It was super nice yesterday, sunny in the 60s. Had a little shade tree maintenace scheduled for the C4 to keep me busy while my wife went to the grocery store, etc.

My to do list (short)
Change the fluid in the rear diff
flush the brakes.

Soooo, I got this pretty nifty vacuum bleeder, it was $29 at Pep boys, was all fired up to see what it was all about. for the record, if you want to reverse bleed your system, like I wanted to, this isn't the pump to use

Anyway, I tackled the rear diff first, easy job. I threw one and a half bottles of Mobile 1 syn 75w90 and 7oz of LS additive.

So on the the brakes. pulled all four tires, went to the right rear, bleeder valve was froze, rounded the 10mm f'n sux. left rear bleeder worked freely, right front, worked freely, left front frozen, rounded it too. So......now I have to replace those two bleeder valves or get new calipers. I want some C5 calipers but I'm just not ready to drop that loot on the C4 yet. I'm getting there though, every time I touch it, it seems to like it. anyway, from the two valves I could open and close, I used the pump to half **** suck some new fluid through the lines, I could believe the poo that came out. Is brake fluid supposed to be green? looked like radiator juice, and there were some particles in it, looked like translucent flakes. So, I refilled the resevoir and kept vacuuming through the lines until it was mostly clear coming out from the caliper bleeder. Buttoned her back up and took em for a spin. No chatter from the rear end, probably had no bearing on the fluid change, but it seemed smoother and pulled different. I'm probably being an optimist because I didn't leave a trail of fluid down the road. As far as the brakes go, still braked like ****e, hard pedal, non-responsive to quick stops. Maybe I'm hoping for too much from the brakes, my wife's C6 will throw you through the windshield, the C4 seems to have a mind of it's own. Well, I love it and is almost dummy proof to work on, so that's what matters.

 

Even small victories are victories none the less. Congrats!

 

You should be able to get new bleeder screws.
However if the crap that passed for brake fluid has been in there long enough you may need to replace the master and all 4 calipers. I fought mine for a year, always flushing every couple of events. Now I can just bleed a little after each event and just flush a couple of times a season.

Do you have J55 or JL9 brakes? Can't remember if J55 became stock in 94 or 95 (oldtimers)

My 92 with J55 will go from 120/130 to 50 in 150 ft using Carbotech xp12/10 combination.
I brake a tad earlier than the C5z06 guys, but they are also hitting 150's so I could use better calipers. The C5 brake upgrade is just not worth the 2 points, its big brake time.

 

That's a good question, I don't have any RPOs that start with J, so I guess my FE1 equipped car is whatever = base brakes.

I don't track it, so I'm not in a hurry for any significant upgrade, I just want reliable stopping. I'll probably spring for new rotors and some ceramic pads before Carlisle this year though.

 

If you look at your calipers on the front, if yours are flat like this they are JL9



If they are rounded like this they are J55

 

Looks like mine are JL9

 

You might as well change all 4 bleeder valves. Get the speed bleeders (about $15/ pair) makes it easy to bleed the brakes by yourself.

J55 became standard in 1995.

 

Things sucked through very slowly, right?

I got one from Sears that was twice that price, and
things sucked through very slowly on my '87. It's the
car, not the vacuum bleeder. I ended up pumping up
a good vacuum, jumping in and pumping the brakes
about six times. Repeat.

Did you use a 12-point or 6-point socket/wrench on
the bleeders?

You may be able to get the bleeders out with a pair
of vise grips or an EZout.