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Ran my brake fluid dry, cant bleed!!!!

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Old May 30, 2006 | 02:13 PM
  #1  
thefed's Avatar
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Ran my brake fluid dry, cant bleed!!!!

A line burst at the front passenger wheel. I fixed it. The system was totally dry. I filled up master, bleed for an hour (gravity,pressure,2 man team) and nothing... not even a dribble.

Someone said I was fubar'd because i let it go bone dry, and something about 2 valves?


Can anyone shed some light plz?
Old May 30, 2006 | 02:29 PM
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I did that once and couldnt get it to bleed. I accidentally had the key in the ignition on on and nothing came out. Took the key out and it bleed fine. Not shure if thats the problem or not.
Old May 30, 2006 | 03:09 PM
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Doesn't sound right. You must be doing the procedure incorrectly. Open the furthest bleed nipple - rear right? and pump the pedal. The whole system can't be bone dry. Remember it's pedal down - close bleed nipple - pedal up - open nipple - pedal down - etc.
Then proceed to the other rear wheel, work your way around. Last wheel to do is the one nearest the master cyl.
Old May 30, 2006 | 03:40 PM
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i just had the same crap happen to my clutch. i couldn't bleed it by pumping the pedal so after jamming the attachment of my power bleeder in there and forcing 20 psi through there i finally got it. get a hold of a power bleeder and you should be good.
Old May 30, 2006 | 03:54 PM
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I had a similar issue once bleeding a clutch. A vacuum pump at the bleeder got enough into the system to use the pedal again. Autozone rents a vacuum pump.

Dave
Old May 30, 2006 | 04:52 PM
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My autozone and Kragen have a vacuum bleeder kit, something like this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92474
Jae
Old Jun 7, 2006 | 12:24 PM
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Bump.

I changed my SS clutch line out. And when I went to fill the master cylinder with brake fluid I noticed it was already bone dry basically. Which answered two questions.

1. No wonder very little fluid came out.
2. It explains why my clutch acts funky from time to time.

I bought a vacuum bleeder kit, I hooked up to the bleeder and I pump away and very little fluid comes out. Does this mean I have so much freakin air in the system? Or is something else wrong? The fluid in the master cylinder is not dropping at all.
Old Jun 8, 2006 | 10:32 AM
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I'd suggest picking up a set of speed bleeders too. I replaced all my brake bleed nipples with speed bleeders and can bleed the system pretty efficiently alone. Keep in mind that it takes many, many, many pedal depressions to push the fluid through. It took me a few hours to bleed mine when I replaced my brake lines with ss lines.
Old Jun 8, 2006 | 10:48 AM
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had the same issue when i replaced my clutch line. i used a power bleeder and it took about 15 minutes.

http://www.motiveproducts.com/02bleeders.html
Old Jun 8, 2006 | 11:39 AM
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Power bleeder, now that's even better...
Old Jun 8, 2006 | 01:59 PM
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Bought a power bleeder for my clutch. Not working out. I believe the Master cylinder is shot. I ordered a new one. Hoping this solves the problem.
Old Jun 8, 2006 | 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by toddemullins
I'd suggest picking up a set of speed bleeders too. I replaced all my brake bleed nipples with speed bleeders and can bleed the system pretty efficiently alone. Keep in mind that it takes many, many, many pedal depressions to push the fluid through. It took me a few hours to bleed mine when I replaced my brake lines with ss lines.
That's bizarre. With speedbleeders it takes about 10pumps per corner to fully clear the system, and that's using almost a full liter of brake fluid. Did you have the bleeder opened far enough?

But buying a new master cylinder is almost never a bad idea when fighting clutch or brake problems. It's just too damn important. I don't buy cheap protective cups, condoms, or brake components.

Dave
Old Jun 8, 2006 | 05:37 PM
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Not sure what the problem was with the bleeders, but it took forever. Maybe I was going overboard on making sure all the air was out of the lines, so it probably was fully bled after several pumps. Was my first real brake job, so I'll chock it up to being a brake noob.
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