Changing brake fluid

[Slampen]

How many pumps should I do on each caliper before beeing shure I have replaced the old fluid with new fluid?

Guess it will take more pumps on the rear than on the front.

How much brakefluid is there in total on a standard '95?

Guess the best method is to have a different colour on the new brake fluid.

[— kung fu jesus —]

You need about 24-30" of clear tubing 3/16" or 5/32", an empty 20oz plastic bottle and it's cap. You can get the tubing at a lot of different places. Clear is a must.

Drill a hole in the top of the bottle cap, drill to whichever size your tubing is. Feed hose through the cap until it reaches the bottom of the bottle. The extra length of hose allows you to put the bottle on the ground so you won't have to hold it or balance it precariously in the suspension somewhere. Here is how mine looks (wish my tube was longer, mine is discolored from using ATE Blue fluid):

IMG_2021.jpg

Give the cap a 1/2 twist to loosen it so air can escape as brake fluid fills it. You should pour about a 1/2" of fluid into the bottle to keep the end of the tube from sucking air back into the system.

Place an 8mm box wrench over the bleeder, then put the hose over the nipple on the bleeder. Make sure the wrench is positioned so you can loosen the bleeder at least a 1/2 turn with out having to preposition it. The hose should be tight, so you can lube the end of the hose by dipping it in brake fluid, if necessary.

I have found you get 15 full pedal pumps before the reservoir becomes low, but not empty.

The tubing should allow you to see air bubbles trapped, old, discolored fluid, then fresh fluid. As for how many pumps, it depends on how bad your fluid is and how much grunge is in the system. Best to have too much brake fluid on hand, than too little. A quart of Valvoline Synthetic brake fluid is awesome and well-priced. Easy to find, too.


Good luck!

[— kung fu jesus —]

I just realized you are in Europe. 4 - 5mm tubing is what you want.

[Slampen]

Thank you KFJ. Nice write up.

I was lazy and bought this


Paid less than 5 usd.

I use speedbleeders, which makes the process easier.

I could not see ane differnce in colour. Maybe I should find to brands that have differenct colour and switch between them.

I used DOT 4, was easier to get than 5.1 and probarly sufficient. Bought it at "Biltema" (se link for details).

What I found was that there is big difference in how many pumps it takes to empty the container. When doing the LF about 10 pumps almost emptied it, doing LR I could pump about 20 times before it emptied.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Interesting. We bled TimTim and Tsingson's cars pretty close together and I remember 15 was the the safe maximum. Both were NB1s.

Speedbleeders are interesting, but I found they lose their effectiveness after a few bleedings.

[Slampen]

Interesting. We bled TimTim and Tsingson's cars pretty close together and I remember 15 was the the safe maximum. Both were NB1s.

Speedbleeders are interesting, but I found they lose their effectiveness after a few bleedings.

Could be that my counting is bad.
Could be that my rear calippers are bad.
Neither would surprise me.


How do you experience Speedbleeders loose their effectiveness?
is it mechannically or does your Ninja skills makes in unnecessary?

[— kung fu jesus —]

The ones I had lost their effectiveness to seal when loosened.

[★ revlimiter ★]

The speedbleeders I had broke in the housing. That was fun to fix. Never again.

My brake bleeding bottle is the same as KFJ's but with a piece of wire coat hanger attached to the top to let it hang from a suspension part. I've used that same bottle for nearly 20 years now...

[— Phatmiata —]

IMG_2021.jpg

don't mistake that for Pepsi or Coke later!!

[BoBo]

I used Russell speed bleeders on my miata & Ninja. I have been using the speed-bleeders for a few years now on both toys and bled the lines a few times, so far it still works great. It makes the whole job easier and faster. I also have a motive power bleeder, and those things are great I recommend it.