Hi I’m Mason the how to kid and this video is How to bleed brakes / change brake fluid. The complaint with this car a Buick LeSabre was that the brakes just felt squishy. So the first thought was air in the brakes. After doing a quick check of the brake pads I figured draining and changing the brake fluid was probably the best plan.
Lifting the car up on jacks stands is the first step followed by taking all the wheels off so you can get to the bleeder valve. The bleeder valve is opened with a 10mm wrench, but before you open it there are a few things you must do.
To start with there is no sense in bleeding the old fluid out of the lines just to replace it with the same old fluid left in the reservoir. So we need to pull that out of there and replace it with new clean fluid. There are a few options on sucking fluid out, if you don’t mind spending the money harbor freight sells a manual siphon pump with hose for as little as $6.00 and from what i understand about how quickly this fluid breaks down plastics and hoses, at that price unless this is your business that unit can become disposable. other options that I’ve seen used are a large syringe like the kind used for injecting butter into a turkey for thanksgiving, or like I used in the video a turkey baster that can be picked up for a dollar or two just about anywhere. When siphoning out of the top of the brake fluid reservoir be sure to leave just little in the container because you never want it “dry”, that could suck air into the lines and a lot more bleeding is required to get it all out. Be careful not to drip or spill any of this highly corrosive fluid on the paint for obvious reasons. After most of the reservoir is empty slowly pour in the new fluid all the way to the top. The reason for the slow pour is to try not to mix the old and new fluids together. (Don’t worry about over filling, it will go down in the next steps.
Now we just need a container to catch the old stuff in. Again if you want to spend the money there are many options out there for you. I on the other had need to save for collage, so I found a piece of scrap hose from my garage that fit snug on the bleeder valve. On the other end I fed through a large sports drink bottle lid. The reason for all this as you bleed the line if someone gets out of order in the bleeding steps, air isn’t immediately sucked back into the valve. Instead the air goes into the scrap hose and stays there to be pushed out with one more push. Make sure to drill two holes in the lid of the bottle. One big enough for the hose and one to let the air out as the bottle fills with fluid.
Now that everything is in place the steps for two people are pretty easy as long as no one gets ahead of themselves. “Person 1” is in the drivers seat, “Person 2” is at the bleeder valve calling out the instructions.
- P1 steps on the brake creating pressure.
- P2 opens the valve, relieving the pressure and draining the old fluid out which pulls the new fluid from the reservoir into the lines.
- P2 closes the valve, preventing any air bubbles from going back into the lines.
- P1 takes her foot off the break.
- P1 steps on the brake creating pressure again.
- Repeat these steps until the fluid coming out of the line is clear and new. (This is where having a clear scrap tube pays off)
Be sure not to let the reservoir go empty while following these steps. Once finished with that wheel move on to the next and the next and the next. Some people claim that there is an order of which wheel to bleed first to last based on which lines are longer but it never really bothers me either way.
This job is fairly easy but can get messy. Remember! If I can do it! You can do it! Thanks for reading my write up if you have any questions watch the video or comment below.
If you liked this video check out my sister Hailey The How To Girl at her website or on Youtube.
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