Brake Fluid change.

Henry Ford III

I need to renew the brake fluid in the RS2000.

I thought (wrongly) that it was simply a question of opening the resevoir cap, loosening the 3 bleed nipples and pumping the old stuff out. Then refill and bleed sysytem.

Apparently doing so will dmage the rubber seals in the master cylinder. STG£100 to get an exchange part. Ouch. Master cylinder is 3 years old btw.

One guy suggested buying an Easybleeder (which screws on the top of the resevoir & uses air pressure from a spare tyre to suck out the fluid). Another says gravity drain the sysytem and use light hand pressure on the brake pedal to get the last of the fluid out.

I have a regular one man bleeding kit (a one way valve job).

Opinions?

Spit62500

Are there only three nipples?

You'll only damage the seal in your master cylinder if you push the seal past its normal range of travel and if the MC is sufficiently corroded in that area to tear the seal. Even if you did you could buy a rebuild kit and replace just the seals - no need for a new MC unless it is heavily corroded which I doubt after three years.

The Eezibleed is ok - you need to keep the pressure in the spare down or it'll leak past the cap (it did on me anyway...).

Draper (and others, I'm sure) sell a pump that draws the fluid out of each nipple. You need a compressor and its not really worth it for a once off (I think I paid 40 odd euro for mine) but if you have a few cars with hydraulic clutch then it might be worth your while just to have it around.

Gravity drain won't do it.

Henry Ford III

Spit62500 wrote:

Are there only three nipples?

You'll only damage the seal in your master cylinder if you push the seal past its normal range of travel and if the MC is sufficiently corroded in that area to tear the seal. Even if you did you could buy a rebuild kit and replace just the seals - no need for a new MC unless it is heavily corroded which I doubt after three years.

The Eezibleed is ok - you need to keep the pressure in the spare down or it'll leak past the cap (it did on me anyway...).

Draper (and others, I'm sure) sell a pump that draws the fluid out of each nipple. You need a compressor and its not really worth it for a once off (I think I paid 40 odd euro for mine) but if you have a few cars with hydraulic clutch then it might be worth your while just to have it around.

Gravity drain won't do it.

Yep. 3 nipples. A t piece splits before the back axle.

20psi for the Eezibleed. Any idea who sells them. Halfords? STG£15 btw.

Points well made on the MC. Noted.

I have only 1 car I work on and it has a cable clutch.

Spit62500

I'd have expected a nipple at each rear brake cylinder (assuming rear drums) - how is the air purged after the T piece?

I got my eezibleed from http://www.toolsbypost.com (£14.50 before postage) but that was before Halfords arrived - I think that they stock them - bring an AXA insurance cert for 15% discount...

Henry Ford III

Nope just 1 on the near side. A return pipe on the other side (I think).

corktina

same set up on most Fords of the period....whats wrong with the fluid that you have to change it?

gn3dr

You're supposed to renew brake fluid every few years. It's hygroscopic so absorbs water over time.
Saying that most people probably never do this. It's on my list of thing to do for a while now on my car.

Henry Ford III

corktina wrote:

same set up on most Fords of the period....whats wrong with the fluid that you have to change it?

It's 3 years old. A service part. Your life depends on your brakes.

Apart from that, nothing

Henry Ford III

Spit62500 wrote:

I got my eezibleed from http://www.toolsbypost.com (£14.50 before postage) but that was before Halfords arrived - I think that they stock them - bring an AXA insurance cert for 15% discount...

Just got one in Halfords. €20 odd including the 15% off. Thanks for the tip. I'm not an Axa customer, but typed "Axa Halfords" into Google, printed off the voucher to which I was directed, and got a policy no. from a car in the car park

corktina

ooo..you are a tricky one arent you....:)

i find my brake fluid needs topping up so often I reckon it's never in there as long as three years...:)

It's a good point though....i think I'll start renewing mine in future.

Henry Ford III

I assume the Eezibleed blows air into the master cylinder first to eject the old fluid, and then forces clean fluid in and the air out afterwards?

Henry Ford III

corktina wrote:

i find my brake fluid needs topping up so often I reckon it's never in there as long as three years...:)

Top ups suggest a leak. Fluid out = air in, n'est pas?

BrianD3

You're supposed to renew brake fluid every few years. It's hygroscopic so absorbs water over time

AFAIR, brake fluid absorbs some moisture during the first few months after being removed from its container. But after that, the moisture content stabilises.

I personally have never changed brake fluid as part of servicing, only if replacing components in the hydraulic system (eg frayed hoses)

It seems to me that i hear of more brake problems on cars that have the fluid changed regularly than those that have the system left well alone. There is a school of thought out there (and statements from some manufacturers back this up) that brake fluid does not need to be changed routinely and that it's preferable to keep the system as sealed as possible i.e don't even open the fluid reservoir cap unless necessary.

Lots of myths doing the rounds too. Eg a dark colour means your brake fluid is bad. Not true.

This is a can of worms so I'm not going to say anymore for the moment. By far the best discussions I've read on brake fluid have been in the rec.outdoors.rv-travel newsgroup, a board for owners of recreational vehicles.
http://groups.google.ie/group/rec.outdoors.rv-travel/topics?hl=en

Spit62500

BrianD3 wrote:

This is a can of worms so I'm not going to say anymore for the moment.

And we haven't even gone near the silicone fluid debate and the various DOT formulations and whether DOT 5.1 is much better than 4 and etc etc etc


The Eezibleed pumps the new fluid in which displaces the old fluid through the open nipples

BrianD3

Spit62500 wrote:

And we haven't even gone near the silicone fluid debate and the various DOT formulations and whether DOT 5.1 is much better than 4 and etc etc etc

Yes, the Great Brake Fluid Debate. Similar, but even more heated than the Great Engine Oil Debate which came before it and will rumble on as long as the internal combustion engine is still with us

But there's no doubt that some people get a warm fuzzy feeling from changing their brake fluid while others get a warm fuzzy from not changing it

Henry Ford III

Job done earlier. Pretty easy tbh. Great gadget. It jusy whooshes the old stuff out and replaces it.

Pedal is lovely and firm.

corktina

Henry Ford III wrote:

Top ups suggest a leak. Fluid out = air in, n'est pas?

fluid leak...on a FORD...surely not....:)

no, fluid out, fluid in...thats what the reservoir is for....air would only enter at the point of leak if the atmospheric pressure was higher than the fluid pressure.


im forming the opinion that the reason for changing the fluid is to protect the components from the dreaded internal rust. I think they will have rusted after three years if they were going to and so a more frequent change might be a good idea, say annually...or maybe not at all..