Or should that read Bleedin' Brakes! I'm laid up with a knackered back and nothing better to do than think about what to do next on the bus when I'm mended. Having finished assembling all the brakes I thought I'd put fluid in and using the old tried and tested method of wife on pedal duty. I've never filled a system starting from empty before. Suffice it to say it didn't work. Got a dribble through but never a stream of fluid. About to buy a Gunsons eezibleed which will hopefully force the air locks through - does anyone know if one of the caps in the kit will fit my reservoir ('75 bay) or will I have to buy a spare and drill a hole in it? I'm hoping it will fit a '74 beetle (buggy) reservoir too. Edit: just realised I didn't adjust up the rear shoes - presumably that won't have helped!
I had similar problem with a new MC on a mg, and my brother suggested 'gravity bleed' I thought this would never work but hay ho it did and is so simples! Method; Fill master MC with new fluid, fit a see through bleed pipe on front brake nipple, place empty jar on end of tube, open bleed nipple half a turn, stand back and just let the fluid flow out by gravity, watch the air bubbles flow out. Do not touch brake peddle, top up MS. When you can see no more bubbles coming down the bleed tube tighten up brake nipple and do the other side then the back ones. Took me about 10 mins each brake and the peddle was solid at the end. Give it a try, I use this method always now. Good luck. Must mention this method will only work if MC is higher the brake nipples which on our busses is ok.
I also had some fun times, the rear cylinder was so far to one side that fluid was unable to push through into it. Took an age to find out why I was unable to pump fluid through....
I know there is a specific order to do them in, but I’ve found trying all corners and one of them will get the fluid going and sucked in.
I don't know if the order is right but I started with OSF lower then upper nipple, NSF lower then upper, OSR then NSR. Think that's right?
I’ve seen various different orders in different publications. Some say right front first, others say furthest from master cylinder first
Back bleeding is a good technique for empty systems. I’ve not tried this method on a bay but had some success on a variety of other vehicles over the years. It uses light air pressure to push brake fluid and air out of the system from the bleed nipples backwards to the master cylinder. Plenty of systems on the market to choose from. It’ll save Mrs D’s right leg Stirlingmoz
General concensus seems to be to start with the cylinder furthest from the master and then 2nd furthest etc etc ... Can`t speak from experiance as it`s in the `pending tray` and has been for a few years now .... I bought an eazibleed kit many moons ago and it worked a treat but seem to remember having to source an extra top and drill it to fit a valve - was a while ago mind so they may have `updated` the tops maybe ?? Was easy enough to sort out the top and the kit worked very well ...
I almost always work garage duty on me tod, I don't begrudge the money for my Easybleed, they look a bit Heath Robinson but seem to work really well.
Now I've put fluid in the system I fear it's too late to try that one. Don't worry Mrs D enjoys the exercise - honest.
Another one here to cheer on the easybleed, just two things, not too much pressure as less is bettererer in this case, and keep an eye on the fluid level but don’t go crazy and fill to the top. I always put a nice scrapped plastic bag down by the MC but have never needed it (so far) Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, I’ll get cocky one day and it’ll go everywhere
I'm delighted to say the Eezibleed was a success. We have pedal I didn't fancy having a pressurised plastic bottle of brake fluid inside my newly painted cab, so I used it empty and topped up the reservoir between each wheel. No idea why I bought 2ltrs of brake fluid - only used about 1/2ltr. So it worked a treat. Much better than trying to bleed the master cylinder the messy way.
Eezibleeds are amazing, unless they're not! I run mine off a compressor set at about 12PSI, but did have to change my reservoir once as I just couldn't get a seal out of it, and when you can't get it to seal it does tend to explode. That's why my garage floor has no paint on it any more!
@Mark Darby did you use any brake fluid in particular please? I have a full bottle that I was using in Fiat but that was brake and clutch fluid so don’t know if ok for T2’s.
Any Dot4 fluid is fine. Not Dot5 though. Don't use very old fluid as it absorbs moisture/air over time. So if the bottle you have says "Dot4" it's fine. Brake and clutch fluid is the same
I recently had trouble with eezy bleed as my spare tyre had a rim leak so couldn't maintain decent pressure. Got a one way valve version https://www.halfords.com/workshop-t...ropat-vizibleed-brake-and-clutch-bleeding-kit Works incredibly easily and no mess!!!!!
