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On Sun, 24 Mar 2002 13:33:35 -0600, Jim Adney wrote: >On 23 Mar 2002, at 22:35, Mark Healey wrote: > >> I'm having trouble finding someone reliable to act as a helper for >> bleeding brakes. It seems to me that an easy way to do it oneself >> would be to run a hose from the bleeder valve to the resovoir >> (making sure it is below the fluid level) and pump for a while. >> >> Is there any reason this wouldn't work? > >I wouldn't reuse old brake fluid. It absorbs moisture from the air and picks up >dirt in the system. It is often pretty disgusting when you see it. I recycle >silicone brake fluid, but it doesn't absorb moisture and I "wash" and filter it >carefully. I don't think that will work with standard brake fluid and it takes >special equipment and skills to do with the silicone. > >It's not too hard to bleed brakes alone, although a helper makes things a lot >easier. You don't need a skilled helper, just someone to pump while you >watch things. Just get 18" of clear plastic hose that will fit the bleed valves >snugly and a plastic pop bottle to catch the old fluid in. > >Note that there is no need to close the bleed valve on the upstroke, in spite >of what most of the books say; many of those people seem never to have >worked on a car themselves. Of course I did this when I first started, but >some real mechanics straightened me out and I haven't done that for years. >Just let the hose loop up as it comes out of the bleed valve and then dip all >the way to the bottom of the catch bottle. > >The hard part is that you have to keep getting out of the car to see how >you're doing and check the reservoir to make sure that you don't suck it dry. That is why I figured that if you ran the hose to the resovoir the the bubbles would float up once they reached the end of the hose and any back flow from releasing would pull in fluid. Mark Healey 71 FI auto square 71 FI manual square marksvw@healeyonline.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- Search old messages on the Web! Visit http://www.vwtype3.org/list/