DIY bleeding brake fluid

The user manual states to replace brake fluid every 3 years regardless of the Maintenance Reminder. Rather than go to the dealer, I decided to buy some tools and finish the job myself. The most time consuming part was jacking up the car and removing/attaching the tires.

Tools I used:



1.5 ton floor jack ( $80 from Harbor Freight)
3 ton jack stand ( $22 from Harbor Freight )
Tire chocks ( $6 from Wal-Mart )
Clear plastic tubing ( inside diameter ¼ inch – from Home Deport $4 )
2 Empty water bottles.
Turkey baster ( $1.50 from Wal-Mart . Prepare to throw this away after use )
Small funnel ( 70 cents from Wal-Mart. Prepare to throw away after use)
Rags

19 mm socket
10 mm wrench
8 mm wrench
Ratchet
Torque wrench (optional)
Rags
One small zip tie
Brake cleaner ($5 from AutoZone)

New brake fluid ( I bought super blue, so I can see the color change when the new fluid comes out). You can use Honda DOT 3 brake fluid. You will use about ½ liter or ½ quart.


Definitely recommend a helper who will push the brake.

Prep:
Cut out 2 feet of the tubing. Drill a hole on the cap of the water bottle so the tube can go in. Push the tube through the cap into the water bottle until the tip touch the bottom. Open the bottle, remove the tube, and fill about 2 inches with brake fluid. Make sure the end of the tube is below the fluid level. Close the cap with the tube. This will be used to drain the fluid.

Jack up the car and remove the front tires. (Remember: Be Safe !)

- Park at level ground and put the car in park with parking brake on. (I have auto)

- Put tire chock on the rear tires

- Get the scissor jack from the trunk

- Using the wrench from the trunk and using your foot, break the nuts on the front wheel. Sometimes, you really have to stomp on the wrench with your foot, because someone used air wrench on the nuts and it’s nearly impossible to loosen the nuts.

- Using the scissor jack, raise the front driver side. There is a re-enforced jacking point.

- When the car is sufficiently raised, use the floor jack on the front engine jacking point and raise it further until you can remove the scissor jack and replace with jack stands on the driver side and passenger side. To prevent damage to the concrete floor, I used a cut out of rubber desktop.

- Use 19mm socket and ratchet to remove the wheels. I put the wheel under the frame, just in case.

To bleed:
- Open the hood. Clean the area around the brake fluid reservoir. Put some rags around the reservoir and cover the driver side fender to prevent potential spill on the paint.

- Get an empty water bottle. Remove the cap on the brake fluid reservoir. Remove the strainer. Using turkey baster, suck in as much old fluid and empty into the water bottle.

- Using small funnel, pour in new brake fluid. Don’t spill over. Leave the brake reservoir cap open.

- Put the key and turn just once, without switching on, so you can unlock the steering wheel . Turn the steering wheel toward left.

- Go to driver front. The bleeding nut is on the left side of the rotor behind the caliper. If you see a lot of dust nearby, spray on the brake cleaner to remove the dust. It helps to have a rag under the wheel to capture the dirt. Wipe off excess. Remove the rubber cap. Put the 10mm wrench on the bleeder nut.

- Fit the tube, that is attached the water bottle with fluid, into the nipple. If the fit is not tight, use a small zip tie to make it tighter.

The actual bleeding process.
- Ask the helper to slowly push the brake multiple times until it’s hard. Ask the helper to start pushing down steadily up to half way on your mark.

- Tell the helper to push the brake, and open the bleeder about ¼ turn. If the tube fit is tight, you will NOT introduce air back into the brake line. If you are not too confident, close off the bleeder before the helper pushes the brake fully. Repeat this process until you see blue fluid coming out, and no more air bubbles are showing. Remember to check the reservoir frequently and fill with new fluid as needed.

- Close off the bleeder nut. Remove the tube. Replace the rubber cap. Spray on the brake cleaner to remove any spilled fluid around the caliper/rotor. Wipe off excess.

- Turn the steering wheel toward right. Repeat the same braking action above to bleed the fluid until you see blue fluid coming out.

- Temporarily close the brake fluid resorvoir

- Put the wheels back on. Hand tighten the wheel nuts. Use 19mm socket to tighten (star/cross pattern).

- Use floor jack to raise the car, remove the jacks, and lower the car down. Use torque wrench ( or the Honda wrench and your foot) to tighten the wheel nuts.

Now, do the rear wheels.
- Put the chock on the front tires.

- Break the wheel nuts on the rear tires.

- Using floor jack on the rear center jack point, raise up the car, and put two jack stands on driver and passenger rear frame jack points.

- Remove the wheels. I put the wheels below the center frame.

- Lower the floor jack until the car settles on the jack stand.

- Go to passenger side first. The bleeder is located at the top, behind the drum. The bleeder nut is 8 mm. Put the wrench on first and connect the tube. The tube will be loose. Tighten zip tie on the end to make a better fit. If not comfortable, hold on to the tube.

- Do the bleeding process as above (with filling and refilling of new fluid as necessary) , until you see clear new fluid coming out. Close off the bleeder and replace the rubber cap.

- Do the same on the driver side.

- Fill the reservoir to max. Put back the strainer and cap. Wipe off any spilled fluid, if any. (I used brake fluid ).

- Put the wheels. Tighten the nuts. Raise and remove jacks. Lower the car. Tighten the nuts again.

Remove the chock, clean the area. Do a short test drive. If you are not sure of your work, check the bleeder valve for leaks.

Next time I do this, I think I will put 4 jack stands and work on 4 wheels at the same time.

Thanks for reading

 

A good DIY

You may want to clarify/expand here -

"Tell the helper to push the brake, and open the bleeder about ¼ turn. If the tube fit is tight, you will NOT introduce air back into the brake line. If you are not too confident, close off the bleeder before the helper pushes the brake fully. Repeat this process until you see blue fluid coming out, and no more air bubbles are showing. Remember to check the reservoir frequently and fill with new fluid as needed."


! - "Remember to check the reservoir frequently and fill with new fluid as needed" This is most important otherwise if it gets too low air will enter and the fun begins.

2 - Helper should hold pedal down until you close the valve. Then push down while you open it again. Repeat until blue.

 

Great DIY. Thanks for the write-up.


On a street car (where a three-year replacement interval is the norm), buying colored or tinted brake fluid is not neccessary. There is a very obvious difference between the old (cola-colored) and new (lite-beer colored) fluids.


(On a race car, where the BF is replaced every month or so, the tinted fluid is VERY useful. )

 

Hey ya'll. So I was an idiot and tried to top off the clutch tank instead of the brake fluid tank, and got a ginormous ball of air into the lines. Managed to pump it out (I think) and now the brakes work normally, although it took like 4 hours. Am I out of the woods? Or do I need to be careful for air bubble issues?

 

If your brake doesn't sink into the floor, then you're fine. I hope you bled the brake fluid until clear liquid came out and no more air bubbles right? If that's the case, you should be ok.

 

Thanks for the helpful sharing. did the rear brake shoes yesterday and by mistake allowed air in on both wheel cylinders but thx to this post, bleeding was easy.

 

Curious why the rear shoes needed replacing. How many miles do you have on the Fit? Have you already done the front pads?

 

Our Fit is a dinghy (toad) for our motor home. I made a stupid mistake one time and towed it with the emergency brake on. This dumb move caused the brake shoes to over heat and self destruct. Our Fit has only 16K miles on it.

 

Called www.meineke.com for a brake job quote and they wanted $160.00 for the rear shoe replacement, $39.95 to bleed and refresh the brake fluid. thx to Fit freak and both threads. this one and https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...brake-diy.html I saved $200.00, now wifey doesn't laugh at me as much for leaving the emergency brake on when I towed it.
Maj. Easy

 

Ouch!! It must have been screaming at you after a few miles.

 

A few notes need to be made here...

First, it's best to acquire a separate service jack, and save the wear and tear on the car's scissor jack for roadside emergencies. They can wear out when used for regular maintenance.

Second, it's a good practice to start the bleeding with the wheel farthest from the brake cylinder. If the brake reservoir is on the car's front left side, start with the right rear tire, then left rear, then front right and left. If the brake fluid reservoir is run dry, it's best to talk to a Honda certified tech. I know that on the cars I've worked on (GMs, Fords, and Subarus) it is not possible to bleed air back out of the ABS system, located just after the main cylinder, without special equipment.

 

Or if you can afford it for $65 Cdn Honda will do it while you drink their coffee and check out the new vehicles or the cute cashier. Have to spend the kids inheritance somewhere.

 

Pls send a pic of the cashier, OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. LOL


++++++++++

Air can be purged from the ABS. If your pedal remains soft after bleeding, you just have to actuate the ABS pump (one side wet, one side dry, jam on the brakes) then bleed again.

 

*I put the wheel under the frame, just in case.*
brilliant. thanks for all of this.

 

A couple of add-on tips to consider:

I use a turkey baster to draw as much of the old fluid out of the MS, then refill it before bleeding.

I also put the car up on jack stands ( no hoist) and remove all four wheels before I begin. No need to turn the wheels on a Fit. Bleeder is easily accessible.

 

+1 on removing the old fluid from the Master Cylinder first ,, then,, ..
On the disk calipers, I open the bleed screw and use a small rubber coated pry bar between the rotor and brake pad to push the fluid out of the caliper, then close the bleed screw and pump the brakes back up checking the reservoir often. This usually gets me through the process faster.

 

Hello friends. If anyone has the idea of replacing the brake pads, do not forget to wear dust masks because that brake dust is extremely fine and enters the respiratory tract and can cause problems. The other day I replace the pads of a friend's car and did not use masks, and brake dust got into my nose and I felt that it hurt me as if it had burned the inside of my nose and my airway. It's just an advice ...

 

I found 1/4 inch ID tubing (1/4 inch nominal) from Home Depot to be too large for the nipples on my 2015 (third generation) Fit. Also too large was 5 mm ID.

I clean around the reservoir with 100% denatured alcohol before removing the cap.

I will not use a turkey baster again! The rubber syringe fit onto the plastic tube snugly when they were dry, but once brake fluid was sucked up, lubrication from it caused the syringe to slip off the tube as soon as I squeezed it. Messy. Also, most of the fluid was unreachable. The 2015 reservoir has 3 sections and has tiny holes from the fill section to allow gravity to fill each of the other sections. Holes were rectangles each with a width of only about 4 mm maybe.

2015 model had an 8 mm hex on all 4 bleeder valves.

I have to try your method of jacking up the driver's wheel with the scissor jack in order to be able to reach under the front of the car with the rolling hydraulic jack and align the jack's lift-pad with the car's front center lift point. Up till now I've been driving the car up onto 1.5 inch high ramps, in order to be able to fit the rolling hydraulic jack under the front of the car. Lowering the front of the car involves using the rolling jack to lower the car onto the ramps, tightening the lug nuts, then driving the car off of the ramps.

I jack up the entire car and set it down on 4 jack stands. I securely set the parking brake and loosen all 16 lug nuts before doing any jacking. I jack up the front and then as I jack up the rear I make sure the front jack stands don't shift much during the process. With all 4 jack stands set to the same height before getting under the car I carefully check all 4 to make sure they all are well placed under the pinch-weld reinforcement points and have not shifted from vertical.. Even if the car is on nearly level ground, sometimes one of the rear stands won't have any weight on it. That's ok; and you can leave it in place anyway.