Brake Bleeding

[jbarhorst2]

Hi Group,

I got a power brake bleeder from Motive Products for my birthday and want to bleed my brakes this week. What is the correct order to bleed the brakes on a 1997 SC300 and a 2001 RX300.

Is there a certain pressure I should stay below when pushing the new fluid through the system?

Thanks for the help.

Tom.

[BlackSC4]

i beleive you bleed the furthest ones away from the master cylinder first. someone can correct me if im wrong.

[JDOwen2]

Pass. rear, Driver's rear, pass. front, then driver's front is the usual order. I use an old turkey baster to suck out as much of the old brake fluid out of the master cylinder first and then top it off with new fluid and then proceed to bleed the brakes. If you use a clear plastic hose on the bleeder you can see when new fluid is pumped out of the caliper as well as any air bubbles. ;)

[LS/RXKevin]

I just bled the brakes on my 94 LS and tried a hand pump up vacuum rig that I bought from Griots some years ago it just sucked air bubbles from around the bleder valve threads. Use a second person in the driverseat and pump the brakes, the old tried and true method works best. I used Valvoline synthetic. Yes, pass rear, driver rear, pass front and then driver front.

[jbarhorst2]

Thanks for the info guys.

Is there a maximum pressure I should stay under when I'm pushing the new fluid through the system?

Thanks

Tom

[99lsguy]

I also have a question....

Do you guys start the car before pumping the brakes and then holding them down...

[SKperformance]

No need to start the car as you want to stabilize the booster pressure.

Funny enough i learned in college to follow the service manuals according to the brake proportioner.

Which usually was closest then the furthest away on the same lines of the proportioner.

Basically it will help stabilize pressure if the car breaks a brake hose by losing only 2 wheels instead of all 4 in the case of a leak. It usually keeps the front left and rear right as one channel and the other 2 as the other pair.

I always started at the closest to the master cylinder as to remove as much old fluid as possible eaiest before pump new fluid throught the lines.

So basically the driver left ,then rear right ,then front right and rear left.

[SKperformance]

ONe other thought most people over look when bleeding a system is to move the piston back into the caliper and lock it in place .This keeps any air from hiding behind the piston which then would not get bleed.

[hammer008]

OK, I bled the brakes. PRear, DRear, PFront, Dfront with those 1 man bleeder tools.

After bleeding, the brakes have a nice firm pressure with the engine off...so there is definitely no leaking...verified by reservoir being always full.

Now, after I drive for 1 km, the brakes feel a bit better but still goes down to the floor. :cries: with moderate foot pressure.

I re-bled the brakes again....nice and firm with the engine off...after 1 km again the brakes feel soft...but works fine.

Are lexus supposed to have soft brakes?

[jbarhorst2]

That sounds like you may still have air in the lines. The reason the pedal gets firm when the car is off is because the is no vacuum assist.

Are the brakes firm after atarting the car, but before you drive it?

[hammer008]

That sounds like you may still have air in the lines.  The reason the pedal gets firm when the car is off is because the is no vacuum assist.

Are the brakes firm after atarting the car, but before you drive it?

←

Every morning when it is cold/chilly, the brakes are firm and fine...however, late afternoon under the hot blazing afternoon sun, and heavy city traffic, it starts to get mushy and less confident. Although it stops good enough as to be not a major problem, it doesn't have that hard firm feeling I like to have...and it goes to the floor when I press medium hard.

:cries:

[sc_toy]

I'm having the same problem. My brakes were okay pedal feel wise, but my slider brackets were bad so I had all my calipers and sliders rebuilt. Upon reinstall I've bled and bled the brakes to no avail.

I'm a pretty experienced mechanic but am not having good luck with this. Maybe I need to compress the piston before bleeding? The last time I bled them they felt great for about 1/2 a km and then got softer again.

Where it used to grab hard with about 1.5-2" of pedal travel, it's now more like 4" and it doesn't have the same confident feel (it seems to pull a touch under hard braking making me think one line has air, or more air than the other.)

Also, how to bleed the accumulator and other ABS stuff???

Cheers,

Aaron

[DomLee]

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/howtob...brakesright.htm

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/bleeding_abs_122701.htm

[nnkfws333]

why don't you just bleed it the old fashion way? I find that being easier to me.

[sc_toy]

Update:

Rebled the rear, heard something on drivers rear so kept bleeding and bleeding and eventually *puff puff poof* a big bubble came out. Bled a couple more times (fluid was nice and clear), and now they're great.

FWIW, I've got stock rotors, pads, calipers, etc. Just new surfaces and ford DOT 3 brake fluid (550 deg. DOT3). Took it for a drive and the brakes were ROCK hard. Took it up to 130-140 km/h and planted them and it just about put me through the windsheild.

Went for a long drive around town and they didn't loosen up, so it looks like that was the only bubble.

Thanks for the help, I can't believe I've done motor swaps and this caused me troubles... lol

Aaron

[monarch]

Like jbarhorst2, I got a Motive Power Bleeder on ebay for $50 and I consider it the ultimate tool to change the brake fluid and get all the air out. Works great for changing & bleeding the manual transmission clutch fluid too.