Issues with brakes/bleeding - PLEASE HELP!

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

Now before people start shouting "search bar" at me, believe you me, l've spent many hours reading every thread l can find stretching back many months.......but l'm still no wiser on the situation

So the story goes.............at the end of last week l took all my calipers off to refurbish them with the intentions of changing all the discs and pads at the same time along with a load of other much need maintenance. Now after one problem or another, over a couple of days, l ended up having all the fluid drain out of the system leaving me with a system full of air which l know is NOT good!
l've read through countless posts about bleeding the system and other related issues and although drained systems come up in conversation a few times, no advice is given as to how you should go about refilling the system (people just simply say "DO NOT let it happen", but obviouslly on this occassion, it was totally out of my control)

Do l simply refill the reservoir, attach my Esibleed and crack on in the usual manor or is there something else l should be doing because of the current predicament l've found myself in?

Any help or light anyone can shed on the situation will be greatfully received!

 

[wayne lcr]

i had the same prob i filled mine back up blead all the nipples carnt remem which way round to start. so the story goes them easy bleed kits r pants tryed two days to get the air out and no joy.so i got half of brake pedel and limp it to a local garge that does it propley and it took them about half hour and charged me 20 quid but think he add to bleed it from the servo.

 

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

So you don't rate those kits then? l've used them in the past on several cars and never had any major issues, but this 'quick job' seems to be taking forever now, so l'm not going to dissmiss further problems just yet....

So you reckon just fill the reservoir up, follow the usual methods and see what happens? Did you bleed the master cylinder before or after the calipers?

Also, what did you do regarding opening the ABS valves via VAGCOM?

 

[wayne lcr]

i dint open the master dint want to mess and fxxk the ends up i just filled it and after 2 days i got pissed off of doing it.i just filled the reservoir bleed it till got half pedal and took it to a garage mate up to you if you want to do it your self.

 

[wayne lcr]

and ant got vagcom or oat like that

 

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

You might have a point you know! l've spent way too many hours on the dam thing as it is and can't aford any more time off work, so l might just get them 'working' enough to get it to a garage and pay them to bleed it for me.

l'll get it to a standard that l feel comfortable driving it and go from there l guess....

Why can't these bloody LCR's be as simple to play with and repair as the old Mk2 Golfs! l could strip one of those bad boys and rebuild it in a day!

 

[wayne lcr]

lol ive found that out as well with the r and give me a cvh engine ie rs turbo and iam same strip it in a hour the joys of motoring dont let the garge fill you with toss saying this that and the other

 

[vngtx]

bleeding is simple, top fluid up to max, pump pedal up till you get some pressure, open the furthest nipple from the master cylinder while pedal is being pressed down. when pedal reaches floor close niple and repeat several times. move onto second furthest, repeat, second closest, repeat, closest, repeat. keep the reservoir at the max level through the process or more air will fill up the system.

 

[godber225r]

The eazibleed kits are good ive used them loads and never had any problems.

Just recently changed brake fluid in mine with it and achieved good results, You probably got air in master cylinder which will need bleeding and also if you let the fluid all out you definatly got air in the abs pump which is causing all your problems.

try bleeding the system with the engine running and turn the pressure up slightly on the eezibleed.

i hear the rear calipers are difficult to bleed with trapping air so tap them with a rubber faced hammer when bleeding and see if you get a better pedal.

 

[Steely]

Just my 2p worth

ive drained the system twice,

both my master cylinder and servo are off the car at this very moment, im going to do a guide on servo removal and how i re bleed the brakes and master cylinder back up,

the mis-conception about never pumping the pedal is partly a myth!, yes true its not good to pump to the floor since it stresses the master cylinder seals mainly because acting pressure of the brake fluid isnt there on the opposite side of the cylinder, well , Ive got another master cylinder in bits which i'll show on the guide,

Ive not really put much into SCN so thought it'd be a good help,

Hopefully servo/mastercylinder and the plumbing should be back on tonight and bled up

last time i bled up it was

pass rear

drivers rear

drivers front

pass front

master cylinder x2 nipples,

 

[vngtx]

if theres still no pedal just open the furthest nipple and let it bleed out on its own until its just fluid coming out. sometimes works.

 

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

l'm more than confident with bleeding the system but as stated in my first post, the system has ran dry while its been sat on axel stands in the driveway, so l was seeking advice on whether there was a 'best practice' when refilling/bleeding the system under these circumstances.

Plus, there's issues surrounding the ABS valves being opened during bleeding that l keep reading about. A mate has VAGCOM, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue, its more a case of making sure l don't screw anything else in the process and actually finish up with a working braking system i.e. No spongy brakes

 

[Steely]

i never had any issues with the abs system , and the calipers were off 4 weeks, left dry!

the systems now been dry another week,

from A DRY system i did

pass rear

driver rear

driver front

pass front

MC x2,

constant feed of fluid and you'll have no problems,

 

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

The eazibleed kits are good ive used them loads and never had any problems.

Just recently changed brake fluid in mine with it and achieved good results, You probably got air in master cylinder which will need bleeding and also if you let the fluid all out you definatly got air in the abs pump which is causing all your problems.

try bleeding the system with the engine running and turn the pressure up slightly on the eezibleed.

i hear the rear calipers are difficult to bleed with trapping air so tap them with a rubber faced hammer when bleeding and see if you get a better pedal.

So l'm guessing that using VAGCOM to open the ABS valves will resolve the issue of having air in the ABS pump? And you recommend actually having the engine running while trying the bleed the system?

 

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

i never had any issues with the abs system , and the calipers were off 4 weeks, left dry!

the systems now been dry another week,

from A DRY system i did

pass rear

driver rear

driver front

pass front

MC x2,

constant feed of fluid and you'll have no problems,

.....and you get a good brake pedal etc??? Also, do you know if l should be bleeding the inside or outside nipple first on the Brembo calipers, or does it make no difference?

 

[Seat Adam]

It shouldn't matter really. I would do the inside nipple, then outside. Then recheck if i'm not sure. Working the ABS valves using VAGCOM may help a bit whilst bleeding that corner, depends if it has emptied the modulator. Do just the calipers first and see if it sorts it, if only a slight improvement occurs then do it with ABS valves also and see what happens.

 

[AntneeUK]

Dougie, did you contact Chris? He's a top man when it comes to brakes and he bled mine dry and sorted them out properly. If you haven't, give him an email. He may even offer for you to pop over, I dunno

 

[Muttley]

Don't forget the clutch . . .

 

[AntneeUK]

Indeed! Good point

 

[D_O_U_G_I_E]

Cheers for all your help guys! I'm now going to give it a crack, so I'll let you know how I get on.

Wish me luck...