Vacuum Brake Bleeder

[bjohnson]

I've manual bled every way I can think of (must have gone through a few litres by now) and had Ford diagnostic bleed (I think they failed at it though) my brakes but I think there is STILL some air trapped in there.

I want to give a vacuum bleed a go.
Anyone care to impart some wisdom? or know where I can pick one up in Perth? I was thinking maybe Coventrys..

[Nemi]

autopro used to have them, i've seen them on ebay also

[matty12]

ive tried once with a vac tester/brake bleeder thing but it said to grease the bleed nipples to stop air from leaking around the threads when pulling a vacuum.The fucking thing still leaked and of course teh clear line always had air bubbles in it.Could tell if the system was clear or not.maybe im doing it wrong.


Bought ours from Ripco twas $150 from the memories.

[DISTRBD]

Only ever used pressure bleeder on 68 landy , pingpingpingping to bleed up :(

[dattoman]

Covs do a vacuum bleeder unit
Its a pump arrangement and works well
Part # CJ236

If that doesn't work
Jack up the car and remove the licence plates
Replace everything previously between plates with something that doesn't have a blue oval badge on the front of it


You could always go to chemist or saddlery and buy a big syringe... and pressure bleed up... since air rises
Hose on bleeder... push fluid up to master

[beefcake]

the vac bleeders always look like there is air bubbles in them, its just the way they work, all brands do it, but a tip for you is after giving it a good vac suck for a while to make sure the fresh fluid has come through, you remove the vac hose without closing the bleeder nipple.
Just sit there waiting for the random bubbles to come out and clear up and then your line is clear of air and good to go.
I use a vac bleeder daily and it can be a trap if you don't let it gravity bleed to clear out the small amount of air left in the system,
The vac bleeders pull on the fluid too hard, so that's why you guys see heaps of air bubbles continuously coming through the lines (that's the grease on thread tip, but gay if you wanna get it done quicker) when using vac bleeders, that's why you just yank of the hose whilst its still sucking and then just watch the nipple till you see a constant clean drip of brake fluid coming out of it, then close it and go.


Or alternatively you could just undo all your nipples and let it gravity drip for 5 mins till the lines are purged of air, just don't let the master go empty of fluid, and yes its a messy fuck of a way of doing it, but it works

[joshg123]

We are absolutley sure we dont have caliper flex or a siezed slide causing the same effect?

[Butcher]

Just get it pressure bleed so you know it right then piss around next time

[bjohnson]

Cheers for the advice guys,

I bought an ABW one from coventrys on the way home.
It hooks up to the compressor, I put the car up on axle stands, took all the wheels off and realised the compressor had died. yay! So I'm going to have to buy another one on the weekend.

Joshg123,
I'm pretty open to suggestions at this point.
If the car is off and I pump the pedal it will build up pressure and go rock solid, so I'm pretty sure that rules out the master cylinder but that's where my knowledge ends.
Anything specific I should be looking out for?

The brakes get a pretty solid workout and there is plenty of friction but if I really stand on it I can get the pedal to the floor without activating the ABS.

Any recommendations on where I can get someone to do a pressure bleed? and a rough cost?

[joshg123]

Ive been down this road many a time.

Does the pedal sink to the floor a soon as you turn the engine on with your foot on the brake after getting it rock solid?

I would clamp off lines at a time (unless their braid), first start with the rears, and if youve got them clamped, keep clamping untill you get a solid pedal. If youve got all the wheels clamped and you cant get a satisfactory pedal then the problem lies more with master cylinders bypassing.

Air will work its way to calipers generally, it wont just hang around in a line having a party. So by clamping you can identify what wheel or wheels have air in them, if your pedal goes rock solid after clamping say the rhf, you know where your problem lies.

It doesnt neccecarily mean its air though, ive seen and had pads sit up on grooves causing calipers to 'walk' or flex. or a brake rotor can be going 'fat and thin' and cause knock off.

Let us know how clamping goes, if you can do it.

Cheers

[bjohnson]

...

Ahh fail, I have braided lines.
I have stock calipers, EBC green pads and stock machined rotors.
I did wonder if it was the rotors causing the dramas.

If I pump the pedal solid with the car off and then start it, the pedal sinks back to normal.

Cheers.

[RICEY]

Not sure on your setup but I know with cars such as astras they have a spring that locks the pads in place and if its not on right it allows the calipers to flex and give the feel of air in the system.

[bjohnson]

Not sure on your setup but I know with cars such as astras they have a spring that locks the pads in place and if its not on right it allows the calipers to flex and give the feel of air in the system.

I'm not sure about springs but I know that they have a big retention clip on the front calipers. I might have a closer look at them (apparently they are a complete bastard to put back on).

I did a vacuum bleed and a reverse bleed yesterday and they are still the same. That pretty much rules out air being trapped in there.

[RICEY]

Yeah sounds like the same deal as the astras, its not a spring as such poor wording on my part but a sprung length of metal that runs along the face of the caliper and locks into it and somehow holds the pad in place. I put it back on the wrong way and the pedal was spongy as fark.