One of my technicians and I put Z1 stainless brake lines and Motul RBF600 fluid on my car a week ago. Yesterday driving to work my brake light would come on briefly and the stability control check light stayed on. My first thought was the fluid and sure enough, it had dropped about 1/4 lower between "MAX" & "MIN." We found that the driver's front line was not fastened completely to the brake line and cleaned it up. I topped off the fluid.

When we originally installed the lines I wanted to gravity bleed them with me pumping the brakes and him turning the bleeder screw, but he insisted on hooking it up to a vac line and said it would be quicker. It took forever that way and the line popped off a few times. I am assuming some air had to get into the system when that happened?

I always have a bleeder bottle with a check valve with me when I go to track days in case I cook the fluid, but I have never had to use it. I am assuming it should work just fine with me hooking it up and bleeding the brakes by myself. Anything I should know before doing that?

 

Get a new technician...
SS lines and speed bleeders are as far from OEM as I would go. Pumps suck, in more ways than one. You should never need to bleed brakes at the track. "We found that the drivers front line was not fastened completely..." These are your brakes right? Get another Technician.

 

IMO a Power Bleeder is much better, faster, and easier, particularly if you are doing it by yourself. Fill the reservoir, attach it to your MC, pump it up to the appropriate pressure, crack the bleed screw, and flush out all the old and replace with fresh fluid in one go. No problem of inducing air into the line either. It's especially good on track days if you want to quickly change out cooked fluid quickly by yourself.

 

I thought of that, but I'm giving him a bye as he has been a great master tech w/ over 20yrs. experience and always helped me when I get stuck on some crazy project. It was a super slow leak over the course of an entire week. Really only needed a very small turn to snug it up

 

I bought a power bleeder from Griots Garage. I wasn't thrilled with how the reservoir attached to the master cylinder but I've been able to use it on three different vehicles.
Griots no longer carries it but Rovers North does. It's the Motive Power Brake Bleeder.

 

I was going to at least try the one man bleeder bottle I have with a check valve built in it. As long as it does not come off the bleeder nut it should work better than the power bleeder we had that kept coming loose... I hope

 

I don't know what you're doing wrong, but a power bleeder should never have a problem with coming loose. The cap locks into place if you've put it on right. Are you sure you have the one with the right cap that fits your MC properly?

 

The one they use in the shop was just a vacuum line pushed onto the bleeder screw. Needless to say, I was not a huge fan of this set up for obvious reasons

 

I've used the same one BB is referring to (power bleeder by motive) on several cars now including the G. It's easy, hassle free, clean, and doesn't damage the MC because it's getting bottomed out. Watch the pressures and no damage to the reservoir.

I don't think the bleeders that suck from the calipers are all that effective/efficient. It's hard to get a good seal between the bleeder nipple and the part of the tool that fits over it. With the pressurized bleeder you just open the bleed screw and allow it to drain until new fluid comes out. Done.

 

I see. You used a vacuum bleeder (suction); the power bleeder I'm talking about that is a pressure bleeder. Works exactly opposite of what you used.

 

I agree, that power bleeder looks nice. What pressure do you usually keep the system at?

 

You shouldn't need more than 8-10 psi. Any positive pressure will push the fluid through the system. It shouldn't be high pressure, that's not needed.

 

Bleeding brakes is a 2 person job, period. If done right you should never need to do it at the track and only 1-2 times a year, max. Any other method or frequency your doing it wrong. If your fluid is cooked your on the brakes too much or you used an inferior fluid for the track. After many years of prepping customer cars and my own track cars, there is no substitute for 2 person properly done method. These are your brakes we are talking about.

 

I agree. I have been tracking cars for over 10 years and have yet to cook the brakes. (I did crack a set of DBA rotors after the last session at Road America once) I have always done a 2 person gravity bleed and never had an issue.

 

Were they drilled? They almost always crack at the track!