Hey guys,

If I pick up a litre of brake fluid (Dot 4 synthetic - Prestone), is that enough to do a full brake fluid flush? I am thinking it should be.

Thanks
Dave

 

Also,

Can anyone point me in a direction to a set of instructions of how to do a full brake fluid flush? I might bit the bullet and try this. Is there more than one way?

Now, unfortunately, it has to be very specific and dumbed down lol. This is me starting down the road of DIY, so assume I know nothing (about cars I mean)

Thanks!!!

 

A litre should be enough fluid.

First, take full advantage on one of the most useful documents you'll ever own and download the 2011 service manual from this stickied thread:
https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mi...-manual-44458/

In that manual you will see the following about brake bleeding:


Bleeding the brake system is a bone-simple job, but that statement should be qualified with the phrase "under certain conditions".

My wife and I have a garage with a concrete floor, a proper hydraulic jack that can lift each end of the vehicle in turn, ramps, as well as two sets of jack stands. If I were doing this job, I'd first put the vehicle up on two sets of jack stands, remove all four wheels and then begin the "bone simple" bleed job.

You have said that you do not have a garage. Do you by any chance have ramps that you can drive each end of the vehicle up onto? If you don't have even ramps, you'll have to either jack up each wheel in turn using the vehicle's jack, or attempt to bleed without jacking or removing wheels.

It may be possible to do this job without jacking or removing the wheels, but I'm not certain about that. Others may be able to state whether this is possible or not. But you can determine this for yourself by first turning the front wheels all the way to the right. Then, by getting your body in whatever position necessary, examine the caliper on the passenger side and see if you can remove the rubber cover on the bleed screw and get a combination wrench on it. If you can, also determine if you can put a clear plastic tubing on the bleed screw and what the proper ID of that tubing should be to fit snugly.

If you determine that you can do the fronts without lifting the vehicle and removing the wheels, do the same for the backs. The calipers there will be more difficult to get at than the fronts because you can't turn them outward for easier access.

If you can operate the rear bleed screws and get a length of clear plastic tubing on each screw, you can proceed with the job.

If you have to jack each wheel with the vehicle's jack, remove each wheel in turn, bleed the caliper, re-install the wheel and move on to the next, that's a way to proceed, too, but although the actual bleed job is still bone-simple, it's definitely a PIA way to do the job.

There are a few ways that this job can be done properly, but the sequence of bleeding the wheels remains the same.

Remove the cap from the brake fluid reservoir and, if present, remove the little filter in order to fully expose the fluid.

Remove as much old fluid as possible from the reservoir by using either a turkey baster, large hypodermic syringe or inexpensive manual transfer pump.

WITHOUT shaking the new bottle of fluid, pour some new fluid into the reservoir so that the level is much higher than normal.

I use a two-person method of bleeding brake system. My wife operates the brake pedal and I turn bleed screws.

I first install a length of clear tubing on the bleed screw. I call out to my wife - "push down the pedal and hold it there." As she is holding downward pressure, I loosen the bleed screw and a bunch of fluid shoots out the tube. My wife tells me that the pedal has gone down to the floor. I tell her not to allow the pedal to come up (if she does, air will pull into the caliper through the bleed screw). I then tighten the screw. Then I tell my wife to "pump it up". As she lifts up the pedal, new fluid from the reservoir fills the system. Then she pumps the pedal a couple of times until the pedal "rides high" again. Etc.

We perform this sequence until the fluid coming out of the caliper is the same color as the new fluid. The fluid level in the reservoir has to be checked frequently during this procedure to make sure it does not go too low.

For the first three wheels the fluid level can be adjusted to the top of the fill opening, then adjusted to normal operating level on the last caliper.

We carry out the above procedure on each caliper in the sequence described in the service manual's procedure.

An alternative, slower, one-person method is to fill the reservoir, install the clear tube, open the bleed screw and simply wait for the fluid to drip out until the fluid is as clear as new. Etc. Or install four pieces of tubing on the four calipers and open all the bleed screws and allow them all to drip until all run clear. Keep an eye on the reservoir level and refill as necessary.

Another one-person method that I have never tried is using a tool such as the following:
One-Man Brake Bleeder Kit | Princess Auto
Just follow the instructions included with the kit.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

An alternative, slower, one-person method is to fill the reservoir, install the clear tube, open the bleed screw and simply wait for the fluid to drip out until the fluid is as clear as new. Etc. Or install four pieces of tubing on the four calipers and open all the bleed screws and allow them all to drip until all run clear. Keep an eye on the reservoir level and refill as necessary.


This is what is going to be done I think. My buddy said he just plans to open the the bleeder screws and let it drip until the new fluid comes out.
3 stupid questions:
1. Do we just add the new fluid directly to all the old fluid, or can we suck some out first, add new fluid, then open the bleedersand keep topping up the reservoir.

2. Will the new fluid be that different in color to tell when new fluid is dripping out?

3. Once new fluid is coming out, can we just close the valves while they are still dripping and then top up the reservoir to the max level?

4. Should this be done before or after the new pads go on? I am thinking after right?

And the 1L should be enough?

Thanks for the help man, greatly appreciated

 

My suggestion is to go with a vacuum bleed kit. Like this guy:
Mityvac Brake Bleeding Kit | Brake Repair| Northern Tool + Equipment
I specifically linked this kit since it has a vacuum gauge on it. The gauge is useless in this application, but can be used later to diagnose vacuum leaks later on. (HVAC blend door problems as an example) Instead of having a 2nd person pumping the breaks, you put a vacuum on the system and pull the fluid through. However, you MUST keep the reservoir full...else you suck air into the entire system. My wife is not a mechanical person and would still not want to help out...easier to use vacuum pump...IMO. I'm sure there are youtube videos showing how to use them.

 

1. As I said in my ultra-long-winded post, you can suck out a good portion of the old fluid from the reservoir using the "tools" I mentioned. The more old fluid you get out, the better. (Do not operate the brakes until AFTER you top up the reservoir with new fluid.)

2. If the fluid is older than a couple of years, yes, it will probably be a noticeably different color than the new fluid. If it isn't, just take note of the volume of fluid that comes out of each of the four calipers. If during the course of the bleed you've added almost a litre of new fluid to the reservoir, and about 200 ml of fluid has dripped out of each caliper, there must be new fluid in all the calipers. If the dripping is at an uneven rate, just close off the one that gets to 200 ml first, then close off the one that gets to 200 next, etc. Just for safety, buy an extra small container of fluid but do not open it until after the litre bottle is unexpectedly used up. If you don't need the entire litre, discard the unused portion but keep the unopened bottle around to make any future top-ups (at least the first top-up). (Opened bottles of fluid supposedly absorb water and should not be used after intial opening, but I'm not convinced that an opened container of fluid that has the cap put back on and tightened very well actually does absorb water. Those who have electronic fluid-testers could confirm whether this actually happens or not.)

3. Yes.

4. Correct. Do it after the pads are changed.

One litre should be enough to do the bleed. If you like, you can calculate an estimated total volume of the reservoir, brake lines and collapsed piston-cylinders. The small-diameter-lines' volume must be miniscule. That of the piston cylinders must also be pretty small and the reservoir isn't that much, either -- perhaps 200 ml? So after sucking the old stuff out of the reservoir you'll add 200 of new and have 800 remaining for topping up during dripping. Again, 1 litre should be plenty and allowing 200 to drip out of each caliper is likely waay overkill.

Let us know how it goes. (BTW, since your friend is going to help you do the job, or vice versa, you should do the two-person method. It'll take far less time than the just-let-it-drip method.)

For added motivation, just give your local Mit stealership a call and ask what they'll charge you to "flush" your brake system. You'll likely be at your friend's place shortly thereafter to do the job.

 

I think my buddy has only done the drain and top up of the brake fluid, so that's probably what he is going to do.

Thanks for your input everyone - it certainly helped.

The mitsu dealership said they would only charge .5h labor for the flush, but that was while they were raping me for rotor/pad installation.

NOW, is there any special bedding in procedure of the new pads to the old rotors? I have heard yes, I have heard no. Some say to remove the residue off the old rotors first, some say don't bother.

Two mechanics I have talked with said just drive the vehicle normally after the new pads are on....

Thoughts?

 

What the mechanics told you is correct.

 

Not necessary to"bed" pads. Brake cleaner and paper towels are your friend. Clean rotor surface and pad surface beforfe installing caliper. Clean parts=no noise.

 

WEll, done....but probably not well.

We gouged up one of the rotors pretty bad trying to remove the lip of rust from the perimeter of the rotor..the surface has some ugly looking marks it (we used a dremel that had some grinder at the end and it skipped on me a few times).

The fitting of the pads seemed ok (the back ones were a little tight but went on). Everything got greased up, piston seemed ok and retracted easily for each one)...

The bleed is another story. I had to leave for about 20 minutes, and when I returned he was bleeding the fronts without any tubing and the fluid was dripping all over the caliper)..

ANyway, long story short, brakes feel pretty spongy and weak. No pull to either side, no noise (the noise is gone!) but the rims were f'in very hot! (even the backs). Why would the hubs and hence the rims be so hot???!?! Like I said, nothing seems to be dragging as far as I can tell. THoughts?

Should I get him to bleed them again - the pedal definitely travels farther and the brakes seem weak. Could be the new ceramics over the OEM pads...

Oh well....At least now I know how to do my brakes from here on out!