Anyone care to make a DIY on break flushing and bleeding?

[Hard_Yaris]

I've never done this. otherwise i would have done a DIY on it.

i'm starting to notice the golden colour of the fluid getting a bit dirty.

Any takers?

[severous01]

sure...fluid should be changed every 24 months...or 12-18 in high humidity areas. dont wait till it's black as it's too late by then.

suck fluid out using a bleeder tool or sucking tool. top off with fresh fluid

start with furthest wheel from cylinder...for american cars it's the pass rear. if you have a power bleeder, then activate bleeder, apply hose to bleeder, crack bleeder 1/4 to 1/2 turn or until fluid comes out. tighten when the fluid turns clear or more clean than the dirty stuff...

if you dont have a power bleeder, have a buddy sit in car. use a hose to guide fluid into a bucket/bottle. have buddy press pedal a few times and hold. you loosed banjo bolt, tighten BEFORE buddy picks up foot. do this until clean fluid comes out.

move to other rear wheel, then move to pass front, then do driver's front. if you have an abs system the easiest way to bleed it out is to do a ABS brake on the street and activate it during a hard stop. but, if not you'll need to take it to dealer to bleed it.

it's not hard...hardest part is getting to the bolts, whether you raise car or crawl under it. any way...this is a universal guide for any car so i dont have the bolt sizes. likely either a 7 or 8mm in the rear, and possibly a 9-11mm in the front. any way, i'd cover my bases and have a full set of wrenches ranging from 7mm-13 just in case. and dont use a crescent wrench as you'll most likely round off the bolt. make sure you have a 6-pt set of wrenches.

[Hard_Yaris]

hmmm... that does sound fairly easy to do... just need a friend and a bleeder tool.

[auxmike]

Are'nt there handheld gun style bleeders that have a pump that you squeeze thus eliminating needing a friend to press the pedal?

[Klink10]

Originally Posted by auxmike

Are'nt there handheld gun style bleeders that have a pump that you squeeze thus eliminating needing a friend to press the pedal?

A multitude of them....I have 3....Right off I have a Mityvac and a Motion Pro, forgot what the other was but it's out there with the rest of the stuff.

[Hard_Yaris]

NAPA has a brake flush system they claim does a better job than hand held bleeders. for $160 they can do the whole system in about 45min.
they said something about how it pulses fluid through the system to remove more dirt.
Do you guys think the hand held bleeder gun is good enough as long as its done regularly?

[rl67pinoy]

Who said anything about changing brake fluid?
I don't remember reading it on Manufaturer Manual.
Did I miss it?

[swidd]

My DIY plan revolves around the Speed Bleeder valves...bought four for $30, some walmart fish tank hose ("airline tubing") and a soda bottle. Will report back when I've tried it.

[rningonfumes]

Decent wrenches make for an easier job as well, initially at least in the sense that you'll need to break the bolt loose. Angled box wrench not necessary but definitely a box wrench.
Another thing is to be sure the clear tube you use fits. Should be okay with the Yaris but in my older truck, the banjo bolts were different between the front and the rear for some reason.

[Hard_Yaris]

I think the brake fluid should be changed every 24-36 months. Maybe its not that important of a fluid to change frequently, but i think brakes are very important on a automobile and should be looked after. I'm just looking for some general advice on what indicators there are that show a brake fluid change would be beneficial, and when most people have done this type of maintenance. I heard from a mechanic that most vehicles only need a fluid change when the brake pads are changed... is that right or is this mechanic full of it?

[swidd]

No need to change fluid because of pad replacement - the two are not related. But in time interval, the two may be the same. My understanding is that not replacing fluid will just lead to early failure of calipers and seals on the master cylinder several years later. So it's really only necessary to do if we plan on keeping the car "forever".

[rl67pinoy]

5 years old and 122,000 miles later ,im still running on original pads and fluid
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

note: i dont live on the mountain /hill area so i dont use my brakes much.

[swidd]

The fluid I pumped out today was quite brown/muddy, and new fluid a stark contrast in color. Thats at 87,000 miles, and only 13 months since a garage said they flushed my fluid (quite likely they didn't).

[Hard_Yaris]

My fluid is looking a muddy brown colour and im sure its never been changed. 117,000km
I drive gravel roads 20% and the rest asphalt. Lots of river valley driving in my city.
Really steep hills!
How much and what type of fluid went back into the system?

[swidd]

I bought a 1 liter/32oz container of Valvoline dot 4 synthetic, and used it all. May have pumped a bit more than strictly needed, as I was alone and didn't know exactly when to stop. Pumped it into a cup, and filled three cups on the first bleeder to get old fluid out of the reservoir, then 1-1/2 cup at each of the other.

Tip: the reservoir cap wants to fly out of your hands and into the engine compartment, where it wants to hide and not be found.

[swidd]

I took a few pictures after I finished with brake fluid flush + speed bleeder valves + stainless steel line install. I've never done a DIY before, so for the fun of it, here follows DIY/report on what I did.

(#) tools: nose plier, wrench set. I used an adjustable wrench for one nut on top of the brake line that comes from the engine compartment in top of wheel well, but one is supposed to have a special wrench for the soft metal nut (very easy to strip). You cannot use adjustable wrench or any large wrench on the rear bleeder valve; small wrench required. A flexible plastic tube, about 6-8mm diameter, to properly run brake oil into an empty soda bottle etc.

(#) You're gonna need "speed bleeder valves" to do it the way I did it. It is the cheapest way to bleed by yourself; using the two-person method isn't as fool-proof as this; I paid $32 for a set of four speed bleeder valves locally, size M7 X 1.0, length 1.38 inch (35.15mm), there are a number of brands available, different every retailer; part number worthless; go by size. Online retailers sell them for as low as $10/pair+shipping. Another option is Motive Flow pressurized oil reservoir, but it costs $50-60+required cap, and then you'll have a big plastic "thing" that takes up space... and it can get messy.

(#) Brake fluid of choice. I used Valvoline type 3&4 synthetic, used entire 32 oz bottle.

(#) jack up car, remove wheel (this can all be done without removing wheel; just jacking up and accessing behind the wheel through the gap; I did that after I familiarized myself the first time).

(#) remove rubber cap on top of OEM bleeder valve. Attach rubber hose to bleeder valve, and use a wrench to turn it 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Let oil run out into a soda bottle until it stops, then remove the OEM bleeder valve altogether.

Picture: New speed bleeder valve on top. Stainless steel line bottom.


Picture: Old OEM bleeder valve after 4 years. White residue of some sort: this was only on one of my calipers, the other bleed valves were cleaner. Something may have corroded on that side, I guess!


(#) Insert new speed bleeder valve, turning it all the way in, then back out 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Repeat for all four wheels, and perform bleeding (see below) each before moving to next one. Btw. the brake lines on the rear wheels are stiff/stainless steel the whole way; no need to upgrade those brake lines.

(#) If not installing stainless steel lines, skip ahead. If installing Micro Image online stainless steel lines, go buy a pair of M8.0 nuts needed to attach the brake line bracket to the shock attachment bracket.

(#) Minimize leakage by sealing the brake fluid reservoir (cap on with plastic wrap over it). Speaking of... to get access to it, gently remove the rubber strip on top of the engine bay on the driver side; gently undo the clips holding the driver side engine bay cover; then violently drag it out of the rear retainer clips. Beware the brake fluid reservoir cap is not attached to anything: when removing, do not let go of it or lose it into the engine bay.

(#) Remove original rubber hose from the engine bay attachment point, by first removing the clip that secures it (using nose pliers), then use a wrench to hold the soft nut on top, while using another wrench to unscrew the hose from the bottom.

Picture: Stainless steel going into engine bay attachment:


(#) Use a wrench to remove the single bolt that holds the shock attachment bracket. Only the bolt (visible in picture) on the rear side of the bracket is "wrenchable"; the front side nut is welded to bracket.

(#) Use a standard wrench to remove the bolt going into the caliper; old brake line is now removed.

(#) Install stainless steel brake line from Micro Image to the caliper with new included bolt, new washers etc.

Picture: Stainless steel brake line going from caliper to shock attachment bracket. Notice I routed it down and back up towards the bracket... more appropriate would be to route it up and away from the spinning thingy.

(#) Reuse the old bracket bolt to attach the new M.I. bracket. New nut is not included, and OEM nut is welded on. So you must buy 8.0mm nuts... for about $1.

(#) ... the hard part. Attach new line to the brake line from the engine compartment. Screw the little nut on the attached line from the engine as high up as possible. Then insert the new brake line and screw it as high up as you need to get the clip back in on top of the bracket. Then tighten with the top nut.

(#) Bleeding the brake lines. With the speed bleeder valves installed and open 1/4-1/2 inch, just fill the reservoir, pump brake pedal about 10 times, re-fill/check reservoir and pump some more until the fluid coming out is crystal clear and clean. First wheel I did was rear left, and it took considerably more pumps to get clean fluid from the first wheel than the subsequent wheels.

(#) Once clean fluid and no "recent" air is observed in the attached plastic line, just tighten the speed bleeder valve and put on the rubber cover. Refill reservoir and its done. Re-attach wheels, test the brakes and park on clean pavement and look for leakage.

Important: The warnings about brake fluid eating paint... I figured "yeah yeah, it eats paint, so I'll go to the car wash later and spray down the wheel well." Uhm, just the few drops that got on my caliper was enough to eat my caliper paint... which looks kinda cool as they get the "shiny metal look".

[Hard_Yaris]

Cool! thanks for the DIY. So you don't even need a power beading gun to do this right?

[swidd]

Not if you replace the bleeder valves to speed bleeder valves. There's a one-way valve in those, so when you pump on the pedal (and have it open with 1/2 turn) it releases oil and air, buy doesn't let any back in. It does what a friend and a wrench would otherwise do. Buy it online and it'll only cost about $25-30 for the whole car.