Need to Bleed - and a Ramble
 

Hello All;

Yesterday was uncommonly warm for a mid-April day here in PA. What a perfect day to pop up the hood and get my hands into a 617, if only just a bit. Did a radiator fluid flush and change, Put on a new hood pad, changed the air filter, fuel filters, power steering fluid, and filter, and brake fluid. Fun stuff

I am wondering if bleeding / flushing the brakes is a job a beginner DIYer like me can handle. I have been reading around here on the forum, and it seems easy, but I have not found any start-to-finish instructions. I’ll keep looking. I want to be able to do these maintenance things myself, not only for the fun, but for the $$$ savings too. Come on, when you pop the hood, the diesel engine says “You can do it, you can fix it.” For some reason I find my 617 much less complicated and intimidating then an old ford V8 I had a long time ago. But then, in that old Ford, I had no desire to DIY. Its much different with my 79 300CD.

So pardon the ramble, but what I was looking for is a beginner’s guide to brake bleeding. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks,

I bled the brake hydralic system once with the two person brake pumping method. I can't say I really enjoyed it (it's very tedious), but it's pretty easy to do. I recommend doing it this traditional way over using some kind of vacuum pump (like a mityvac) and sucking the fluid out.

I wanted to know though, what did you do with the coolant that you flushed out? Is that stuff something I have to contain and bring to my local shop to have disposed? I assume it's not environmentally friendly to just dump on the driveway and wash away. Thanks

Alex

from one beginner to another. i recently installed a clutch master and slave cylinder on a 240d. and i had to bleed them. there are posts here on the trails and tribulations i encountered. now to bleeding the brakes. since the clutch and brake system share a common reseviour, i bled the brakes too. here is what i did. started at the right rear wheel. opened the bleeder with a deep socket, something like 7mm. i believe. i attached a piece of clear plastic tubing - 1/4 id i believe - and drained the old fluid into a clear container. all the while as this was draining/dripping i watched for clear fluid to emerge. and this is important. i continually replenished the brake fluid reseviour.once the fluid ran clear, i closed the bleeder with a wrench and went to the other rear wheel and repeated procedure. front same thing. do right front first. procedure calls for your working so that you bleed starting from farthest point from brake master cylinder and work in sequence eventually getting to the left front. use a socket to initially brake the bleeder loose. less chance of stripping the bleeder. do not allow the reseviour to run dry. takes maybe a pint of fluid total. two small bottles will be plenty. use recommended brake fluid. dot 4 in my case. brake bleeding a whole lot easier than clutch bleeding. the above gravity bleed outline is a one man two beer proceedure. guaranteed not to involve spouse. and as such will not compromise a marriage.

Greetings all, Just did a brake hose change and brake fluid change on my 300Dt. After several years of the two person "down, tighten, up" method I purchased a "power bleeder".

All I can say is "why didn't I buy one sooner"! For the cost of 44.95, (plus shpg) I was able to change out hoses and bleed the entire system in 40 minutes. Otherwise this would have been a two person job with many trips to refill the brake reservouir.

I did follow the the recommendations found in this forum and bled in order; right rear, left rear, right front, left front.

As I have the 300Dt & 190E 2.6 (at present) and plan to change the fluid every year, I highly recommend a power bleeder for the savings in time and effort IMHO :D

Wayne

Nasty Coolant
 

Alex:

I contained the coolant in a pan, then tranferred it to a sealable 5 gallon bucket (old Mayonaise/Pickel bucket from my days as a chef in Restaurants). I am going to bring the expired coolant to a local shop that lets me put my used liquids (oil/tf/psf/bf, etc) into large drums.

But you are correct. Its not very environmentally friendly to toss it into the local drains, and in many places its forbidden by law. So ask around at a few shops to see if they will allow you to give them the disposed coolant.

Thanks for the tips about the brakes. The two man approach was the one I was gonna try.

Bleeding
 

jpl,

Hope you used the Mercedes approved hydralic fluid or the DOT 4 fluid. I installed a new clutch master and didn't use the DOT 4 fluid, use the DOT3, a year later the pedal dropped to the floor with the seals dissolved. Those master cylinders aren't cheap either.

Any of you who haven't been invovled with British cars and Girling brakes won't understand fully just how critical the correct fluid is.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that you used the right fluid, it can save one a lot of fustration and expense!!!!!!!!

Ben

If you live in a suburban area that has a municipal sewer system, it's okay to dump used coolant down your toilet and flush. The wastewater treatment plant down the line is very capable of treating this, along with everything else that comes down the pipe.

Note: while it is okay to flush coolants down the drain, never flush any fuels or petroleum products.

FYI;)

4 Polka DOTs
 

Ben,

Thanks for the head's up. Yep, I am using the right stuff. I ordered the fluid from PartShop. Neat lite blue tin of "SL DOT 4" Bremsflussigkeit.

You are correct, I don't want to mess around with the wrong fluid for the brakes. I think its worth the extra $$ for such a critical lubricant.

All the fluid debates and threads here are evidence of the choices we can make about the stuff we put in our cars. A great deal of it is personal preference, but, in this case, I think, I'll leave the choosing to the folks that built the car. With my purchase from PartsShop, I can be assured I am following recommendations.

It may be easy to play around with different motor oils and such, but I think the brake fluid is a bit riskier.

I agree with Wayne, I got a pressure bleeder (SpeediBleed, from Falcotools.com) and it was worth every penny. Make sure of two things: Use only DOT4 fluid (not DOT3 or DOT5), and replace the two rubber "buttons" on top of the master cylinder reservoir before you use the pressure bleeder! After 10+ years they get cracked, and will either leak or worse yet, spray brake fluid out onto your paint. They are only a few bucks, just pry (or cut) them off and pop on fresh ones.

If you use the old "pump" method to bleed, don't press the pedal to the floor - only go about halfway (the normal pedal travel). A ridge gets built up in the m/c bore and when you push past it, you can tear the seal, and end up replacing the m/c. :eek:


Regards,

www.************************ has a power bleeder on special for $38.20 plus shipping and tax if you're in CA. I just received mine a couple of days ago.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
81 300SD (it's back)

FYI, at least for now the power bleeder that performance is selling is the MOTIVE PRODUCTS power bleeder. When I ordered mine I went to performance first but they were out of stock (ordered Tuesday, would be instock Monday) so I called Motive products direct and for the same price I had my power bleeder on that Friday.

GSXR had a very good point about replacing the "buttons" when you change the fluid.

Man, I love this site, kinda like 20-20 hind-sight BEFORE you do something.

Wayne:p

Rubber buttons
 

Gsxr,

Thanks for the note on rubber buttons. I'm getting ready to use my new pressure bleeder and certainly don't need the popped button problem.

By the way I see you're in the Sactomato area, the local Mercedes club toured the Littlefield private Armor Museum near here last weekend. German, Russian, British and American (146 to be exact.) tanks, tanks and tanks. All are running. Great fun, managed to crawl into a few, too.

Ben

Ben,

I'd very interested in contact information for the Littlefield Armor Museum.

Thanks,
Sixto
tabijan@yahoo.com
91 300SE
87 300SDL
81 300SD
... my armor collection :)

Buttons?
 

Where does one get the 'buttons'. And don't send me to my taylor!

Well, first you go to the tailor...
 

:D

but the "buttons" referred to are the resevoir to master cylinder grommets. There are two rubber grommets that simply press into the MC, then the brake resevoir presses into the grommets. Very easy job, especially while doing a brake fluid drain and flush.

Can be had at either FastLane or PartsShop, or even the dealer - very inexpensive parts.