[Needleroozer]

I'm doing my brakes next week and I've never bled brakes before. The Pressure Brake Bleeder sticky had a comment that it takes about 80 cc's to flush the fronts, 100 cc's the rears, which makes me wonder how much brake fluid does the reservoir hold?

The Owner's Manual says the brake system holds 0.5 L, but that's the entire system not the reservoir alone. If it's less than 80cc's then you'd have to top off the reservoir while flushing each wheel. This could mean the difference between me doing it alone and needing a helper. What's the general experience with this?

 

[tabijan]

You should be able bleed all corners in one go if you're using a pressure bleeder with at least a liter of brake fluid. Give yourself a head start by replacing the fluid in the reservoir - use a turkey baster or MityVac - before using the pressure bleeder. The volume of the reservoir is then irrelevant.

Sixto
83 300SD
98 E320 wagon

 

[e-420]

Figure using at least a litre of fluid to do a good flush/bleed. It does no harm to use more fluid than needed. Not using enough means you left old, possibly water contaminated fluid in the system.

and as mentioned suck the fluid out of the reservoir, fill with new fluid then bleed right rear, left rear, right front, left front. do each one till it is obvious you are getting no air and clean fluid.

and use a quality DOT 4 or DOT 4+ fluid.

 

[raywbo]

You could probably get away with one liter for a flush, but in my experience it has always taken just a bit more and probably because I'm always concerned with ensuring I haven't left any old fluid in the system. An extra $15 for another liter is well worth a good flush that's only done every 2+ years. I usually do the same as Sixto to get most old fluid out of the reservoir rather than push the old stuff in there through the system. You can also crack the bleeders on your calipers before compressing the pistons back to avoid pushing that fluid back as well.

What I do in that regard is put a hose on the left front caliper bleeder and crack open the bleeder valve while I work on the brakes, etc.. It's a slow gravity drip and you have to keep a close eye on it; the danger is that if you forget about it you can drain the reservoir dry and introduce air. Sucking it from the top is a better option, but lacking a turkey baster or vacuum device that's an alternative.

 

[Kajtek1]

I've been using spare tire for brakes bleeding and even I can't give you reservoir capacity in ccm, but it is about twice what brake lanes take.
Meaning I would fill up reservoir with new fluid, put the air pressure on it, flush one axle with dumping some new fluid (color change) and still had 1/3 of reservoir left.
So I top it off for front axle, but doing it carefully you could have whole system flush with capacity of reservoir. I think it is about 1/4 liter.

 

[Needleroozer]

I've been using spare tire for brakes bleeding and even I can't give you reservoir capacity in ccm, but it is about twice what brake lanes take.
Meaning I would fill up reservoir with new fluid, put the air pressure on it, flush one axle with dumping some new fluid (color change) and still had 1/3 of reservoir left.
So I top it off for front axle, but doing it carefully you could have whole system flush with capacity of reservoir. I think it is about 1/4 liter.

Thank you! That's what I needed to know.

 

[260e crusier]

It can be done with one liter, but I like to have two on hand. Sometimes sh*t happens.

If the brakes haven't been bled for awhile. You will see (use a clear piece of tubing) a very fine stream of metal particles come out of the bleeder screw for quite a while. With two liters, you can flush longer without having to worry about running out of fluid.

Two liters of brake fluid will cost you about $25 from online. Dealer/Indie will charge about $90 to $120 to flush brakes. I still save at least $65.

 

[Kajtek1]

When I had car with acting ABS, I wanted to give it good flush, so my procedure was to push the fluid from reservoir via the calipers and than have the air run via the system. Spare tire worked the wonder.
Used 40 psi as 30 was very slow.
Car was about 10 yo at the time, yet the procedure spit some goo from the system and the brake pulsing at freeway speeds stop.