[Shop-talk] Brake system bleeders

[David Scheidt]

On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 1:03 PM, Mullen, Tim (IS) <Tim.Mullen at ngc.com> wrote:

> Two things about brake bleeding.  When I was talking about the bleeder
> not being at the "top" I was referring to the case where the slave is
> mounted such that it points slightly "up" at an angle.  The bleeder can
> be at the top of the rear of the slave, but if the slave is mounted so
> that it points "up", there can be air trapped "above" the level of the
> bleeder.  Usually jacking the car on one end or the other can cure this.
> But I did have the one where the bleeder was cocked over to the side and
> the slave had to be removed to orient it so that the bleeder was the
> "high" spot.
>
> As for pressure bleeding caps, that is one advantage of the EZ-Bleeder
> for use with Little British cars.  It comes with caps made to screw onto
> the Girling master cylinders.
>
>
I was helping a friend bleed the clutch on a bmw a number of years ago.  I
was visiting, so I had no tools (for values of "no tools" equal to "drives a
land rover cross country"...).  We couldn't get the last bit of air out, for
much the same reason you've described.  A quick jaunt to the bike store
yielded a no-good for biking inner tube, dug out of their trash ("You want
an inner tube that's no good?  Are you nuts?").  I cut it up so there was
about a foot on either sie of the valve.  tied a bunch of knots on one side,
stretched the other over the reservoir, applied about two pounds of air, and
presto, a bled clutch.

-- 
David Scheidt
dmscheidt at gmail.com