I'm in the process of upgrading my entire brake system and I want to flush the old fluid out and put in new. How do I do it? What about the clutch slave cylinder? I'm replacing all 5 hoses with braided ss (4 caliper and 1 clutch) so I'm assuming most of the fluid will drain from that. Any help would be great. I'm going with the Super Blue ATE per the suggestion from Mahjik.

 

Bleed the fluid from the slave just like the brakes, pump it out through the bleeder valve on top of the cylinder .

 

"flushing" the system shouldn't be too difficult... there are a couple of issues of which you should have advance warning.

first, of course, install your new lines.
buy 8 ft of clear ( so you can see the air bubbles) plastic tubing at the hardware store. size it so it just fits over your bleeder fittings.
find 4 bottles... say 20 oz plastic soft drink bottles. drill each cap for the plastic line.
connect line to fitting and insert into bottle.
loosen all 4 fittings... i suggest you purchase a brake fitting wrench so as not to round off the fittings.
smoothly stroke the brake pedal til you have all the old fluid out of the system. the right rear will clear of old fluid last as it has the longest line.
once you have cleared the system of old fluid you have a couple of options:
1. have an assistant depress the brake pedal and refill the master cylinder.
2. use a Mitey Vac and just suck the fluid out of each fitting... that's how i do it.

a key to the process:
remove each fitting and coat the threads w a sparing amount of clean wheel bearing grease. if you don't seal the threads you will have a job getting all the air out of the lines.

bleed the brakes in this order:
right rear
left rear
left front
right front.

repeat process for clutch at slave cylinder.

good luck,

howard coleman

 

why not just gravity bleed them open the bleeders on all the wheels put a pice of hose over them so it does not get messy and drain it. slave the same way.

 

I forgot to mention that I have the Russell Speed Bleeders so I'm not sure if that would complicate things.

 

Also, you don't want to let your whole brake system drain. It's best to make sure you plug your lines as soon as you take off the rubber brake lines. This keeps air from getting into the ABS system which is a PAIN to get out.

 

Because that would take forever. He wants to flush all the old fluid out, not just bleed the air out. I do it as Howard describes except one wheel at a time. Takes me no more than 30 minutes.

 

hey you pull all 4 bleeders open and see how fast the fluid level goes down. it goes pretty quick .

 

How does one get air out of the ABS system?

 

The brakes still bleed just like any other car. There's nothing special to do even if it has ABS.

 

Does anyone know the size of the bleeder valve for the clutch slave cylinder?

 

Don, I have the kit (pump) that attaches to the master cylinder. You just put in the new fluid (in the pump), pump it up to 10psi and start bleeding each corner, one at a time, farthest to near. Let me know if you want to use it...

 

Thanks Mike, that would be great... I forgot that you had a pump. I'll call you sometime this week.

 

Yes, you are correct that you do bleed the brake system the same way even with an ABS car (except that you should start with the wheel farthest from the ABS pump rather than the master cylinder in your order of bleeding the brakes)

What I was trying to say was to not let your whole system bleed dry after you disconnect your brake lines because if you let the ABS go dry and fill with air it's really hard to get the air back out of the pump. It tends to want to get stuck in there.

 

Well how would you flush all the old fluid out?

 

There is nothing special about the ABS pump. I removed mine, took it completely apart, replaced all the seals and then reassembled and reinstalled it. The system bleeds easily. The pump is nothing but a few valves and the fluid flows right through it, it doesn't trap air. Even after removing and installing the pump there is nothing special or hard to do; just bleed the system normally.

Like I said I removed all the lines and disassembled the pump and flushed/bled the system easily afterwards and I don't do anything but put a hose on the bleeder and stroke the brake pedal. If you submerge the hose in brake fluid you don't have to constantly open and close the bleed valve. Just leave it open and pump until fresh fluid comes out, then close the bleed valve and go to the next wheel. Piece of cake.

 

You might also want to bleed the brake master cylinder as well, becasue often times the air gets trappe din there and you end up haveing a spungy pedal feeling. its fairly easy too. Just buy two nipples that screw into the ends of the lines where the BMC routes over to the ABS then get some hose to put onto the nipples, then route those hoses into the resivour and pump away until the air bubbles are gone.

 

So whats the process for bleeding the master cylinder?

 

oh i forgot to mention fill the resivour with brake fluid and turn the car on while you do this, this way you will know if you have and any probs witht he BMC as well. If your pedal gets soft after a while then your BMC might be messed up like mine is at the moment. I just described how to do it. You can buy a brak emaster cylinder bleeding kit, but you can also just put on together for about 4 dollars. So liek I said, where your lines split off to go over to the ABS system, you knwo where the screw in at the same level as the top of the resivour, you need to find 2 nipples with the same thread size and stick em in there. Than attach 2 hoses to it, route them into the resivour, and then fill it with brake fluid, now pump until you no longer see bubbles come up. Once your done, reconnect the lines and go forth and bleed the rest of the brakes.

 

Well, there's not a problem with the master cylinder and bleeding the system at this point is not the issue at hand. That process you described seems a bit convoluted but if I follow everyones "flushing" advice, hopefully I won't have to worry about air in the master cylinder.

 

also in my experience gravity bleeding is not a good idea. it worked at first but the rear wheels stop bleeding and started pulling air into the lines(for me anyway)