Bleedin Brakes

[haynes]

Got my radius arm sorted and back on, even if it did cost me a small fortune to get it reemed by a local mini specialist, more than a price of a complete refurbed arm from min-its just for his labour, anyway enough of that rant.

Bought an easi bleed kit, the sort you attach to a tyre. At first i thought it was goin well, bit too easy in fact. I started at the back because thats what i had in bits then when to the front, pedal didnt feel too good at all, so did the backs again and i could see a few bubbles then it appeared ok. But the pedal is still awful, travelling 2/3s to the floor and coming up a bit with a few pumps.

The tyre had about 15psi in it although the fluid did gurgle a bit when i connected it. So i dont know if i put some air in that way, but cant see anyway of avoiding that. Ill try another bleed session tomorrow.

Does it usually take a few gos round the whole lot even with an easy bleed? I guess it does as i dont have a decent pedal at all yet. I suppose i should perserve, just wondered if this was most people's experience?

[DanGT]

Hate bleeding brackes. On some minis you have to remove the brake worning senser of the side of the master cilinder befor bleeding. Worth a check?

[Neil8p]

I've never found it particularly easy with just the ezbleed on its own. I use the ezbleed to maintain pressure in the system and get someone to pump the pedal while I open and close the bleed screws.

[haynes]

Gave em another bleed all round. One thing is the spare tyre serving the easibleed needs to be kept to about 15psi but this soon drops to nothing after a few bleeds so it didnt have enough puff doing the rears. So i pumped the tyre back up and did the rear cylinders again and a big few air bubbles came out so its back to normal.

I say mormal because its still pumps a little. This use do be quite bad and i put it down to the new 4 pot calipers sucking back, as the pads up front would go very loose. Its much better now after a few 1000 miles but id much prefer it if the pedal hit the same spot every time, just higher than the accelerator.

[DanGT]

What 4 pots have you fitted? If they are off the metro turbo with the loop pipe on them this could be were the air is trapped. After re positioning the pipe we then jacked up the corner that was being bleed this did the worked.

[haynes]

Thanks Dan, but they are minispares 4 pots, so no link pipe. After a quick test drive it does all feel a lot better now, after expelling a big air bubble out the rear cylinder.

[Paulmini1380]

Whenever I bleed my brakes I ALWAYS ensure ALL the front pistons are force back into the calipers AND the rear cylinder have G-clamps holding the rear pistons together. If the rear cylinders are left 'open', brake fluid can simply flow from bottom center (pipe inlet) to top centre (bleed valve), hence leaving pockets of air at the ends of rear cylinders, which seemed to be your problem.
Try it if you are still having problems with a poor pedal. I know its more time consuming messing with the rears, but I'd rather have great brakes than some that I am not confident with - handbrakes are not the most efficient !!!!!
Cheers