DIY Pressure Brake Bleeding recommendations?

[TurboTahoe]

Hi guys,

If the Mods want to move this, that's OK. I know that many of us hang out in the 6.5 area.

So, it's time to bleed the Tahoe and Suburban brakes. I went to NAPA and Home Depot and built a DIY Pressure Brake Bleeder for $30!

I followed this guy's DIY instructions:

http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm

So, here's the question. I know that the shops use devices like the "Kent-Moore J-29567 Brake Bleeder Adapter"

Has anyone used the DIY brake bleeder that pressurizes the brake fluid reservoir chamber on their 6.5 vehicle, and does it work OK?

I know that this will work on some of my other cars, but I just picked up an extra brake fluid reservoir cap from the local wrecking yard, and wanted to know if you guys have any experience using the DIY method.

Sincerely,

Rob

 

[Slim Shady]

Hi guys,

If the Mods want to move this, that's OK. I know that many of us hang out in the 6.5 area.

So, it's time to bleed the Tahoe and Suburban brakes. I went to NAPA and Home Depot and built a DIY Pressure Brake Bleeder for $30!

I followed this guy's DIY instructions:

http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm

So, here's the question. I know that the shops use devices like the "Kent-Moore J-29567 Brake Bleeder Adapter"

Has anyone used the DIY brake bleeder that pressurizes the brake fluid reservoir chamber on their 6.5 vehicle, and does it work OK?

I know that this will work on some of my other cars, but I just picked up an extra brake fluid reservoir cap from the local wrecking yard, and wanted to know if you guys have any experience using the DIY method.

Sincerely,

Rob

Rob

The front and rear both have a fail-safe built into the proportioning valve called an over center valve. In short it stops the brake fluid from leaking out and draining the master cylinder if one of the lines should break or the caliper rubber line fails.

If you hand bleed and develop pressure and let the fluid drain out quickly while bleeding either the front or rear brakes it will activate and you will not be able to pressure or gravity bleed the system until you re center the valve. Sometimes difficult to do, you must reestablish pressure on the line which can be difficult if you have a fair amount of air in the systems.

Your pressure bleeder should work just fine. A vacuum bleeder would work as well.

 

[TurboTahoe]

Thanks Slim, I didn't know that. I assume that this over-center valve is probably based on volume of fluid moving into one line - e.g. if a line bursts. I'll be sure to bleed each caliper/cylinder slowly.

I'll report back how this DIY thing works.

Sincerely,

Rob

 

[TurboTahoe]

Augh! OK, this is NOT working. Here's why.

The GM brake fluid reservoir cap is clearly not designed to hold against any kind of pressure. At around 6-7 PSI it starts to leak all over the place. This appears to be due to the fact that it is a large, irregular rectangular cap held in place with plastic friction tabs. Applying pressure to the fluid causes the cap to pop up off the friction tabs and start leaking. Holding the cap down with small clamps doesn't work. The plastic cap buckles under the pressure and just starts dribbling fluid all over the place.

The pressure bleeder works really well on any brake fluid reservoirs with screw on caps. The screwed on cap is able to hold pressure and there is no mess.

Add to this the fact you need an offset box-end wrench to get to the bleed screws on the Suburban, and I just made a mess. *SIGH*.

I think I will be reduced to buying the adapter mentioned in the original post and getting an offset wrench or the 'special service tool' from GM.

Why does GM make things so hard!

Sincerely,

Rob