This will be the first time for brakes on my 5th gen, I'm wondering if it is necesarry to bleed the lines. My pedal feel is not spongy at all and i dont feel that there is any air in the lines. Why ruin a good thing ? plus i'm only doing the front so i would not get to bleed in the suggested order by the FSM unless I hit all four corners.

Also do i need to disconnect the battery for the ABS even if i am not bleeding ??

 

you dont have to bleed them, just get that brake tool that pushes the thing back,(its that circle thingy in your caliper) O also when you are doing this take the cap off the brake fluid resevoir, and I dont think you have to unlplug your battery. Dont forget to pump your breaks untill they get hard again when your done.

 

****e! just finished and forgot to pump before test driving. I knew i missed something

Thanks for the input

 

By doing the brakes you mean what? Rotors? Pads? Why would you bleed it if you didn't loosen the bleeder screw or loosen any of the brake lines?

 

Brake fluid is hydroscopic which means it absorbs moisture. Moisture breakes down the fluid and corrodes your brake system internally. Calipers, master cylinders and even ABS systems will fail over time if the fluid is not maintained. The boiling point of the old fluid will become lower which can lead to premature brake failure under extream conditions.

Your brake fluid should be CHANGED ever 2 - 3 years or every time you change your pads. Your owners manual should have this information in the maintenance schedule.

Do you change your engine oil? (you better)
Do you change your engine coolant/antifreeze? (wise idea as well)
Do you change your transmission fluid? (want longer tranny life?)
Do you change your power steering fluid? (most don't until their racks fail)
Do you change your blinker fluid? (had to throw that one in )

Changing the brake fluid is probably the most over looked and important maintenance item on your car. It's probably the reason so many of us on here have failing calipers. The calipers freeze up because they corrode internally. The rears are especially prone to that because they are furthest from the master cylinder making them last in the circuit to see any fresh fluid.

So in regards to the question of weather or not it's necessary to bleed your brakes, the answer is yes, but take it one step further and bleed out all of your old fluid and replace it with new clean brake fluid. Do the front and the rear for a full system flush even if you only change one set of pads.

You will feel the differance in the firmness of your pedal with a system full of fresh clean fluid.

 

good answer tom,

i think i'm gonna do the entire system next weekend. so far the car drives ans stops fine, but i know the logical thing to do is to bleed the system.

 

I have a low mileage (58K) 5-speed and still have 40 to 50% left on the original brake pads. I do mostly highway driving and the car isn't a daily driver. I had the brakes flushed about a month or so ago because they have never been flushed and the brake fluid has been in there for 10.5 years plus. The way I'm going I may not replace the brake pads for another 4 years or so and I figured the fluid replacement was long overdue.

Next up is to bleed the clutch and replace that fluid. All other fluids, except blinker, have been replaced in less than the last year.

I think routine, systematic fluid replacement, apart from just oil, is an overlooked and underappreciated maintenance item.

 

to flush the system, it's as simple as pressing that bleeder nozzle thing at every wheel, right?

then just fill the resevoir and pump the pedal all day...

 

Always bleed the brakes when doing a brake job. Fluid gets old and can absorb water overtime. My fluid after only 30k of use was very nasty looking. Don't know if it had water in it from the factory, but two of my four bleeder bolts had a white buildup and rust.

 

I think it'd be a good idea just because it'll make it easier to open up the bleeder screws when you do a brake fluid change. The longer they sit, the more rust they can build up and the harder they can be to open.

 

With the OEM bleeder, No. You will need to:

1)Loosen the bleeder
2)Have friend push brake pedal to floor
3)Tighten bleeder
4)Release pedal
5)Repeat 10 to 20 times

This will keep air out of the system. I replaced all my OEM bleeders with speedbleeders. (www.speedbleeder.com). Very easy to do a one man brake fluid drain.

 

A more effective way would be:

1)Have a friend pump the brake pedal atleast 3 times and hold the pedal to the floor
2)Loosen the bleeder
3)Tighten bleeder
4)Release pedal
5)Repeat as much as neccesary

First off, if that pedal isnt pumped up enough when you open that bleeder screw, you are going to let air into the system. Also make sure you keep close eye of the master cylinder so it doesnt get too low when you are doing this. Let it run dry and be prepared to fork out lots of $$$ for a new one.

 

Good points Blue.

 

I've read if you go too long without bleeding the brakes that the brake fluid can break down and corrode the calipers, particularly the rear ones. What are the symptoms of sticking/seized rear calipers? Is there any smell or noise and is fuel economy affected?

 

 

Check out www.justbanned.com

 

I had a 91 Explorer where the front brake froze. I couldn't tell until it got worse and finally locked to the wheel. Will definately affect fuel economy. Since mine was on the front, the signs were hot brake on one side when I got home and then pulling to that side.

 

You'll notice the pads wearing down much faster on one side. Sometimes the sliders on the rear calipers get corroded and start to stick, which will cause one side to wear down fast.

You are correct about the rear ones, they tend to seize up more often then front ones. They are also more expensive to replace. Just keep a close eye on the pad wear, aslong as both sides are wearing equally, there should be no problems. If you notice one side warmer than another after a long drive, thats a good sign if one caliper is sticking/seizing up. I know at the shop we have one of those (I think its IR) temperature readers, so you can just point it at the caliper/rotor area and if one side is much warmer, thats a good sign of a caliper on its way out.

 

damn so that resevoir isn't even supposed to be drained all the way?

why would u have to fork alot of $$ .. don't u just refill the system and keep pumping away?

i'm goin to look up how-tos on the brake bleeding process .. thanks alot guys.

i'll be changing my rotors and brake pads after 3 years now ... i think it's a good time to do it now.

 

I always try to completely drain my resevoir when I bleed my brake system. And on older cars I remove the resevoir to clean it out.

 

Im referring to the master cyl itself. If you let it drain to where the piston has no fluid in it, it'll screw it up and not work properly.