Apologies if this has already been posted and answered. I’m new to the club and still finding my way around! I tried to do a brake bleed last night using a Motive Power Bleeder. Without going into too much detail, I realized that I was second guessing myself through the whole process and fiddled around too much (e.g., pumped brakes, had a bad hose connection from the bleeder, disconnected the bleeder before I finished, etc.). This was definitely a low point for my DIY career! Now my brakes are more spongy than before I started, but they still work. I was wondering if there are any tips or tricks to doing bleeding the brakes using the Motive Power Bleeder, or if it really is just as simple as connecting the bleeder, pumping it up, bleeding at the caliper, and being patient (I realize there are more steps than that). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Eric
Make sure you never run the brake reservoir dry. Are you looking for air bubbles in the fluid coming out of your caliper? Keep the pressure up. I pump the bleeder up after each corner. Don't feel about about your DIY career. I had a shop replace my hard lines and they bleed the brakes. I leave the shop and almost ran a red light because my pedal went to the floor. Limped back to the shop. Oh yeah, we had a hard time bleeding them. Never went back there again. There have been a few times where I needed to bleed them using the 2-person method. That was all on my E30, E36 and Mini.
I ended up trying it again yesterday with some more patience. Followed the Motive directions to the letter and took extra care to watch the pressure in the bleeder! Everything is working a ton better this time around. Thanks for the words of advice!
If the brake reservoir is at the top of the caliper, I tap it a few times to loosen any bubbles. I don't know if that helps. Figure it, couldn't hurt, If air gets into the ABS, you can have issues. On E36s there is a trick to cycle the ABS while bleeding. Probably need a computer to cycle yours.
There are some scan tools that have the ability to “pulse” the abs to loosen an air that may have gotten into them. I have to do some research into which is the best to get since they look to be around $200
