[V8] Bleeding the brakes

[Coleman, David]

Just to clarify, I think you get the best pedal by first doing a single
down/hold/purge/release series 4 or 5 times at each corner --- then do
the 3-4 pumps/hold/etc.etc. thing a few times at each corner.

I'm probably suffering from OCD, but the bleeding seems to respond
better to gradual accumulation at first.

And yes, good point about finding a bad line or MC seal at this point
rather than, well, at any other time.

-DC-


  _____  

	From: cobram at juno.com [mailto:cobram at juno.com] 
	
	
	> Absolutely you can bleed the brakes w/ a friend working the
pedal. 
	> The only danger is if helper buddy is too brutal when pumping,
which 
	> can damage the master cylinder seals.  
	 
	It's possible, but I've never seen this happen.  If it does
happen the master was probably already marginal, better to find out with
the car in the driveway than the highway.

	> Crack all the bleeders and let gravity work while you call a
friend, 
	> neighbor, or mildly gifted  orangutan. 
	> After the gravity bleed barely does anything after 40 hours of

	> standing there,
	 
	I don't think Germans believe in gravity.  This works on many an
American or Asian car, but never seems to do much on German iron.
Pressure bleeders will work. With vacuum bleeder on an Audi, I always
end up manually bleeding anyway.
	 
	> have buddy SLOWLY + GENTLY depress the pedal about 
	> 3/4 of the way down and hold. 
	 
	The pedal should be pumped at least 3 times before you yell
"hold".  The idea is to remove all the air/vapor from the line, this is
better done if the line has at least 3 pumps of pressure in it, for
obvious reasons.  The assistant should hold pressure on the pedal,
irregardless of how far down it's gone (unless it's bottomed out of
course).  If the assistant is a novice or available orangutan, maybe
telling them to "keep pushing" might be better than "hold".  You should
only be cracking the bleeder screw about a 1/4 turn for a second or
less, the more pressure at the bleeder the better. 
	 
	>Crack the r/r caliper screw to purge, 
	> then snug back up. Buddy then gently releases. Repeat until
the 
	> fresh stuff comes out. Move around the car to the left rear,
r/f, 
	> then l/f.  
	 
	The actual sequence isn't that critical to bleed results, but
does keep cross contamination at a minimum.  Good rule of thumb, that's
easy to remember is "farthest to the closest", start with wheel farthest
from driver and work your way closer.  This works even for listers who
drive on the "correct" side of the road, as they put it. ;-)  There are
vehicles out there where there is more brake plumbing closer to the
driver than farther, but nothing listers here will probably come across.
	 
	> No jumping up and down on the pedal -- just down once and 
	> hold. 
	 
	Pump, not jump.  (insert funny remark here)
	 
	> After all have been done, you can go back around, to the 
	> fronts at least, and do the pumping thing, albeit gently...
	
	You should pressure bleed the rears and the fronts.
	 
	BCNU,
	http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
	May we dance with your dates? 


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