Any tips on draining brake fluid if the only thing you have to drain it with is gravity? Does it help to raise the front of the car above the rear? Blow it out with air? The fluid in my car has been in there for about 10 years. Time to change it maybe?
Cheers, Elliot

use a different color of fluid than is in there.
I think there are blue and red available from the regular sources.

I use a simple method.
Suck out all the fluid from the resevoir with a turkey baster.
Fill up with new color.
Open one bleeder.
Push till you hit the floor and until the fluid at that bleeder changes color.
I attach a clear plastic hose to the bleeder and put it in a jar with fluid in it so that when you raise the pedal, you dont suck up air.

Keep doing that...to the floor method until the fluid coming out is the new color.
Obviously, you do this with every bleeder and caliper.
Keep close tabs on the resevoir...fill it every two pushes on the pedal.

If you keep it full, and keep the hose full of fluid and sumberged...it all works with one person.

Rich

Elliot, just open all 4 brake bleaders and pump it out with your brake pedal (collect the fluid from each in a cup or something...). Add new fluid to reservoir (hopefully Ate Super Blue) and bleed brakes like normal. The new fluid (blue) will push out the remaining old stuff (probably clear) as you bleed the brakes. You'll know all the old fluid is out once you start getting blue fluid out of all 4 calipers...

Dan

Looks like my wife gets a new turkey baster. I have check valve type bleed valves so should be one man job. I didn't realize break fluid came in different colors. Like I said, "it's been ten years". Thanks guys.
Cheers, Elliot

Do one corner at a time, RR, LR, RF, LF. NEVER allow the pedal to go all the way to the floor. EVER. Bleed it until the fluid is just drained from the reservoir, add the new fluid, and pump at least a cup out of each corner. Ate says a pint. To do the initial emptying of the reservoir, you'll have to do some from the front, some from the back. Get a couple of liters. Using a different color is not a bad idea.

The Cap'n

Ate makes super blue & typ200 gold. They're exactly the same specs, just different colors so you can bleed back & forth. Really nice for a race car that you bleed often. It's almost $15.00 a liter. Our friends at GPR have the best price around.

why was told this a while back.
don't go completely to the floor or you'll breach a seal in the master cylinder. Very bad....is that correct??

This makes it REALLY easy.
Fill it up with a different color fluid
pump it up
Start at the caliper farthest from the master cylinder and open until the new color comes through clean.
Repeat for the other 3.
you will have to occasionally refill and repump the bleeder.

Available on Bird Board, and many other places:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/...20Porsche%20All

The turkey baster, and a pressure bleeder make it an easy job.

Years ago I tried the MityVac, and it just doesn't work that well. Pulls air from the threads on the bleeders. Pressure on top of the brake fluid works every time for me, and makes it a one man job.

Here's how I bleed a 914 brake system, from my post back in Mar 05.

Remember the "Search" function is your friend!

Get a spare cap for the brake fluid resevior.
Get a tire valve & stem.
Drill a hole in the center of the resevior cap, the same size as the hole in a wheel (or measure the narrow part of the tire valve).
Pull the valve stem through the hole.
Remove the plastic screen in the resevior.
Fill the brake resevior completely, not to the fill line, all the way full to the bottom of the tube that holds the plastic screen.
Put on your new modified pressure bleeder cap.
Drain your air tank to 10 psi, for cheaper compressors setting the regulator at 10 psi may not work. If you put too much pressure in the system, you'll blow off the blue lines that connect the supply lines to the resevior, or worse.
Take a clip on air chuck and clip it on your new pressure bleeder cap.
Bleed the brakes, starting at the furthest bleeder from the master cyl, and finish at the bleeder nearest the master cyl.
Bleeding sequence (RR-LR-RF-LF) EDITED FROM ORIGINAL POST
Pump the pedal hard about ten times and repeat the proceedure.
Do not get brake fluid on painted surfaces it will ruin them.
If the pressure bleeder cap retains pressure, bleed it down before taking it off the resevior.
This works very well, and makes it a one person job.
Replace brake fluid every two years.
Properly discard used brake fluid.

I have to say that I wish I'd bought my pressure bleeder sooner, very easy with one of those....even for "non-Mech's" like me....

I've had decent success with the Mityvac but you really have to get a good seal at the bleeder nipple or it's futile. Subsequently I switched to Speedbleeders which are another option that make solo bleeding pretty painless. Now I just replaced all the calipers and am back to standard bleeder valves again.

If it's been ten years, you don't have to bother with a different color fluid. New fluid will be clear, the fluid that's in there will be black. They're already different colors.

Really he should just sell the car and buy one that has new fluid.
Elliott, is ten years a record for you holding onto a car?

Rich

I owned a 1965 VW for 16 years. Bought it in 1971 for $600. Overhauled the engine and front suspension twice. Sold it in 1987 for $600. It had 300,000 miles on it. I used Brazilian parts to overhaul the engine. Pistons, cylinders, crank and rod bearings for $150. Each overhaul lasted 100,000 miles.

LOL, that is totally true! Years ago when I flushed a previous 914 I had just bought, the fluid was dark brown and thick - like molasses. I was astounded that the brakes still worked at all.

I'm in brake heaven right now - just went to all new calipers, rotors, pads and fluid - woohoo! Carrera "wide A" fronts and "M" rears with vented and drilled Zimmerman rotors, Pagid pads and Endless fluid. It's the max I can do without getting further crushed by the POC rules (otherwise I might have done a Boxster or 930 setup.)

I can confirm that! i went all the way down on my '76 cadillac and needed a new master. my dad (35+ years master mechanic) told me the trick with a wood piece under the pedale, after i f..ed it up.

btw, i "drained" my brakes on my 914 - the car was sitting for about 8 years - and only a black fluid came out.

did anyone ever had to replace the brake line in the tunnel? i'm installing all new calipers hard and soft lines and a new master and don't want to mess up my new brake parts with some gung from that line.

thanks,
d

I've never replaced that center hard line, but I would think you should be OK if you flush a fair amount of fresh fluid through the system to ensure ALL of the old gunky fluid is gone, as well as water in the lines, or any particulates (dirt, rust).