[Shotimes] RE: speedbleeding

[Ron Porter]

Unless you get the Ford ABS Breakout Box that the dealers use (Tom
Wallenhorst picked one up on Ebay for $75), the only way that I flush the
ABS is to do the flush, hit the dirt road behind me and engage the ABS 4-6
times, then reflush. Now, I do this to a car for the first flush. Since I do
a brake flush at least once a year (and it's been 2x the last few years), I
don't bother with that step, since the fluid trapped in the ABS should be
good for a couple of years, anyway.

Bleeding sequence is not very relevant anymore, with the cross-braking
systems (LF connected to RR, etc). I tend to do both rears first, because
that's the way I've done it!! I then jack up the front by the center of the
front of the subframe, which gets both wheels off the ground. Even if you
wanted to do one whole side of the car at a time it would work just fine.

I have the proportioning valve plugs, so I don't have to worry about the
valve anymore. All you need to do (on the LR only) is to put a jackstand
under the control arm end and lower the jack a bit to get the hub at ride
height to insure that the valve is open. 

If you do the RR with the LR on the ground, the valve will be open. Or you
could do as I did before I got the plugs. I disconnected the rod from the
valve to the suspension, then I zip-tied the lever against the valve (to
keep them open). The fluid flow is pretty measly to the rears, even with the
valve open (if you ever pull a valve apart to put in plugs, it is very
obvious!!), so strapping the valve open produced no noticeable difference
(but the plugs make a difference!).

There was only two "gotchas" with the pressure bleeder. One is in the
instructions.....which is to make sure that the pressure cap in centered on
the m/c. The other (that I learned the hard way) is that if you want to get
it to 20 psi, you have to crank that pressure cap down HARD. In both of
these cases, I learned the hard way, and dumped a bunch of fresh brake fluid
on the driveway! If you get one, it's also better to get a longer (like 2"
in my case) piece of hardware chain, rather than those two puny pieces they
give you...it's a lot easier to snake a long piece underneath the m/c.

Ron Porter

-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Seaman [mailto:hjseaman@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 5:46 PM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net
Cc: Ron Porter
Subject: Re: speedbleeding


Ron said:
-------------------
Spend $50 and buy the Motive Products power bleeder:
http://www.motiveproducts.com/ordernow_bleeders.htm
Not much more than the cost of those nice-idea-but-prone-to-trouble Speed
Bleeders, and it works great.
It's also better for your m/c than having someone sit there and pump the
pedal.
----------------
I agree, especially if you'd want to do more than one vehicle, the economics
favor the power bleeder real fast.
Any special tricks to dealing with the ABS? Ignition on? engine running? I
understand you have to jack up the rear wheel at the hub to make the
proportioning valve think there is weight on the rear, right?  What is the
order of wheels to bleed?
thanks
Harry
95m