Bleeding brakes - just another reason to do it

[XS650]

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alright lets talk about real world.
real world is me using a grease gun to blow out pistons which have stuck into the bores because their previous owners felt it was not nessassary to bleed brakes once every 2 years or so. once those pistons are out,

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Master A, I'm sure you know about this, but for the kids at home....

If you use air pressure to blow a stuck brake piston out, wrap the assembly securely in some shop rags or other restraint. A disk brake wheel cylinder makes a really cool air cannon that can put a nice ding in drywall 10 feet away on only 110 psi of air. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[AcuraTech]

Nobody has mentioned anything yet about another important reason to flush the fluid: ABS SYSTEM.

When you are running old dirty contaminated fluid there is no telling what sort of havoc it is playing inside the ABS modulator. With all the valves and chambers inside, I could see them not working well when crudded up.

Steering and Brakes are arguably the most important safety systems on a car. And yet most people grumble about how they never change either systems fluid like they are proud of it.

Buy a Mityvac or better yet a Vacula (which I have) and suck out the old fluid! It is a tool worth buying. You need an air hose to use it though.

 

[Master ACiD]

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Quote:

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alright lets talk about real world.
real world is me using a grease gun to blow out pistons which have stuck into the bores because their previous owners felt it was not nessassary to bleed brakes once every 2 years or so. once those pistons are out,

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Master A, I'm sure you know about this, but for the kids at home....

If you use air pressure to blow a stuck brake piston out, wrap the assembly securely in some shop rags or other restraint. A disk brake wheel cylinder makes a really cool air cannon that can put a nice ding in drywall 10 feet away on only 110 psi of air. Don't ask me how I know.

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when i started rebuilding porsche calipers as a side job i tried using air to force the pistons out. many pistons were so stuck that 110psi of air did nothing to help. i ended up buying a new grease gun and filling it with cheap brake fluid. thrns out that a standard grease gun thread is the same as a porsche caliper. this way i can use hundreds or even thousands of psi to force pistons out of the bores. and sence its hydraulic fluid pressure which does not expand, they never pop out and fly across the room.