Motive Products Power Bleeder
 

Used the Motive Products Power Bleeder bleed system for the first time on a recent stainless steel brake hose replacement on my 06 C6. The instructions say to put 2 Quarts of brake fluid into the bottle. Did that. Filled the brake reservoir with new brake fluid. Pumped the bottle to 15psi per the instructions. The bottle holds pressure. So far, so good.

Starting with the rear driver’s side and working around and ending with the driver’s side front. The 2 Quarts of clean fluid never drew down. There came a point where I checked the fluid in the brake reservoir to discover the reservoir was very low and required topping off with clean fluid. I thought the 2 Quarts of brake fluid in the bottle were intended to add fluid to the brake reservoir to make up for the fluid being consumed by the bleeding process.

Maybe I got a broken product!
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There should be a short length of tube inside the bottle. That tube needs to remain below the level of the brake fluid or else it will just pump air.

Are you adding the fluid to the bottle in the photo?

As per the instructions, before to starting the brake bleeding, I added 2 Quarts of brake fluid to the bottle.

I've used Motive many times on my C2. The fluid should draw down. I will be doing this soon on my C6.

The tube you refer to goes straight down to the bottom of the bottle. As the level of brake fluid never went down, the tube end was always well below the level of fluid in the bottle. With the led tight and filled with clean brake fluid, pumping bottle to pressurize it to 15 psi, here is what I saw at the tube coming out of the bottle (See the photo below). Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. But it shows a ton of air bubbles. I don't believe this should be happening with 2 Quarts of brake fluid in the bottle.

This was the first time ever using the bottle.
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There is a leak between the external hose and the internal tube.

I have the same device and have used it many many times,,, but I don't put fluid in the bottle. I just let it pump air into the master cylinder which forces the new brake fluid thru the system. But here's the important part, only a little at a time. After just a. little comes thru I depressurise , remove the cap and keep adding brake fluid to the M.C so air doesn't get in the system. This keeps from wasting so much brake fluid and the big container never gets dirty. Has worked for me so many times. Plus I never pressureize more than like 10psi, had the cap come off my Silverado once when it was pumped up and blew brake fluid every where! So like 10psi or less works for me.

:iagree:
Exactly how I have been using my Motive for years.

This is how I ended up using the product. It works perfectly to add pressure to the master cynindar. I did pressurize to 15 psi but, I will keep it to 10 psi next time I use it.

Yes I've had it up to 15psi before too and most of the time it was just fine but one time the cap came off while doing my Silverado and man did it make a mess, forgot to mention and thank God that day I did have everything covered up with old shop rags, tee shirts etc so the brake fluid didn't get on the paint!! So I keep it around 5-10 psi from now on, just goes a little slower

Just to clarify. Pressurize the system and bleed out some fluid, depressurize, remove the cap and add new fluid, repressurize and watch for new fluid coming out of the bleeder, then repeat the process. It this correct.? Seems like the fluid level would get pretty low by the time new fluid comes out the right rear caliper. Is that a problem?

Yes you described it correctly but of course after you bleed a little through, say like 5, 6 Oz or so, re tighten the bleeder screw, go back to the MC/pressure tank, bleed pressure off, open MC cap and refill with new brake fluid. Repeat untill the fluid your pushing out is clear, and then even a little more, you'll get an idea how low the MC gets, it holds enough to do this but just don't forget to keep refilling the MC. The passenger rear is where you start and will take longer than other three but even still I can do an entire car all by myself in less than an HR, takes longer to pull the wheels than anything else.

I am learning how to use this system. Filling the bottle with 2 Quarts of brake fluid is wasteful, and with my defective product, not at all effective. Though it works to put pressure into the Master Cylinder. It would be nice if the Motive Products bottle had another means of taking pressure out of the bottle, like a manual pressure relief valve of some kind.

Funny that you mentioned a different way to bleed off the pressure, I'll attach a few photos of my modified unit, as Corvette owners, we Must modify everything right?? Hahaha.. anyways I actually hook mine up to my compressor to speed up the pressurizing of the unit, now I do it very slowly and watch the gauge on the tank to not pump it up too fast or high but it makes it simple when I'm swapping from pressurized to depressurized! This actually eliminates me even having to do any pumping of the tank.
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I have have this same tool.
here's what I do.
Don't put any fluid in bottle.
Just pressurize the bottle to push the fluid.
The only thing is you can't let the Is reservoir run dry. It works great for that.

Looks like I am the only one putting brake fluid in the bottle itself. It looks like you guys are using the bottle dry, and only using it to add pressure to the master cylinder. Lesson learned.

I like what you did here. I am looking for a bleed valve I can install inline to release pressure from the bottle. Motive Products should have installed such a device on these all along. Hey, but that is what this forum is all about... Learning from one another. Excellent suggestion!!!

I feel like an idiot for not coming up with this tool, all it is is a $10 weed sprayer with a specific attachment for the master cylinder instead of a sprayer wand..oh..and a pressure gauge, but I do love it.

Does this technique work without commanding the ABS valve block to open?