BRAKE BLEED HELP

[SUBURBAN5]

Watch this and maybe try it.

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[Colton Jones]

When your buddy pumps the pedal repeatedly, he is aerating the fluid; inducing bubbles into the fluid.

DON'T.

Open the bleeder
Moderately, press the brake pedal down, not all the way to the floor
Close the bleeder
Then release the brake pedal
Repeat on all 4 corners.

Press it slow not all the way how many times before cracking the bleeder open only one then repeat??

 

[96-2D-Hoe]

A piece of 4x2 under the pedal is recommended and almost essential so you don't push too far and screw up the MC. Engine off. MC reservoir lid open. Reservoir full. (I just crack/leave front corner open. Put rags around as fluid will highly likely spill out.)

Hold pedal gently/ firmly at point of resistance.
Open bleed screw and let fluid out for a second or two (Stop before the pedal hits the floor)
Close bleed screw
Release pedal and wait 10 secs
Repeat

 

[Pinger]

I've recently bled the rears. I found that they will gravity bleed (empty lines after pipe replacement) but needed a couple of shoves on the pedal to initiate. Still bled them on the pedal with a 'one-man' kit and they were still issuing fluid as I tightened the bleed valves.

I read the official procedure before I did this - and heeded the '15 seconds' to let the pedal return.
I also did the bleed at the ABS unit earlier after working on front brakes and had lousy pedal after bleeding at calipers. Not with pedal pushed - just held ball in until a spurt of fluid appeared. It helped I think with the lousy pedal. Takes seconds to do - worth a try.

 

[delta_p]

Does the brake light stay on with the ebrake off? When the rear brakes blew the pressure difference probably shifted over the spool in the combination valve and set off the red brake light. It takes a certain amount of pressure to reset it.....to recenter it when bleeding. It probably is moving from your friends foot pressure but not enough to recenter to the notch so when you crack the bleed screw you get fluid and dies off when the spool moves back from pressure difference front and rear. Just a thought.

Your valve should be on the side of the ABS pack on a 1996.

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[Erik the Awful]

Open a small bottle of brake fluid. Use a pocket screwdriver to punch a single hole in the seal.
Upturn it into the master cylinder. It won't overfill the cylinder and it'll give you more of a reservoir while you're bleeding the brakes so it won't go dry.

Start at the furthest away wheel.
The person in the seat pumps three times and holds. He yells out, "Holding".
The person at the brakes cracks the bleeder open, waits a couple seconds as air and/or fluid pumps out, and closes it. He yells out, "Pump".
Repeat until the fluid is clear and without bubbles.

Check the fluid level in your brake fluid bottle and then proceed on to the next closest wheel.

 

[Mr_white_obs]

Everyone has a different procedure for bleeding brakes it seems. some pump the pedal a few times and then crack the bleeders, some will swear that that method is horrible, as it pulverizes any amount of air bubbles making them harder to get out. I've done hundreds of brake bleeds in the past, and just about every method will work fine. Reverse bleeding, vacuum bleeding, pressure bleeding, or just pedal pump bleeding. There are quite a few little tips and tricks that everyone learns along the way to make the bleed easier, but very few of them actually are "better" methods as far as how much air they get out.

The first thing to try would be to "gravity feed" the cylinder. Crack the bleeder screw on the cylinder, open the M/C cap, and just wait for a while. Sometimes 20 minutes to a half hour. This will allow the fluid to run down and fill most of the line, and then you could try bleed the cylinder again - again, just as effective as any other method, but this might remove some of the headache of filling an empty line.

That being said, it sounds like you have air in the notorious ABS module. The module has some solenoids that cycle in and out very rapidly when the ABS is activated. Air can get trapped in the solenoids and won't release with normal brake pressure, but they do make the pedal feel incredibly spongy. You can make the solenoids cycle a couple of ways. There is a verrry pricey scan tool that can cycle the module for you - or you can get a shop to do it. You can jump the pins on the module... (i don't know which ones) or you can do what I did and bomb it down a gravel parking lot and hammer the brakes to make the ABS come on. In each case, cycle the solenoids, bleed the module (Kelsey Hayes Modules should have a little bleeder button on the side of them - hidden under some rubber caps near where the brake lines come in. But there's no real way to tell if you're getting any air bubbles out, so you just kind of have to bleed a bunch of fluid out. Keep some rags under it so you don't spill fluid all over everything.) then bleed the brakes and repeat 2-3 times.

Also, do you have the NBS Master cylinder, or is it still a OBS one? the NBS one is fairly easy to muck up in the bleeding process due to the long pedal travel on the OBS.

 

[Hoosierlong90]

Get a power bleeder like the one from Motive. They run less than 100 and work like a charm. I bought one this last year and wish I would have years ago. I was just like you in the dinosaur ages having my buddy pump pump pump. I swear the brakes already suck and the bleeding is the worst once it's all run dry. It becomes a nightmare real quick. I think I paid 80$ for my bleeder. And it makes it sooo easy, you just connect it to the reservoir, pump it up to 10-15 psi and start the bleeding process. I have always had trouble bleeding my back breaks especially. I dont know what the problem is but man they are a pain in the ass to get fluid back once it's gone.

Hope this helps

 

[Nad_Yvalhosert]

Press it slow not all the way how many times before cracking the bleeder open only one then repeat??

Zero times

Open the bleeder FIRST
Then press down on the pedal
Close the bleeder
Then release the pedal.

 

[Nad_Yvalhosert]

@Dawson Barendregt

"open the M/C cap, and just wait for a while. Sometimes 20 minutes to a half hour. This will allow the fluid to run down and fill most of the line, and then you could try bleed the cylinder again"


Brake fluid is Hydroscopic. It absorbs moisture, even from the atmosphere. Means you just destroyed the brake fluid, lowered the boiling temp, and induced moisture into the brake system.
Poor idea...