rennlist) that although the clutch slave shares the same reservior, that it has two separate compartments (?) inside the reservoir, and as long as you don’t let the fluid level get too low as you are bleeding/flushing, you don’t need to bleed the clutch circuit when you are doing the brakes. Hopefully someone else can chime in and verify this.

alabamatoy

Back before the pressure bleeders were readily available, I made my own using a and some fittings. Over the years I have accumulated a collection of caps for different vehicles (Toyota, Honda/Acura, Porsche, BMW), and I made one from a piece of 3/16 sheet and some rubber gasket material that works as a universal on the big domestic MCs like my Ford F250. It works very well, and cost a whole lot less than the Motive etc. But its kind of a tinkerer's solution, I suppose. The PCA DE events require flushing of the brake fluid prior to the event, and this ugly little garden sprayer rig makes flushing all four wheels (and the clutch) about a 1/2 hour - 45 min job.

cds72911

I did the same, and it worked well enough. I bought the motive later and prefer it over the homebrew setup.

islaTurbine

FWIW, all of the user how-to videos say to remove the filter basket from the fluid reservoir when using a power bleeder, but I spoke to Motive themselves and they said it isn’t necessary and not part of their directions.

HenryPcar

2 person pump and bleed system works and sometimes better in purging air, instead of just replacing new fluids. The cons are you need 2 people and a piece of block under the brake pedal to prevent t sinking down too much. The reason being it might damage the piston seals if it sinks too far down. The reason being the piston rarely sink down so drastically during normal use and if there is nothing preventing it from bottoming, the force might just crush the piston seal and cause a leak if not immediate, but might down the road. The pressure bleeder is good for replacing brake fluid with just one person. I use it for that reason in recycling old fluids with the new ones every 2 years. However, once air gets in, I rarely find it successful in purging the air out, whereas the 2 person pump and bleed method is preferable in this situation.

jonnybravo

When using the power bleeder, the fluid drizzles out pretty slowly. Would it be bad to push the brake pedal(while the valve is cracked open) in addition to using the power bleeder?

HenryPcar

Why do you need to push the brake pedal with the power bleeder ?