homemade brake pressure bleeders

[sp53]

Hi all I made of those homemade brake pressure bleeders by drilling a hole in and old cap and installing a tire valve. Has anyone done this before ,and if so, could you tell how it worked out before I try it.
steve

 

[PeterK]

Hi Steve,

I have a Motive bleeder not homemade. But I did as you and drilled an old cap for a hose fitting. I didn't use a tire valve - a valve core isn't necessary and I'd also watch out for the brake fluid eating the rubber in a core. Can't remember what I used to seal the fitting to the cap, maybe rubber washers on either side?

When you pressurize the tank, keep it under 12psi (this is Motive's spec.)

Before adding fluid to your tank, re-check your pressure gauge for 12psi so you'll know if you have any leaks before spraying pressurized brake fluid all over everything.

I buy the big bottles of Castrol GT LMA. Any left over fluid (once poured from the new can) is not returned to the can but kept for cleaning and assembly tasks.

It made clutch bleeding child's play.

And the wife didn't have to pump the pedal.

Also, I bought a pack or those Sham-wow fake chamois towels and I wrap one around the base of the reservoir just in case. The absorb immediately and keep stray fluid off your car's paint.


-Pete

 

[hondo402000]

I made one and it worked fine, you might want to use an old hand pump so you dont burst the resevoir

Hondo

 

[tr8todd]

I made the mistake of overpressurizing one and blew the resevoir on a TR7. After that I went out and bought a vacuum bleeder. Works great except you get fooled by the air bubbles that get pulled in around the threads of the bleeder screws.

 

[hondo402000]

just put teflon tape on the bleeder screws and those errant air bubbles will stop, plus your bleeder screws wont seize up

Hondo

 

[DanB]

Here is an idea to try: Get one of those pump oil cans from Harbor Freight or Walmart. Take the nozzle off and fit a hose from the tube to the bleeder valve on the wheel cylinder. Fill the oil can with brake fluid and reverse bleed.

Ken Nicks does this all the time. He says it works quite well.

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Dan,
I this what you are talking about?
HF oil can

When you reverse bleed the brakes, how do you know are done?
You need to bleed until all the air is out of the line, correct?
How do you see the reservoir while pumping fluid into the brake line at the wheel?
Also doesn't that also put junk in the reservoir?

 

[TR3driver]

FWIW, here is another option: https://www.speedbleeder.com/

My FLAPS had them in stock, about $8/wheel as I recall.

One of the reasons for bleeding brakes is to remove the old contaminated (& sometimes corrosive) fluid. I don't see how reverse bleeding would do that.

 

[MGTF1250Dave]

Aloha,

An additional accessory offered by Speedbleeder is this bleeder bag:

https://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/c=siM5R19I...Hose-Combo.html

It is so much easier than using a glass jar because you can't tip it over.

 

[charlie74]

when i replaced my fluid last winter, i used a combination of speedbleeders (readily available from advance auto parts) and a little reservoir that i bought at a local napa. the bottle had a fairly large magnet attached allowing it to be placed above the bleed nipple in the wheel well somewhere. this combination allowed for easy single person bleeding. the best part was this little bottle/magnet/tube combination was about 4 bucks.
YMMV but it worked for me
c74