Bleed brakes

[r_chez_08]

How do you do this?

 

[devino246]

Heres how i was taught to do it.

Your going to need a helper to pump the brakes. You'll need a bucket to catch the brake fluid. There should be a little bleed screw on the caliper.

Have your helper apply pressure to the brake pedal and open the bleed screw. Brake fluid will squirt out along with little bursts of air. Close the screw and tell your helper to let off the brake pedal. Your helper MUST keep their foot on the pedal while the bleed screw is open. If they let off it'll suck in air. Repeat this until only fluid squirts out.

 

[anderkart]

Gravity bleeding is another method I use sometimes. With this you simply loosen your calipers (or wheel cylinders) bleeder screw and let gravity slowly force brake fluid (and the air pockets) through the system. You'd just need to make sure you keep the master cylinder full while bleeding.

On go karts, sometimes its necessary to elevate the front of the kart up so your master cylinder is quite a bit higher than the caliper or wheel cylinder for this method to work.

 

[r_chez_08]

K thanks. Somehow when I put a bolt on my sprocket, it caught the caliper, and the bolt loosened, and fluid came out of the hole, letting air in.

 

[r_chez_08]

Ok I bought some new fluid and put it in, but now I hear you shouldn't mix fluids, will this really matter on a kart? I am not sure what the original is.

 

[Eric492]

Heres how i was taught to do it.

Your going to need a helper to pump the brakes. You'll need a bucket to catch the brake fluid. There should be a little bleed screw on the caliper.

Have your helper apply pressure to the brake pedal and open the bleed screw. Brake fluid will squirt out along with little bursts of air. Close the screw and tell your helper to let off the brake pedal. Your helper MUST keep their foot on the pedal while the bleed screw is open. If they let off it'll suck in air. Repeat this until only fluid squirts out.

easiest way to do also if you slide a clear hose on the bleed screw and run the hose to your catch can and step on the brake till you stop seeing bubbles of air in the hose.

 

[The_Machine]

tapping along the length of the brake line with something like a screwdriver helps get the little air bubbles out. before installing a brake line to a kart i usually hang the resevoir to the tree, tap along the line and let it sit for a long time

 

[anderkart]

Chez, I'm pretty sure any Dot 3 (or better yet) Dot 4 type brake fluid would work just fine in your kart. Some race karts use the Silicone Dot 5 type but I really think yours would of had just regular old brake fluid in it.

There's some pretty good info about the 3 different types here:
http://importnut.net/brakefluid.htm

 

[bajagokart]

why the frick do you need Dot 5 for lol

 

[fowler]

does the arrow on the master cylender point up or down

 

[Chris T.]

Dot 4 is all you need and that's the recommended fluid to use. Just be sure to keep a eye on your reservoir, if this gets to low and sucks air, you'll have to start all over again. Just keep it topped up and you'll be fine

 

[r_chez_08]

Ok, I will check what the stuff I bought, all I know is it is sinthetic.

 

[freakboy]

why the frick do you need Dot 5 for lol

sprint car racing.. drag cars without chutes.. purpose built race cars like modifeds nascar... that kinda stuff the fun FAST stuff.

 

[R∆√∑Я™]

hello everyone I bought a go kart yesterday its mission impossible bleeding the brakes no matter what i try the fluid dont wanna come through an i checked the cylinder seals and checked for blockages etc an it appears fine to me. im really stuck on this 1. anyone got any ideas how to force the fluid through?. or knows if its supposed to take ages to bleed brakes on a go kart?

dunno if i did right thing postin here but couldn't see point starting new thread about brakes lol.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

First, describe your bleeding procedure in great detail, to make sure you're doing it right. Failing all else, you may need to bench-bleed the master first, and/or use a vacuum-bleeder rig.

 

[Rustydog2010]

Pressure bleeder?

If you need to do it by yourself you can use a special trick. set it up normally, but put some clean fluid in the bottom of the container. When then put the hose in, making sure it is at the bottom, submerged in fluid. Open the nipple. Now just pump the brake a dozen times. Close the nipple, and check the pedal travel and feel.

Easy as.

 

[christeeezy]

Or you can get a clean grease canister from your auto parts store, throw brake fluid in it, and attach the hose to the caliper bleed screw. Open up the bleed screw half a turn and pump the canister until no more bubbles come out of the reservoir.

 

[R∆√∑Я™]

thankyou 2 everyone who replied u have given me some good info. i been trying to work on it today by 1 of us on the pedal and the other 1 doing the bleed nipple on the caliper with no luck yet again. im going to try most of above tomorrow when car shops open so can get some hosing.

other than that i found a complete used set on ebay.
im just hopin i can get him to sell buy it now or find someone else to sell me a set who aint chargin rip off prices in the uk.

thanks again.

 

[timbowuff]

also when putting new fluid in, how much do you put in? do you just fill up the spot where the fluid goes in or what??? lol i know im a real noob especially with brakes like this.

 

[OzFab]

That depends on whether or not you have an external reservoir. If you do, fill it to the max line. if not fill the master slowly until it's full