What have I done? (Brake fluid change)

[Letter_K]

Originally Posted By: glum
I did a vacuum bleed. Again, I don't see any possible way for air to get into the system through the bleeder when doing it this way, unless vacuum is broken. Whatever my mistakes, opening the bleeders too far wasn't one of them.

I'll post this in hopes that it saves someone else from making this mistake...

Where I went wrong was in not keeping the master cylinder filled. "But ah... You friggin moron, you SAID you kept it topped off!" And I thought I did. I found out afterward that the screen Hyundai has under the MC cover works... Let's just say extremely well. So well that it really impedes the flow of brake fluid into the MC. So what I was doing is rushing to the MC, pouring a little brake fluid in, SEEING THE MC APPARENTLY FULL because the level was near the neck of the MC, then running back to the bleeder. But the MC wasn't full--the screen was just making it seem that way because of how slowly fluid drains from the screen into the actual reservoir. Maybe I was rushing more than I needed to, but I really did not want to lose vacuum at the bleeder.

Judge the fluid level from the side of the MC? The MC on my car is not translucent enough to easily tell how much brake fluid is in there, especially once it contains brand-new fluid, which is quite colorless. I still could probably have done this if I had kept a good light on the opposite side of the MC, but I did not realize it was an issue.

So there you have it. Maybe I'll post a follow-up with the final outcome, but I'd rather die than ask another question in this thread.


Yep, totally understand. I wasn't suggesting that you loosened the bleeder too much, that was just my way to ending up with the same problem as you had. Ended up having my dad help pump the pedal and do it the old way.

Two person method is easy and cheap - if you have two people. Most of the time I didn't and ran into the loose bleeder problem when using a Mityvac hand vacuum pump to bleed the brakes.

My young and dumb story: This wouldn't exist with this type of master cylinder, but my Pontiac 6000 had the pop-off lid that exposed two chambers of the fluid reservoirs. I didn't know that when you pump the brakes on that car the fluid would shoot straight up and out of the reservoir. Which is why you were supposed to set the lid back before pumping the brakes. I ended up replacing the master cylinder because I thought it was leaking and that led to me breaking the brake lines and having to replace them too. And of course, that replacement cylinder failed and led to me doing the same thing over again.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: glum

I'll post this in hopes that it saves someone else from making this mistake...

I found out afterward that the screen Hyundai has under the MC cover works... Let's just say extremely well. So well that it really impedes the flow of brake fluid into the MC.


I'm glad you found it was something simple! Hopefully you don't have trouble getting the air pushed through all of the ABS equipment etc...

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: glum
I expected a full stream of brake fluid, but what happened at each wheel was that it dribbled into the 7205's hose. I didn't think that was a problem as long as suction was maintained.

There is a vacuum leak somewhere along the line from bleeder screw to the MityVac 7201. Most likely that you didn't push the main tube completely into the 7201, you should push it in hard until you hear a click.

 

[glum]

Thanks, but when you use the 7205 accessory, you don't use the main tube at all; you cap it off. The 7205 goes where that annoying metal/rubber stopper normally goes. So you're probably right there was a leak somewhere.

 

[glum]

I finally got around to using the Motive bleeder. By now, I had gotten used to my brakes as they were. Anyway, because I believe in helping people (or trying to), I'll post some random info in hopes that someone else benefits from it:

- I bought the adapter with model number 1107 for my 2008 Sonata (it says "Ford" but it works with some other makes as well). Motive says that "universal round adapter" 1101 would also work, but my thought was that a specific fit would be better than a supposed "universal" type. It worked very well and was not hard at all to put on, despite what Motive says. They have a 1117 adapter in aluminum but I didn't see the need to spend the extra ~$10 on it.

- I had no sealing problems at all.

- I kept it at 10 - 12 PSI throughout.

- If using a Motive bleeder for the first time, I very strongly recommend buying a gallon of some cheap brake fluid, and rinsing the bleeder out with it a few times, including pumping it through the adapter. (Out of the box, I saw some plastic debris in my Motive tank.)

I'm really pleased with how the Motive worked. It was nice not having to keep the MC topped off constantly. Of course, you need to make sure the Motive tank doesn't run dry, but it holds 64 ounces of brake fluid, so that's not hard.

I only saw air bubbles come out once, and that was on the left/rear wheel. But I wasn't watching the whole time. I did bop the calipers with a rubber mallet, as advised.

My brakes are quite a bit better now. I'm not sure if they're 100%, but maybe they'll improve even further in 30K miles when I do this again. I don't see it as worthwhile doing it a third time, this time around.

A final thanks for the assistance above.

 

[speedlever]

This was an interesting read. Thanks to the op for sharing his experience.

I bought a Motive PB a couple of years ago and used it on my Honda Pilot. Motive does not supply a Honda specific cap and only supplies the universal adapter.

That was a huge PITA and try as I might, I could not find a way to get the universal adapter to create a tight seal. Best I could do was hold about a 10 psi pressure diff that leaked. Badly.

I got the job done, but had a huge mess of brake fluid to clean up on the garage floor.

The Motive PB is a great idea.. but without a vehicle specific reservoir cap, the execution is flawed. Motive even sent me the aluminum universal adapter plate to use. I didn't try it until the other day when I was going to flush the BF in my Honda Ridgeline. It was a PITA trying to work with it and I just gave up.

Now looking at the MV7201 in place of the Motive PB. Besides, I could use the extractor to also do PS fluid, tranny, oil, and brake fluids.

I think I'll be selling my Motive PB... used once.