02koolC5

Took off front calipers for some painting,
Can I just bleed the front brakes or do I need to bleed entire system?
I did a search and found no threads on this.
Any help is appreciated, Thank you

byronhunter

Sure you can bleed just the fronts!

musicmankeb

I would take the dot 3 fluid out and put some dot 4 in while you have your car up in the air and bleed out your whole system. I don't know if you ever changed your fluid or not but if you never did, it's past due The dot 4 has a higher boiling point so you won't get brake fade as easy.

Also take your clutch fluid out and put some dot 4 in too and use the ranger method and keep flushing the old out with new. This will keep your clutch healthy too and hopefully keep your clutch pedal from ever sticking to the floor.

02koolC5

Thank for the help, also its been a while since I did a brake job, Remember when you take the bolts out of caliper that you need to replace the little brass washers. If not you will have a leak....I know this now

m6 c5

If I was you I would go ahead and bleed the entire system if you havent done it recently as its not that much harder to do the rears as long as you have a helper. Also when I painted and bled the brakes on my dads 00 I reused the washers without any trouble, of course being that it only has 10,000 miles on it now may have something to do with it too.

Oh and make sure if you bleed just the fronts you do the right then the left.

Gadget01

Why is that?

runner140*

An old machanic's philosophy.....bleed first the wheel farthest from the master cylinder and the last wheel bleed should be the left front.

cdkcorvette7

Yeah... I thought so too. For some reason on 01+ C5's the service manual states that the proper bleed order is RR - LF - LR - RF... No idea why that is. On 97-00 C5's it's RR - LR - RF - LF...

And +1 on bleeding the whole system. If you're going to do two you may as well do them all. Out of curiosity, did you only paint your front calipers or did you just paint the rears in place?

mxdave91

If you really think about it shouldn't you bleed the wheel closest to the master cylinder first then end on the one farthest? It just seems like the longest brake line would take the longest to get an air bubble out of and with all the pumping you'd be doing bleeding the closer lines you would almost be guranteed to work any bubbles to the end of the longer lines. IDK, maybe i'm thinking too much into it.

cdkcorvette7

You should get all the air out no matter what sequence you bleed in. My understanding is that the furthest to closest approach is to minimize mixing the old and new fluid... I found this article one time while I was doing a little research:

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...edbrakes.shtml

mxdave91

I see now. I was only thinking getting the air out and not taking into account adding new fluid. I think you guys may have inspired me to change my brake fluid!

MikeV

If you haven't done it already, invest in a Motive brake bleeding kit. Its about $75 and it makes bleeding the brakes a 1 to 2 hour job. Also just takes one person!

Mike V

mxdave91

That will make the wife happy. Should have no trouble getting that purchase approved

cdkcorvette7

Mine paid for itself the first time I used it

striper

Stable Energies in Garfield, NJ sells the Motive Power brake bleeder complete with adapter for $59.95. I know because I just bought one today. You can contact them at 973-773-3177 or www.StableEnergies.com. They also carry Motul brake fluid, seats and all sorts of racing equipment. I have it on my agenda to do my car this weekend.

RedC5

Wouldn't this be easier than buying a Motive canister (then have to store it somewhere)? Buy the adapter, set up your compressor to ~15-20psi, then refill the master with full fresh, and then open each wheel end bleeder? (of course keeping master full at all times between wheel ends)What am I missing?

Dale002

I've heard if you get air in the ECBM you need some type of scan tool to operate the valves. So what ever you do don't let the resevoir run dry

cdkcorvette7

Good advice. You'll need a Tech II to properly bleed the ABS module if you introduce air into it so keep that reservoir full... I've heard some say that you can open the ABS module to purge the air with 20 - 25 psi of pressure in the system which you can achieve easily with a power bleeder or a compressor but I've never tried it myself so I'm not sure.

RedC5

Anyone know where you can buy a cap with a quick disconnect for an air compressor? This photo appears to have a fitting for a hose not a compressor quick disconnect which I first thought it was, and also runs 60 bucks!

I can't seem to find one on the web....

uncle wilson

So anything I need to know after changing ebcm ?