After maintenance of the brake system of the car it needs to be thoroughly pumped in order to get rid of air. Also, such a need arises when there are serious failures in the mechanism, after repair work or when pouring brake fluid into the tank. But how to do it, if there is no person nearby who is ready to help? Consider a few effective methods of pumping brakes without an assistant.
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Why do you need to pump the brake system
Before proceeding to the review of methods of pumping the brakes, let us understand for what purpose such a procedure is performed. First of all, it is necessary to pump the brake system to remove air bubbles inside the line.
If the action is performed at home, and not in a specialized workshop, it is better to use outside help. In this case, you will be able to bleed air, and the other person will press on the brake pedal with force. However, if no one you know could not come, and you need to change the fluid as soon as possible, you will have to act yourself.
Pumping without air
The key requirement when replenishing the brake fluid level is to keep the line airtight. Any leakage of air is not acceptable, otherwise the car will be without serviceable brakes.
When servicing the car with two people such troubles don’t occur, because one person presses the brake pedal and the other performs deflating of the system. Then the pedal is released and the pressure in the line is lowered to the minimum. The fluid moves to one side under pressure.
How to pump the brakes yourself
Let’s consider all options for pumping the braking system by yourself.
The first option involves the use of a standard shock absorber, which uses a gas stop. It is important only to find a serviceable mechanism. Further actions are performed according to the following algorithm:
- First, you should open the reservoir of liquid brake system and raise the level (if necessary);
- Then you should squeeze the pedal a couple of times, applying considerable force;
- Then, with the pedal squeezed, should be fixed between the pedal and the seat shock absorber;
- The next step is to perform a bleeding of the brake fluid with the remaining air in the cylinder. At this stage, the stop will put pressure on the pedal, pushing it to the floor;
- Thus it is necessary to pump the brakes until all air will come out of the hydraulic actuator.
- This completes the pumping. As you can see, you can perform the action yourself, without seeking outside help.
Additional methods
You can try to fix the drain hose with a fitting to bleed air, and place its end in a container of brake fluid. When you pump the line with the pedal, air will be released into the fluid, and it will not be able to come back out because the end of the hose is in the reservoir.
If we are talking about pumping the brake system with a check valve, then without screwing the connector and pressing the pedal the line is not protected from air. The same happens when using a vacuum pump or syringe. Therefore, it is better to use sanitary tape for reliable sealing of the threads. By wrapping it around the threads, you can achieve maximum tightness and pump the line in any way. In addition, FUM tape will avoid corrosion and rust on the connection.
You can also do without pumping the system. In this case you need to top up the brake fluid to the maximum, put the tube on the nozzle of the serviced wheel and drop it into the tank with the technical compound. Then loosen the nozzle and wait for the final release of air from the line. It is recommended to use a transparent tank to be sure that the air is really bled.
You should pump the brakes by yourself only in case of emergency. And if you do not have any skills in carrying out such actions, it is better to immediately entrust the task to professionals.