[Stripes777]

i got a 92 civic hatchback. i decided to bleed the brake lines today, and i seemed to have made it a bit worse. this is very disappointing, since i followed the instructions on the haynes book and the self-bleeder kit, on top of that, i do most of my own car shit.
so this is what i did. i started with the rear drums,i didnt even know they had a break line with fluid for drums. anyways, i lossen the nipple, put my self bleeder kit on the nipple and start pummping the brake pedal, after about 5 pumps, i see there is no air, so i tighten it. well, after that i go to check my brakes, and now there is even more free play. aint that a bitch

so im wondering wuts the exact procedure to do it.

1.how loose am i supposed to lossen the nipple?
2. when am i supposed to tighten the nipple back up? while the pedal is pressed down , which would be impossible to do alone, or it doesnt matter?

please help, any info would be great ,thanks

 

[kommon_sense]

so im wondering wuts the exact procedure to do it.

1.how loose am i supposed to lossen the nipple?
2. when am i supposed to tighten the nipple back up? while the pedal is pressed down , which would be impossible to do alone, or it doesnt matter?

please help, any info would be great ,thanks

1. You loosen the nipple enough that fluid can flow out of the bleeder screw when you press the brake pedal.

2. You tighten the nipple back down when the brake pedal is pressed down. Once the nipple is tightened, you release the brake pedal. This prevents you from sucking air back into the system. And yes, you are right, it is nearly impossible to do alone. You might want to check out www.speedbleeder.com .

 

[kinghawk]

Kommon gots it right for the manuel way of doing it but you noted that you got the self bleeder system..... what system did you exactly get??

 

[D16Y8mike]

all right.... you'll need someone to help you so one person can work at the brake while the other works the pedal. it's a pain in the ass (especially for the person on the pedal) but it's something you'd better do right. good luck.

 

[D16Y8mike]

oh, and make sure that while the person is pumping the pedal, the master cylinder never gets too low.... if it does you're just pumping more air into the system.

 

[kinghawk]

the generic outline of bleeding brakes ( may differ from car to car) but you would start from the slave farthest from the master which usually the right rear then go to the left rear, then right front then the left front......
But what you would do is slide the closed end of the proper sized wrench in the bleeder and then slide a clear tube onto the end of the bleeder with a glas jar filled with a lil bit of fluid
....(making sure the master is topped of before begining) and have sombody start pumping ( usually 3 pumps each time) the last pump hold it down and keep pressure on it.... let the "bleeder" open the bleeder valve once the pedal reaches the floor ( keeping it there not lifting "your foot") close the bleeder and continue with that routine on the same slave until you get rid of all bubbles and best of all dirty (old) fluid...... Once thats done more to the next slave and repeat the procedure

 

[taz77]

to do this yourself.. put some brake fluid in a bottle with a hose coming out of it. the end of the hose should be submerged in the brake fluid. use some wires or something and hang the bottle (or set it on the floor if you're not using a lift). put the proper size wrench on the bleeder screw, and then the hose over the screw. press the pedal down halfway and hold it there for a second. then release the pedal and wait a few seconds.

how does this work??? if there are any air in the system, the air should be squeezed out along w/ the brake fluid. after a few pumps, the hose should be completely filled with brake fluid, and the air would be able to leave the hose through the end that's in the bottle. once the air leaves the hose, only brake fluid will be able to enter the bleeder screw since the end of the hose is completely submerged in brake fluid.

start with back right... front left... back left... front right... u have a tandem split brake system, remember?

 

[Stripes777]

wow, good info guys. after reading these posts, i just figured i was pretty much doing it wrong.

what i did was loosen the nipple, then went around and press the pedal like 5 times. i saw that ther ewas no air, so i tightened the nipple back up, while the pedal was not depressed.

ill get my dad to do this with me, he knows exactly how to do it, i just didn kno what he was doing wen i was little, now i kno he was bleeding the lines!

as far as my self bleeder kit, itsa buncha bs. its jus a small bottle with a tube for the nipple, good thing it was only 5 bucks

so much for the self bleeder kit kit huh, looks like u still need someone to help u , thanks guys

btw, anyone order those things on speedbleeder.com? looks good and pretty cheap. cus my old ones are so old, they got stripped as soon i loosened them. i think im going to get a pair. thanks guys

 

[kinghawk]

what TAZ said was sorta off and wont help you much to get all the air out of your system...... doing what he stated it will get the air bubbles that are at the end of the line out but the rest of the airbubbles along the whole legth of line will only shift a foot or so then move almost back to where they were cuz doing it with his procedure just moves the fluid and only changes only a "foot" of fluid in the lines not the rest of it

 

[Stripes777]

so what is the correct way to do it then? i would like to get it right the first time, so i wont have to keep doing, please help guys, thanks

 

[kinghawk]

well the way Ive done it is the standard way of doing it..... I worked at two mechanic shops and may get my certification in a few but that dont really matter as for the order taz had that correct back right... front left... back left... front right... do it in the order and with the process I told you and you should be ok..... I also recommend if possible use a different color fluid to make sure you get all new fluid in the lines...... Brake fluid brakes down over time.... while your down there its best to change all your old fluid in the lines BTW keep checking the fluid level

 

[Stripes777]

i jus bought a big ass bottle of valvoline synthetic fluid, would that be enoug, it was the 5 dollar bottle , 32 ounces. thanks man, i will do this with my dad this weekend!

 

[taz77]

well, it worked for the few cars i've done that on... but not on civics.. i didn't think there would have been any difference from civics and older cars.
but hey, if u got another person helping u, that'll just speed things up much quicker. and as far as the brake fluid goes, as long as it's dot 3, u should be fine. i think the valvoline synth. brake fluid is like.. dot 3/dot 4 (on their label)? that's even better.