• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Homemade brake bleeder

Share this page

T

tdskip

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Having gotten thoroughly tired of bleeding the brakes by myself and itching to try and build something I decided to make my own pressure bleeder.

Original idea was inspired by this ;

https://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/campingart/jettatech/bleeder/index.htm

Having used a pressure bleeder before it is by far the easiest way I've found to make this an easy one person job. Total cost for what I put together here was around $12.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Step one - buy the bits</span>

Note - I don't think you want the Pipe Bushing that the original thread shows- for the TR6 it extends down into the fluid reservoir and would possibly aerate the fluid (not good).

P1010438-1.jpg


Find some washers - I used brass to match the hose barb but not sure if you need to.

P1010440-1.jpg


And a couple of o-rings

P1010439-1.jpg


Some tubing (note - I lifted this picture from the original thread)

Dsc05469.jpg


New spray bottle

P1010444.jpg


<span style="font-weight: bold">Step two - use a Dremel to drill a slightly <span style="text-decoration: underline">undersized</span> hole in a brake spare master cylinder lid</span>

P1010442.jpg


<span style="font-weight: bold">Step three - connect the fitting to the lid</span>

I used an O-ring and two washers to press down on the O-ring and had a good fit once I threaded everything down. The plastic on the lid is thick enough you can create thread by screwing the fitting in.



P1010441.jpg


Yes, I will clean the lid before I actually use it....

P1010447.jpg



P1010445.jpg


<span style="font-weight: bold">Step 4 - connect the hose and attach the hose to the spray controller on the spray bottle and you are done. On the sprayer I bought I didn't even need to trim the plastic sparer nozzle, the tubing fit on it and actually snugly fit over some theads that were there.</span>

P1010443.jpg



Done!
 
Tom..... nice job. The only thing I'd add is to make sure you use very very low pressure....with the emphasis on very very low :yesnod: Someone did a very similar set up a few years back, got it all together, pumped up the sprayer real good and blew the cap and line off of the M/C...... brake fluid everywhere! :wall: I think he went back and added at pressure gauge to the set up to make sure he kept it under 10 lbs (?).
 
I have a Motive pressure bleeder. Similar to DIY but all complete and not too expensive. Pressure is pumped to around 8-12lbs/sq" or so. The only bad point is that you need a lot of fluid to use it and I don't reuse the extra fluid. Otherwise it is a great way to bleed hydraulics.
 
Hi guys - I managed to spray brake fluid all of the TR8 engine bay when I first tried a pressure bleeder so I definitely hear what you are saying!
 
Just curious, have you ever tried gravity bleeding? I tried it for the first time on the project TR3, and it worked slick.
 
Gravity bleeding? Never heard of that approach. How does it work, and more importantly, does it involve bastardizing yard care products?

OK, maybe just explain how it works.
 
Maybe someone else can expound better on how it should be done ... I just left the bleed screw open slightly and watched the bubbles rise as fluid slowly flowed through the system and out the bleed valve. When I quit seeing bubbles, I closed the bleed valve. Whole process took perhaps 10-15 minutes per wheel, so I puttered with other things while keeping an eye on it.

No yard care products involved.
 
PeterK said:
I have a Motive pressure bleeder. Similar to DIY but all complete and not too expensive. Pressure is pumped to around 8-12lbs/sq" or so. The only bad point is that you need a lot of fluid to use it and I don't reuse the extra fluid. Otherwise it is a great way to bleed hydraulics.
Click to expand...

I, too, use a Motive pressure bleeder, but I found a way to save on fluid use. I use a turkey baster (actually I use a Mityvac vacuum pump, but all the other writeups say to use a turkey baster) to remove the old fluid from the MC. I then refill the MC with fresh fluid.

I then use the pressure bleeder, dry, to apply the pressure needed to bleed the brakes. You need to keep an eye on the MC reservoir level (easier said then done with the AL MC) to ensure you don't let it get dry. When done, top off the MC to the desired level with more fresh fluid. Less mess this way and less brake fluid wasted as well.
 
Excuse me for being ignorant,
PeterK said:
The only bad point is that you need a lot of fluid to use it and I don't reuse the extra fluid. Otherwise it is a great way to bleed hydraulics.
Click to expand...

but why can't you just leave the brake fluid in the sprayer when your done.
 
It get old? absorbs water? Is it OK to leave it?

Aside from a top off from a unsealed but closed bottle, I always use fresh. How often I need to bleed is rarely - usually a factor of time rather than need. So I dump the left over from the bleeder.

btw, the bleeder is a 1 gal capacity but I put in 1+ qt for a complete fluid flush. There's not much left anyway.
 
You don't have top fill it do you?
I bet a smaller bottle will work too?
 
Not sure what you mean. When I bleed, I put fluid in the Motive tank and attach an adapter that replaces the original reservoir cover. Also have universal clamp on cover and Euro cap for VW/Audi. Fluid is pumped out the hose through the cap/adapter. Tank has to have enough for the pressure bleeder to work. Probably get by with a 12oz can of LMA as long as you don't bleed out too much and push air in the system - btdt!
 
PeterK said:
It get old? absorbs water? Is it OK to leave it?
Click to expand...
IMO, no, not safe to leave it unless you are using DOT 5. The glycol-based fluids (DOT 3, 4 and 5.1) literally suck water out of the air, and start to deteriorate once it gets wet. For that reason they are supposed to be changed every few years; and that few years starts running the moment you open the can.

The "minimum" boiling points given in the DOT standards and on the cans are for a specified amount of "humidification"; but it will continue sucking water for far longer than that. Here are some "real world" results, from a paper presented to the SAE.
 
Here's the boiling point vs water content plot, from the same paper.
 
What about synthetic,not silicon but synthetic?
 
Back
Top