Installed new prakes and Bleeding them

[BEEMSANG]

Hey guys,
I just installed new front end pads on my Titan and i tried bleeding them(5 F***ing Times). I realized one of my mistakes (plural) by pumping them after the bleeder bolt was open. I called the dealership and spoke with a tech. He informed me that i need to pump the brakes to increase the pressure and then hold and then open the bolt and bleed then. THEY ARE STILL SOFT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any advice? Has anyone changed thier brakes, bleed and the brakes were still soft? Also whats up with the slip light? It stays on constantly?

Thanks,
Vik

[mikey120]

i am assuming that you have someone helping you. and i also assume that the other person pumping the brakes is holding the pedal down while you open the valve and still holding when you close the valve. i have found in my experience you must start with the caliper farthest from the master cylinder. even if i only do front brakes i still bleed all four corners. i dont know if doing all four helps but it cant hurt. oh yeah and make sure you keep an eye on the master cylinder.

[James Con]

All vehicles are different as far as bleeding order. Rule of thumb was to bleed the furthest caliper or wheel cylinder away from the master cylinder,and work back. Now if you look in a vehicles service manual some start with the closest caliper to the master cylinder. I am at work so I don't have my Titan service manual handy to give you the order of bleeding. I am sure someone will chime in on the order. I have one question, If you were just doing a pad slap, why did you try to bleed the system. Was there a problem with the pedal before the pad slap.

[James Con]

Here you go.

[dragonhead08]

Are you topping off the fluid as you bleed them?

[PTitan]

Are you using a brake bleeding kit? If you are not, you will need a second person to open and close the valve so no air gets into the line. After each brake bleed, you will need to add more brake fluid to keep it topped off.

[TitanTech659]

I have one question, If you were just doing a pad slap, why did you try to bleed the system. Was there a problem with the pedal before the pad slap

Great point. If you are just doing the pads, you do not need to bleed the brakes unless you took off the whole caliper or have a leak somewhere. The fluid coming out of the reservoir as you compress the caliper is not considered a leak. Just a mess. And if you do have to bleed them, start at the right rear, go to the left rear, right front, and finally the left front.

[DeadRiver]

i am also wondering why if you only replaced pads you bled the brakes? seems like you've created a lot of extra frustrating work.

[Yahooligan]

Perhaps he was just trying to do some routine maint? Brake fluid should be flushed every 2 years to ensure a healthy brake system that doesn't corrode or fail prematurely due to water contamination.

That said, please tell us the EXACT steps being done to bleed the brakes. If it isn't:

1) Pump and HOLD the pedal
2) Open the bleeder
3) Close the bleeder
4) RELEASE the pedal
5) Check and top-off master cylinder
6) Repeat 1-5 until fluid is clear and no bubbles

...then you are doing it wrong, plain and simple.

My preferred method of bleeding is to use a pressurized bleeding system. This is basically a tank of brake fluid with a pump, pressure regulator, and screw or strap-on adapter that goes on the master cylinder reservoir.

Once connected, simply turn it on and bleed the brakes in the correct order until the fluid is clear. This method also only takes one person, but since the equipment is fairly expensive most people opt to have a shop do it for them. This pressure used by this method also pushes all the air out of the system since it's a continuous flow. The pedal pump method is tedious, especially if you have air high up in the system since the air can slowly travel back up between bleeding, pumping, topping off, then bleeding again.