ECS Tuning: How To Bleed Your Brakes 

ECS Tuning how do I know how much fluid I should pump?

Till it runs clear use a couple of bottles that should do the job.

Can I using power bleeder for motorbike as well or not ?!!!

InstaBlaster.

no need, the hand pump works well and is more robust (no electric and automatic moving parts). I have the schwaben 3 liter brake bleed pump and recommend it.

Thanks, Chris. In Canada, we can't find denatured alcohol any longer! Home Depot in the US was a good source when heading to the States for any shopping trips.

Great tips! Just got mine from ECS Tuning and can't wait to use it.

***** No problem! The video especially helped since I have an E92 M3.

@@surewin1773 So do I and i am trying to decide which product to buy.

@@goognamgoognw6637 Go with Extoil european spec....it's perfect and the has the release button...Motive thing has NOT!

@@azizhachimi8744 ha, your replied to an old post, i bought the ecs pump long ago, true it had the expected leak issue at the cap but with plumber tape it was a moderately easy to fix and the ecs pump has the big advantage of a valve manual switch. I bled my M3 all 4 brakes last year for the first time ever and it was a success. I was very happy to avoid the dealer.

Glad it helped

CLEAR AND CONCISE - are you crazy??? This is a 7 minute video and he didn't start showing how to use the product until the 4 minute mark.

@@STBRetired1 you're wrong, I own the schwaben pressure bleeder and used it successfully thanks to this video including the intro. It's important to understand the brake system and why/how brakes are bled before getting into the pump product. You don't want to be a robot copying movements you've seen in a video without understanding the context and logic, because in practice it never goes as smoothly as in a video and your car setup might be different and you often have to make on the spot informed decisions which you cannot make without knowing more than the product.

you need to stop using acronyms at odd places, this is a bad habit that is ok on live chat, but not on permanent text. You're obscuring the meaning of what you're trying to say.

@@goognamgoognw6637 im sure he meant break master cylinder??

@@adriandutkewych7669 yes, i see it know, thanks. I already bought the german bleeder other brand and used it. I was prepared for air leaks and It sure leaked at the master cylinder reservoir cap but i was able to make it air tight with plumber white tape. The only inconvenience is you are forced to not put any fluid in the bleeder tank itself (any leak would spill fluid instead of air) so you have to keep a careful watch on the master reservoir level make sure it never empties and each time you add fluid to it you are forced to remove the plumber tape and put new one to make the screw cap air tight again. It's not as much pain as it sound, and since you don't bleed brakes often. Bottom line this worked for me and i was satisfied to successfully bleed the brakes. I was less happy about dripping some fluid from the rear caliper on to my wood ramp. My advice is to not apply excessive force when screwing the cap on. It won't make it more airtight and you will only damage the thread. Just use plumber tape and start with moderate force and it'll be tight.

@@goognamgoognw6637 I believe I seen people remove the fluid from the reservoir then hook up the pressure bleeder empty to test that it holds pressure, when you confirm it holds pressure just release pressure and use with fluid.

@@barrysuss4421 Well not really, not without significant risk to spill fluid over your engine bay. I went through this so i can speak with assurance. The master cylinder reservoir plastic thread where you screw the bleeder pump on was never designed to hold the pressure needed to bleed brakes which is quite a lot of pressure. The soft plastic thread was only designed to hold the cap under no pressure. The way garages bleed brake is by suction at the caliper where the nipple thread is solid metal., this bleeder pump method is a bank saver but you have to be careful. Even if you test it without fluid and hear no air leak, it can start seeping fluid gradually. The plastic thread on the reservoir isn't very rigid, even if it does not leak at all in the first 2 min, as plastic deforms over time under pressure it can start seeping fluid gradually more and more. Yes, you may be able to do it with fluid in the bleeder but from what i saw, it's was not worth the risk of ruining my day. I got it done without spills and that's the right way in my opinion.

Thanks

@Floyd. B exactly. Gravity keeps the air above the fluid in the reservoir (unless you run out of fluid in the tank). Even though the fluid and air are both pressurized, the air still make its way around and above the fluid (heavier than air). So you won't get bubbles in the system.

I'm not a mechanic but 1L is plenty for most systems as far as I know. big BUT, if you overbleed the rears because you're too busy drinking your beer and it measuring the fluid coming out, you'll run out before you can do the rest of them. that's why i'd recommend using a collector bottle with volume measurements on there! if you're really concerned you can find out the ~ exact fluid capacity somewhere but 1L should be good.

true if he empty the master cylinder he needs to use GT1 or iNPA to bleed ABS pump!

thought same thing lol

@@abbprrodriguez744 me too

There are two options you can use air pressure only from the tank or fill it with fluid like in this video. it is less risky to use only air from the tank (you risk nothing in case the adapter to reservoir leaks, some reservoir plastic is made of soft plastic with poor threads rigidity and can make a pressure tight connection difficult, use plumber white tape as a trick!) and it also is cleaner (nothing to clean) but the catch is you have to be vigilant and keep the reservoir filled and never let it empty below the min (when you open the bleed screw the fluid level will go down) otherwise you will pump air into the brake lines (and waste more fluid getting the air bubble out of the system all the way to the wheels bleeder screw). So it's like this : When you pressurized the system, you open the bleeder screw which drains into the catchup bottle with old fluid but you tighten the screw back to check the level of the reservoir under the hood. You have to refill maybe 3 times per wheel which means, depressurizing, unscrewing the adapter cap from the reservoir refilling with fluid, putting the adapter cap back on, pressurizing the tank again and repeat. It's slower and more work but much much safer (brake fluid leak from the reservoir will destroy sensors and damage paint finish) In the other (riskier) method the tank is filled with fluid. The pressure in the bleeder tank bottle is made from air pumped atop the fluid. The tube infeed catches the bottom of the tank fluid so that only pressurized fluid flows to the reservoir. But the air initially in the reservoir and tank tube does not disappear it is actually compressed into the reservoir but gravity keeps it above new fluid coming from the pump (read that again it's a bit tricky). When you are finished there is an air release valve on the bleeder that you press to depressurized it. You do that before disconnecting the reservoir, some fluid will flow backward into the bleeder tank because your whole brake system is still at +15+20 psi and your tank is now back to atmospheric pressure, until pressures equalize by themselves. The air that was initially in the reservoir will still be there and should actually refill the tube so that there is no overflow when you physically disconnect the adapter from the reservoir (except for a film of fluid covering the inside of the tube due to viscosity that may drip a few droplets). Don't be frustrated if this is not straightforward to understand and visualize. It's actually quite tricky and you have to see it in action.

you can also make this with a spare reservoir cap, a hose barb to npt adapter, some tubing, and a small hand held tank sprayer.

Chiman I total agree with you it makes à great job

I do it the same.

Gigi de la tara yep on m'y truck we did each wheel twice in 40: min probably 10 ounces of fluid

Brake fluid can leak from the reservoir. It also attracts dirt. So i prefer to keep the tool clean.

Look up “EPAuto Spill Proof Radiator Coolant Filling Funnel Kit” on Amazon. I just found out about this funnel through ChrisFix “fluid” videos.

Denatured alcohol. Put it 1/8 full. Swish it around and pump it out. There is probably a cheaper cleaning fluid but I don't use it enough to worry about finding one.

if you empty the master cylinder you are in trouble becuase air will stuck in abs pump and without gt1 OR inpa YOU WILL STILL HAVE AIR IN ABS PUMP!

Looks like pella oil extractor (Harbour freight/princess auto has them fairly cheap) but you don't need anything fancy to do that part you are literally removing 250ml of fluid from the fluid reservoir so a turkey battery from dollar store would work just fine. And take same amount of time.

I cannot believe this, after a thorough homework online, nobody said this anywhere.... While bleeding my front brakes I got a ton of air bubbles... Could you provide me with a link to a tool that would get the job done for a 2018 M2 (F87)? Do you know how to get our hands on the service manual!? I cannot find it online.... If you reply, I REALLY appreciate the help man!

That makes sense but i've never seen this anywhere and hundred of people successfully bled their brakes (me included) themselves without doing this. This step might only be required if you entire system is empty of fluid.

Clutch works independently, but with the same fluid. There is a separate valve for the clutch. Be sure to bleed that too.

The recommended method is to rinse the reservoir and hoses with denatured alcohol.

Never heard or seen such a thing. Brake systems are sealed and air tight. There is no where for overflow to come from so you don't need overflow pipes for it to go to.

Dans tous les cas commence par retirer autant de vieux fluide du resérvoir que possible. Puis travaille sans remplir la pompe de liquide et rempli uniquement le reservoir au niveau max si tu préfére ne pas prendre le risque d'une fuite au niveau de l'attachement entre le reservoir et le connecteur de la pompe, l'inconvenient est que tu vas devoir devisser pour re-remplir le reservoir et revisser la pompe plusieurs fois et surtout fait attention que le reservoir ne se vide pas entièrement . La deuxième alternative est de travailler avec la pompe remplie de fluide, dans ce cas tu procède de même au départ en vidant le réservoir du vieux fluide puis tu rajoute seulement un peu de nouveau fluide avant d'attacher la pompe, pas besoin dans ce cas de remplir le reservoir jusqu'au maxi.

i use sealing tape on the thread on the master cylinder reservoir and wrap it around at least twice. It does its job superbly, no leaking, and once I'm done bleeding it comes off the thread easily in one piece. No mess, no fuss.

I'd advise against using fluid in the tank, just use air only, and add more fluid in the reservoir during the bleeding process a few times. This eliminates the risk of spilling fluid.

That's an excellent question. Here is my non-experimental guess. At the beginning of the video, there is some air in the reservoir and in the pump tubing. As he hand pumps the pressure moves some fluid and air that was in the tube into the reservoir. You'd think that all the air in the reservoir gets pushed down to the brakes bleeder screw, and the reservoir becomes full of fluid but that's not what happens.. This is where Physics gets tricky. The volumic mass of fluid is heavier than that of air. First look at what happens when the bleeder screw is still closed. Both the air and the fluid are trapped in the system at the same pressure created by the pump. The only forces that can create moment is gravity and fluid surface tension. The heavier than air fluid wants to go down and any air bubble wants up. In the reservoir the diameter across the fluid to air interface is the biggest making it easy for the air to stay above the fluid (both are pressurized). Next the bleeder screw is opened creating a gradient of pressure across the system. Now both the air and the fluid want to move down the brake pipes. But gravity and surface tension still operates. In the reservoir new fluid from the pump gets sucked into the pipe at the bottom of the reservoir, however the air will stays on top of the reservoir due to the large cross section. However, any air that gets sucked into the aluminium pipe narrow cross section at the bottom with not be able to bubble back up because of fluid surface tension. That air will have to come out at the bleeder screw end. Think how a drinking straw can hold liquid and air inside it, that's fluid surface tension. The narrower the diameter the more difficult it becomes for an air to bubble up. From this analysis i think you never want to have less fluid volume in the reservoir than there is air trapped in the tubing when you first connect the pump to it. If you do, when you build pressure with the pump the fluid/air interface will go down to the bottom of the reservoir into the pipes before fluid from the pump has a chance to keep fluid in the reservoir. Once there are small bubbles in the system, it is hard to get it out. So i would be careful with his advice in the video to remove as much of old fluid in the reservoir as possible. After doing that, I would add some fresh fluid directly in the reservoir before connecting the pump. To finally answer your question, there will be some air in the reservoir at the end of the whole bleeding process, but first unscrew the pump cap to let the pressure go. Some air will return to the pump bottle (you can see it in the video) but there will still be some air left in the reservoir.

@@goognamgoognw6637 Two years old, but this comment should be pinned at the top for everyone to see. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

Good tip, I wouldn't store fluid in it anyway, it builds up a small amount of pressure and pukes out small amounts of fluid making a huge mess.

Good thing they used a rubber that was degradable when in contact with brake fluid, the very liquid it’s supposed to be designed to be in contact with. Good job motive. Also, good job on not making a Honda adapter, only some square universal deal, with j-shaped screws and small toilet flapper chains and wingnuts. If I knew every adapter would be $30+, you couldn’t leave brake fluid in the brake fluid bleeding machine, and that they didn’t even HAVE an adapter for many cars, I wouldn’t have bought one.

It is better to use dish soap and water to clean the power bleeder and hose, no need to use toxic mineral spirit. The result will be the same.

Good man

tell it to the united statian deep state who are supplying war weapons to prolong the war instead of doing the fighting themselves which they triggered. The usa got kicked out from Afghanistan like a stealing dog so they had to try to make Russia look bad to get even.

Lord Bacon - bleed is always the last step

okay thanks, Matt!

I just read this reply and am wondering if there is a typo. You used "elevate" but did you mean "eliminate"?Thanks

The stick (or a person applying light pressure to the brake peddle) pushes the master cylinder pistons in a little so that fluid can go around the pistons and flush out the areas that would normally be missed. Another function is to center a proportioning valve so that fluid can flow equally to the rear and front brakes.

IF YOU HAVE BMW!ORDER ON EBAY GT1 SOFTWARE WITH CABLE AND USE GT1 WHEN YOU BLEEDING ITS VERY NICE TOOL!