VtecRacer

Could I get some advice on bleeding brakes? I'd like to change the shoes and wheel cylinder myself, I have an article to guide me through that, but how do I bleed the brakes?

Thanks

Outxider

heres how me and my friends do it, other may have devices or diff techniques but i been usin this for years and works all the time.

u need atleast 2 ppl, one inside, one outside. i took a two liter soda bottle, cut a small hole up top and fit a rubber line thru it, fill it with a bit of brake fluid, and submerge the tube. the other end will be attach to the bleeder valve air tight, so find a tube accordinly to size. start from the right rear, then left rear, right passenger, then left driver. make sure the mc is full at all times, dont let it drain or u will draw air in.

now, have that person sittin inside to start pumpin the brakes 20 times fast and hard, then on the 21st pump, have him/her hold it, u havin that tube attach and the other end inside the soda bottle submerge, open the bleeder valve and u should c air bubbles. i do this bout 4 times a corner then move on for bout 5 rotations. its a long and tedious process but gets the job done. good luck.

WideBodyEK

umm,..have atleast 2 people,..loosen both bleeder valves (assuming you are only bleeding the front) now have one person sitting in the car pumping on the brakes,..once fluid is shooting out both valves,..have the person pumping the brakes to pump one more time but hold the brake pedal down,..and then tighten up the bleeder valves

Asahi

ok, first, I have never seen anyone open more than one bleeder at a time. Next there are a few ways to do it with one person.

The cheapest and most effective way is to get a small silicon/rubber hose that you can fit over the bleeder screw nipple. You can get this hose at a hobby shop (Gas powered airplane fuel line). You put the hose in a small bottle and submerge the end in more brake fluid (pour a little out of the new bottle). Loosen the bleeder screw and pump away. The backwards action of the pedal now brings in fluid not air so it means you can pump without reclosing the screw. you MUST not let the master cylinder run out of fluid or you just reintroduced air into the system and have a lot more bleeding to do. Also be sure NEVER to push the pedal all the way to the floor you will likely damage the seals on the master cylinder.

Also there is not specific amount of times this should be done. YOu do it till no more air is coming through the tube in bubbles. YOu also shoudl do this until the fluid is a consistant color. Dirty is bad. You are certainly benefited by 2 people but by no means need 2 people. Doing this "20 pums fast and hard" will likely damage the master cylinder seals and will waste fluid. Pump steady and do not go to the floor. DO this till you see no more air or dirt and then close the bleeder screw before removing the tube from the bleeder nipple.

The shop manual specifies the order the brakes should be bled. When in dount farthes to closest from the master cylinder will work.

Chris N

What trey said is correct 100%.

Read the Service manual if you don't believe it.

Opening two bleeder valves at once.... not a good idea at all.

The ONLY other way to do it is the gravity bleed.

Chris N

Why would you suggest this to someone?

If you don't know the proper procedures, don't post!

WideBodyEK

because i usually have 3 people in the garage with me and this is how i always do it and i have had NO problems doing it this way at all so thats why i DID POST,..so the way i do it WORKS FOR ME so thats why i did post,..if something works for me than im gonna post it

mohamed_ibrah

I don't know what it is like for the Civic, but you may want to have someone look up proper ORDER of bleeding the brakes. Rather safe than sorry. My Accord is somewhat of a strange system because it is split in two seperate hyrdraulic lines apparently at the proportioning valve or combo valve, or at least that's the reason I come up with,
I haven't actually looked at it to see if that's true or not.

The way the accord is setup is to start the rear passenger, then the front driver, then the rear driver, then the front passenger. My accord also has ABS and this is the only vehicle I found that I had to bleed that too, so if you're has that, it might also be a good idea to flush that out (just as preventive maintenance), ABS modulators are not cheap and flushing it out with clean fluid helps the different valves and seals maintain their efficiency.

Oh and definitly only three pumps is needed before holding, not 20, you could always place a small piece of wood in between the pedal and floor board so you don't hit a rusty spot in the MC and tear a seal.