Two Brake Bleeding Questions

[mtnbiker26]

I have an '03 with ABS brakes and I'm doing rotors and pads for the first time at 70,000 miles and I plan to bleed the brakes with a Mity Vac. The brakes feel fine but I just feel like they should be bled as part of routine maintenance...but I also don't want to open a can of worms.

1) Do I have to do anything to the master cylinder/ABS unit or just bleed the four calipers.

2) I'm paranoid about snapping the bleeders off since they've never been loosened and I'm sure that they're nice and rusty. Any advice?

Thanks in advance

 

[Purrfectangel]

When every you do anything to the caliper I would recommend bleeding the brakes. It's good to change the fluid once inawhile anyways even if you don't feel any difference.

Don't be paranoid about it. It's really easy.

to answer your questions..

1) You don't have to do anything to the MC or the abs, just bleed the calipers. The only thing you have to do to the MC is keep refilling it as you bleed each caliper and remember to filler up when your done. So make sure you have a couple bottles or one big bottle of brake fluid on hand.

2) Your bleeders are brass and won't rust. There should be a little green cap over them to prevent them from tarnishing or getting dirt in there. Just remove that and gently turn them. It really doesn't require much force.

 

[mtnbiker26]

Cool, thanks. I've done both drum and disc brakes about 15 years ago on my first couple of cars (beaters) but I've never bled brakes. I know that the bleeder is hollow and I've been having nightmares about how bad it'll suck to snap that little thing off trying to loosen it. I didn't know that they were brass, though. That helps.

I bought a quart of the synthetic fluid so hopefully I'll have enough. I also bought the nasty Mity Vac with the MC fill kit so I'm all excited to play with some new tools. I'm such a geek I'm actually looking forward to this.

 

[chaztor]

huh

2) Your bleeders are brass and won't rust. There should be a little green cap over them to prevent them from tarnishing or getting dirt in there. Just remove that and gently turn them. It really doesn't require much force.

brass? green cap? I've never seen those on any car Including my 03 Pro5. Mine are steel w/ black rubber caps same on the new mazdaspeed (626) caplipers I put on the front this weekend. I did a quick bleed on the fronts I was too rushed to jack up the backs and they seemed too tight so they are probably rusted on a bit. Some PB blaster soaking should loosen them a bit before next weekend when I will put the whole car on stands and give it a complete flush/bleed.

BTW my poor mans Mazdaspeed upgrade ROCKS!!! This site ROCKS!! Mazda Forums FTW!

 

[Purrfectangel]

lol, I was thinking of that green cap in behind. For some reason that's the first thing I notice whenever I take my wheel off because it's neon green. That's why I hate computers. I'm thinking numerous things and when I try to type it, it never comes out right. As for the brass, I had speed bleeders at one point and that's the first thing I thought of. I keep forgeting to ask what people may have for mods before I start explaining.

 

[mtnbiker26]

Well, it took me all day to do the rear rotors, pads and bleed them. One of the calipers was frozen on the guide pins and I spent 3 hours trying to free it up using Liquid Wrench, progressively bigger hammers and finally a torch. I had the thing in the bench vice and I was wailing on it with a three pound hammer and it wouldn't budge. A lot of heat and a lot of hammering finally got it apart but by then I had bent one of the pins and melted the bootie. The parts place wanted $50 for the pin and bootie kit (I had to buy the whole kit just to get the bootie) so I just bought a whole caliper for $75. If I had known it was that cheap I would have bought one earlier. I thought that a caliper would be about three bills. Bleeding was a breeze...maybe a half hour for both rear wheels.

Oh, it looked like it had been stuck for a long time. The inner pad was paper thin and the outer pad had a ton of material left.

 

[Purrfectangel]

I'm surprised you got one for that cheap as well. The rear ones are usually more anyways but here you're lookin at between 100-150 plus a 90-100 dollar core. I'm also surprised it didn't catch fire considering you used liquid wrench first lol. I'm glad you got it all worked out though.

 

[gottacatchup]

Well, it took me all day to do the rear rotors, pads and bleed them. One of the calipers was frozen on the guide pins and I spent 3 hours trying to free it up using Liquid Wrench, progressively bigger hammers and finally a torch. I had the thing in the bench vice and I was wailing on it with a three pound hammer and it wouldn't budge. A lot of heat and a lot of hammering finally got it apart but by then I had bent one of the pins and melted the bootie. The parts place wanted $50 for the pin and bootie kit (I had to buy the whole kit just to get the bootie) so I just bought a whole caliper for $75. If I had known it was that cheap I would have bought one earlier. I thought that a caliper would be about three bills. Bleeding was a breeze...maybe a half hour for both rear wheels.

Oh, it looked like it had been stuck for a long time. The inner pad was paper thin and the outer pad had a ton of material left.

Uhh you don't force the rear calipers open. There's a set screw you use to adjust and open them.....

 

[chaztor]

Uhh you don't force the rear calipers open. There's a set screw you use to adjust and open them.....

I think he's talking about the caliper/bracket interface not the caliper/piston interface.