13 replies to this topic

[Camelwagon]

I tried to do it, I bought one of those bleeding kits which consists of a little bottle and a hose going into it. So I unscrewed the bleeder screw and put the hose over it and then went and stepped on the brake pedal a few times and the fluid went into the bottle... I did that on all 4 tires. I test drove it and the brakes are WORSE now, pedal is very soft and goes almost to floor. I think what I did wrong was I took the hose off and then screwed the screw back in and that probably let in some air.
Any ideas?

[iteamsubaru]

I tried to do it, I bought one of those bleeding kits which consists of a little bottle and a hose going into it. So I unscrewed the bleeder screw and put the hose over it and then went and stepped on the brake pedal a few times and the fluid went into the bottle... I did that on all 4 tires. I test drove it and the brakes are WORSE now, pedal is very soft and goes almost to floor. I think what I did wrong was I took the hose off and then screwed the screw back in and that probably let in some air.
Any ideas?

What you do is you put the hose and bottle over the bleeder then you go pump the breakes up till firm or 5-7 times then you turn the bleeder slowly till there is no more air bubbles in the line and you do that on all 4 wheels. you should not get more than a half bottle of fluid from all 4 wheels. just pump them and bleed the air out. the reason they are worse for you now is you took out half the brake fluid and probably allowed more air to get back in by opening the bleeders to far. doesnt take much...

[Caboobaroo]

its easier to use another person to pump the brakes until they start to feel some resistance, then have them hold it, crack the bleeder screw until the fluid (or air) stops coming out, then tighten it and do it again until there's no more air coming out. I've used a piece of hose and a Corona bottle since its nice and clear. I put some brake fluid in the bottom of it and I then put the end of the hose on the bleeder screw and the other in the brake fluid in the bottle. Helps see the air coming out to make sure you've got it.

[grossgary]

also....get some of that airline fish hose from walmart or the pet store that will fit over the bleeder screw. put it over the bleeder screw and wrap a big loop in it, big enough that fluid sits inside the hose and never allows air bubbles to get back in the caliper. run the hose into a bucket to catch the fluid. make sure the brake master cylinder is full and never run it below the LOW line where it gets close to the bottom of the reservoir. i usually keep pumping the brake until the reservoir is about empty...if all bubbles are gone, move to the next caliper. if not, fill brake master cylinder reservoir and do it again. screw and unscrew the bleeder screw with the hose always attached so air bubbles don't flow back through the screw.

try to make a loop in the air line and trap fluid in there, if done right, no air bubbles can make it back into the system and it's very easy to do yourself. be careful of the hose though...when you pump the brakes the fluid rushes out with enough force for the hose to flop around and brake fluid can get everywhere if it's not held in place.....and you may (will) loose your loop to keep the air out.

[rallyruss]

if you have not let that much air into the system gravity bleeding is the simple way to do it by your self.

step one fill resivoir
step two open bleeder with a hose attached(or not)
if fluid and bubbles come out your doing good. tap on the caliper to help and extra air to work its way out.
close bleeder and move on to the next one.
dont let the fluid in the resivoir run out!

if that did not work then use the two person method. one person to hold pressure while the other opens the bleeder.

no need to pump multiple times before holding one or two pumps is easyer on the master cyl.

[Subarian]

Sequence is also important. You should start with the brake farthest from the MC and work toward the closest. Don't forget to bleed your hillholder, if you have one.

[NoahDL88]

Sequence is also important. You should start with the brake farthest from the MC and work toward the closest. Don't forget to bleed your hillholder, if you have one.

Subaru's have a different order, i don't have the picture on me or i'd post it.

Also, you want to make sure that pedal dosn't go to the floor, that can cause issues with your master cylinder leaking or causing fluid to go past the seals.

[john in KY]

Manual states LF/RR and the RF/LR.

[zyewdall]

At the risk of rehashing it even more.. Here is how I've done it with one person. On EA82 cars it's always worked great. On my EA81's the brakes still feel mushy (have to tap it once to absorb all the mushyness, then apply the brakes), but maybe it's something else on them.

Put a piece of tubing over the bleeder valve. Stick the other end in a clear bottle, with some brake fluid already in it. The tubing should have a one way valve in it, and it helps too to have the end submerged in fluid in the bottle. Pump the brake pedal slowly two or three times, or till you don't see any more bubbles. Tighten the bleeder screw, then take the tubing off. When you loosen bleeding screws, they don't get very loose. You just want it to come out the end, not around the threads.

Start with the farthest away, and work to the closest. If I've only taken one caliper off, often I only bleed that one line, and it seems to work, if I'm quick. And keep checking the master cylinder to make sure it has enough fluid as you pump it out.

[zyewdall]

Manual states LF/RR and the RF/LR.

Huh. Maybe that's why I can bleed just the LF caliper, without any of the others, and it's okay?

[Camelwagon]

Cool thanks guys. So how do you bleed the hillholder?

[Qman]

Cool thanks guys. So how do you bleed the hillholder?

You don't.

[Subarian]

Actually, you can. It doesn't have a bleeder on it, but I've gotten air out of it after a MC replacement by pumping the brake and then slightly cracking the fitting.

[Brettm57]

Here's one I've ran into here in the NYS rust belt: Have you checked your rear automatic brake adjusters? And no, I'm not on crack. I had a Subaru mechanic tell me this, and I thought he was nuts, too. What happened was the adjusters had rusted solid and wouldn't adjust out. Without them adjusting out, there wasn't enough travel in the wheel cylinders to make the brakes work. If you replace the front pads without doing anything with the rear brakes, this is when this problem will show up. The brake pedal will drop to the floor with no brakes. I know, it doesn't make sense, but I've ran into this a couple of times on old Subarus. Just free up the rear auto adjusters and voila, working brakes! It might be worth taking a look.