Jay,
Keep an eye out for a brake bleeder kit consisting of a little bottle,
tubing and a detachable magnet. I think I bought it at NAPA years ago. I
attach it to the wheel arch. I loosen the screw, pump the brakes and watch
the fluid level drop an inch. I top off and look at the tube for rising air
bubbles. After a couple of cycles of this, the bubbles are gone and I
tighten the screw. The only drawback is the bottle is pretty small. You
have to empty it a lot. I bet you could epoxy a magnet to one of those big
containers commonly sold.
Robert Bailey
Baton Rouge, LA
> -Original Message-----
> From: Jay Laifman [SMTP:Jay_Laifman(at)countrywide.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 1998 10:15 AM
> To: alpines(at)autox.team.net
> Subject: On bleeding brakes
>
> I bought one of those one person bleeders, the type you pump with your
> hand
> at the wheel cylinder to draw out the fluid. The problem was that once
> when I got up to add more fluid to the resevoir, the pump accidentally
> fell
> on to its side - which is actually pretty easy since it is not very big
> and
> the tubing creates a twisting force that wants to tip it over. So, not
> realizing that when the pump fell over, fluid went up the wrong tube, I
> started pumping away to build up the pressure. What happened? The fluid
> that went up the wrong tube got sprayed out all over the place! All over
> my paint, etc. I rinsed it off, and it seemed to survive.
>
> I tried again once, after creating this box to hold the unit so it would
> not fall over again. So, what happened? I KICKED IT OVER!(at)#$*! I don't
> use it any more.
>
> A mechanic I know, who works by himself, swears that all you need is a 90
> degree fitting for the bleeder valve attached to a long clear tube that
> you
> run straight up from the valve and loop up and over the suspension, or
> something. He opens the valve and then pumps away at the pedal, without
> the OPEN, CLOSE, OPEN, CLOSE routine. Any air goes up the tube, and does
> not sit by the valve to get sucked back in. I have tried it and have been
> very happy with the results.
>
> Jay
>
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