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Re: brake fluid bleeding/changing addendum

>Since you don't have ABS.. the procedure is simple:

>1.  Marry an understanding woman. . . .
>10. YELL to wife... "press down on the brake, and HOLD IT DOWN"
>11. Open bleeder - hopefully you'll see lots of gooky brake fluid coming out.
>12. Wait for wife to say "It went to the floor"..

Don,
Nice procedure. However, it has a flaw that can kill your master cylinder,
especially in older or poorly maintained cars.  I learned the hard way; when
the second MC went south, I saved the reservoir cap.

If there is any degree of corrosion in the master cylinder, this method will
rub the piston seals over the corrosion repeatedly and you'll find the pedal
won't hold when you're done. The kicker to the diagnosis is if the pedal *will*
hold when you stand on it and compress the seals shut.

I've got a brake fluid reservoir cap with a screw-in (i.e. metal) tire valve in
it. I use a small compressor to pressurize the reservoir to about 20 psi and
let that pressure purge the lines of the old fluid and replace it with new.
Clearly, in all cases, you have to watch the reservoir level, as you've noted.
And you get less interaction with your loved ones (See #1 above.)

In one case of a car that had sat for a long time, I did need to pump the pedal
a little, just to get the sludge (yes, I mean sludge) moving. This was a real
eye opener for the new owner, who couldn't understand why I was so adamant
about changing brake fluid . . .

This also works much, much better than any of the vacuum devices.

>Castrol LMA. . . .  Plan on about 1 quart if you've never done it before. Keep
off paint

I second this recommendation. Two 12 oz. bottles are usually enough to have
some left over, even for the Volvos with their 8 bleeder nipples (dual front
pistons on *different* circuits). Keep in mind that, the moment you  open the
bottle, it starts to become trash - ALWAYS use newly opened fluid unless you're
just nursing a leaky clutch slave or something similar.

Frank