Flushing brake system with ESP
 

Hey guys:
Just did a complete brake job on the E55 and replaced the brake fluid with the gravity method and old fashioned hold em down bleeding technique. The brakes seem spongy and I was wondering if there is a specific method to bleed an ESP system-like need to be hooked up to the dealers computer or something like that...Any ideas? Thanks
Gary

Yes, your car needs to be connected to the Star Diagnosis computer to "COMPLETELY" bleed all of the old fluid from the system. Most new cars with traction systems do also need to be DONE THAT WAY.

M.B. DOC,

Is necessary to be connected for purging air from the lines, or just in the case of a system flush?

Jeff Pierce

I have read in the Star mag. somewhere that it s not necessary to touch the ESP system when bleeding the brakes. I use the EZ bleeder sytem when doing mine and it works great. It s about $45 DOLLARS and makes it any easy one person job with no air in system the first time.

Many people are confused by the differences in bleeding brakes & FLUSHING the brake fluid every 2 years.
THE question was asked whether or not need to connect to the SD laptop when you FLUSH the brake system? & that answer is YES. Otherwise some of the old fluid will remain in the system!
YOU can bleed air from the system w/o connecting the correct equiprment.

IN fact going all of the way back to 1992, the W140 chassis (400SE & 500SEL) required jumping the solenoid on the master cylinder to completely FLUSH the brake system as well.

I have a 87 190e 16 V and I have no idea when the brake fluid was changed last.

I want to get the old stuff out and put in new. Is this bleeding or flushing? I was just going to have my girlfriend pump the brakes when I open the bleeder valve.

Is this the "wrong" way to do it? Won't that get the job done though?

What is this EZ bleeder and where can I get one?

Thanks

Flushing means removing ALL of the old fluid & replacing it with new fluid.
I do that several times a year on my 16V racecar. Start by removing the fluid reservoir & rinsing it out with new fluid.
Reinstall the reservoir WITH new grommets & then bleed out all of the old dirty fluid. OF course the best way is to POWER bleed the brakes.

Davidmash,
Do a search for "power bleeder" you will find many threads about flushing/bleeding brake system. I bought my Motive Power Bleeder online for $39.95 plus $5.00 shipping at http://www.apexperformance.net
Many in this forum had used this Power Bleeder to flush their brakes are very happy with the device.

MB DOC,

Thanks for the info. 2 quick follow-up questions:

1) What does connecting to the SD Laptop, or jumping the solenoid actually do to facilitate flushing the system?

2) Which (laptop or solenoid) is required when flushing the system on my '92 190E/2.3?

Thanks in advance.

Jeff Pierce

I spoke with the shop manager at my local MB dealer and he said that unless you have a bad seal in your brakes pressure shoud not be an issue. He said when he did fluid flush / change he used between 15-20 psi.