Brake fluid time

[emery1990]

Been looking at brake fluid, racing blue is what ive heard is good, not having any luck from buying it, apart from ebay, would rather get it from a proper company though.

would anyone advise using different fluid?

Got told on how to flush out the fluid so feeling pretty confident on how to do it!. :icon_thumright:

 

[S3 Paul]

I can get it... easy as.
Where are you from???

 

[emery1990]

Daan saaaath.. down in portsmouth, googled it but only finds it on ebay, would rather by it off the shelf. your from dorset correct ?

 

[S3 Paul]

Nah.
Im from yorkshire.
Somebodyelse asked if i was from down south. I spend as much time as i can in cornwal but i live up here.
A very good friend of mine works for eurocarparts... he suplied mine.
As i delt with him... it was a very good deal too !

 

[emery1990]

Oh its s3 hodge down here i think. Oh yer forgot about them go one in portsmouth. Cheers. did you flush out the hole system. ie the having the clear hose on the nipple and waiting untill you see the clear fresh oil come out of it?

 

[S3 Paul]

Ye. a friend of mine works for a well known audi tuner after many years as a brake specialist ... he did it with a preasure bleader then... used vag com to flush the abs.

 

[oilman]

A decent Dot4 is all you need http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-450-brake-fluid.aspx Motul RBF600 is very popular if you want a high spec performance one.

Cheers

Guy

 

[<tuffty/>]

Motul RBF600 all the way for me...

<tuffty/>

 

[emery1990]

Ill check that out cheers!.

how many bottles of it will i need? And do you bleed each calliper.

 

[emery1990]

Just going to order some motul 600. How many bottles do i need to re do my brakes?

 

[<tuffty/>]

I bought 3 x 500ml to be sure as you never know... My pedal went long and took a bit to get most of it back.

What bleeding method you using?

<tuffty/>

 

[Westy]

I'm getting my brakes done soon too. What braded hoses do people recomend?

 

[emery1990]

Well a friend, hes 25 not 18 used to be a mechanic and he said easiest way is to get a mate to help. And what he said do, was to attach a clear hose onto the nipple then open it , then get the other person to push down on the pedal, once all the way down, do up the nipple. This where i didnt understand, do you then put in the new fluid into the brake resevoir, then undo the nipple and raise the pedal, to suck in the new fluid and keep repeating untill you get fresh fluid coming out of the clear hose. And also im guessing you do this on both fronts and backs? That motul half the price of race blue which is a good thing, can get motul 600 for a tenner from opie oils.
Did you end up doing more than two bottles then in the end?

 

[oilman]

Just going to order some motul 600. How many bottles do i need to re do my brakes?

I don't have any data for that, but most cars are between 1 and 1.5 litres

 

[<tuffty/>]

Well a friend, hes 25 not 18 used to be a mechanic and he said easiest way is to get a mate to help. And what he said do, was to attach a clear hose onto the nipple then open it , then get the other person to push down on the pedal, once all the way down, do up the nipple. This where i didnt understand, do you then put in the new fluid into the brake resevoir, then undo the nipple and raise the pedal, to suck in the new fluid and keep repeating untill you get fresh fluid coming out of the clear hose. And also im guessing you do this on both fronts and backs? That motul half the price of race blue which is a good thing, can get motul 600 for a tenner from opie oils.
Did you end up doing more than two bottles then in the end?

I think the method your mate is on about is the one where the person in the car pumps the pedal 3 or 4 times hard then holds it down while the second person undoes the bleed nipple until the pedal hits the floor and tightens before the first person lifts the pedal again to stop air being drawn back in. All you need to do is top up the reservoir with this method. This link describes this method fully... http://www.carbasics.co.uk/how_to_bleed_car_brakes.htm

This is a good method and the one I have used until I learned that VAG master cylinders have a tendency to either flip a seal cup over or worse case there is a chance you will over extend the travel and the seal cup will nick itself on the reservoir holes in the cylinder rendering the thing scrap. No seal kits on these, just replace the whole thing!!

I use a pressure bleeder now, Gunsons eezi-bleed (http://www.gunson.co.uk/item.aspx?cat=674&item=1818) you can get them on ebay for around a tenner.

You also have to watch the fluid levels (tricky with the method you describe) as the clutch is also fed from the brake reservoir and if it goes too low you could end up having to bleed the clutch too...

I ended up using about 3 1/2 bottles tbh as I think I let the levels get too low and introduced more air so was struggling to get the pedal back. If you are mail ordering the fluid, get 3... if you can get from round the corner, get 2 then get more if you need it...

<tuffty/>

 

[emery1990]

ok cheers that helped alot, Ill try and go the pressure bleeder route as that other way if gone wrong sounds expensive. Its quite cheap so ill get 3 from opieoils.

The pressure bleeder works by pushing out the fluid from air from the spare tyre, so you dont need to touch the pedal.

 

[<tuffty/>]

The pressure bleeder works by pushing out the fluid from air from the spare tyre, so you dont need to touch the pedal.

Tyre pressure should be 20psi or a bit less, any more and you will blow fluid through too fast and introduce air into the fluid from the pressure.

Before putting fluid in the bottle, fit the cap to the reservoir first, doesn't need to be mega tight... connect the bottle and then connect the bottle to the air. This will allow you to test for a leak in the reservoir cap as if you do it with fluid in it will go everywhere... been there and got the t-shirt.

If the cap leaks a little then tighten until it doesn't, release the air, undo the cap from the bottle leaving the reservoir cap connected knowing its got a good seal.

Assuming you have already got the car on stands etc and have access to the bleed nipples, fill the bottle with fluid and reconnect the cap. Connect the air and then have your assistant undo the bleed nipple while you keep and eye on the fluid levels. Get your assistant to tighten the nipple when a) the fluid runs clear with no bubbles or b) the fluid level in the bottle reaches the line indicated on the bottle (read the instructions). The nipple only needs to be unscrewed enough to allow fluid to flow through the pipe you have attached, use an old 500ml coke bottle or something to hold the old stuff...

Don't forget to remove the air connection before undoing the bottle lid and I would also invest in some rags (I use the large paper towel rolls that you can get from a motor factor) and some brake cleaner to clean excess fluid from anywhere it drips on as you will spill a bit. Also get a pipet or syringe to drain off the excess fluid from the reservoir when you are done.

<tuffty/>

 

[emery1990]

Ahh cheers thats great. ill read that few more times to get it stuck in my head, then give it a go. thanks again.

forgot to ask, when the fluid has no longer got air bubbles in it, does is mean that whats coming out is fresh new oil ive been putting in. where do i put the new oil. in the bottle provided or do i top up the brake resevoir, as you said i need to keep an eye on the levels?