I am still on the brake fluid and it's looking kind of dark, so I have been thinking of flushing it. I have kind of been putting it off becuase I know the clutch uses the same system, and I really dread having to bleed it because I have a feeling it will be a pain in the ass to get the air out. I have been looking at the how tos on this and it seems this can be done with a bleeder valve or a vacuum pump. Is there one method that really works better than the other? How often are you all bleeding the clutch and brake system in your cars?

 

when its dirty or every year or whenever change pads (me, thats often). Clutch is pita. Grand Am race Cobalts run a seperate clutch reservoir. Use a turkey baster to remove fluid, and replace fluid and bleed brakes is one way to do it without bleeding clutch....

 

2 years or 24k

 

That's the method I was thinking of using too. Essentially, if I pull as much as I can out of the master cyliner reservoir and fill with fresh and bleed the brakes, isn't the old fluid still going to be held in the clutch reservoir?

Is there any kind of reccomended interval for bleeding out the clutch too? I dunno it seems like this is something that should be done periodically, but maybe not. I haven't seen anything relating to this in an owners or service manual.

 

the delta cars have a common reservoir clutch and brake. You can bleed the clutch if you want its a good idea just a pita get lots of band aids and help....

 

If youre fluid is dark, its time.

Turkey baster and then bleed the brakes till only fresh fluid comes out.

Easiest way to bleed clutch that is least likely to make life difficult is to remove the clip that holds the clutch pipe to the trans, then submerge that end of pipe in fresh fluid, SLOWLY cycle the clutch pedal severla times until fresh fluid is coming out. then just reconnect and after a pump or two clutch should be fine again.

 

genius...

 

I guess I missed this information untill now... u know after my car had to get its throw out bearing replaced because of the fluid going dark and or bad... lol

DO this now, do not hesitate and end up like me without a car for a week bc I didn't know better

 

Its not really your fault. GM doesnt give any service intervals on it, as far as GM is concerned its not a maintenance item. Thats great for them because it seems like it keeps the cost of ownership low for you and youre more likely to buy a Cobalt that only "needs" $xxx maint per year versus another car that needs $xxxx, but in the end just because you say it doesnt need to be changed doesnt make it true, LOL.

 

Are you talking about the hose that connects from the trans to the slave/master cylinder that should be submerged? Will the fluid be coming out of the trans where this hose connects when pumping? Will the clutch completely loose pressure and drop the floor when doing it this way?

How long should this method usually take when done correctly to completely bleed out all air? I have never bled a clutch before, so I want to make sure I dedicate the time and do it right

I was doing some Googling around and came across this video on a Corvette forum about bleeding their systems. Arounf 3:45 is where it starts to get into the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBbsy...layer_embedded

On the Vettes it seems that they use separate reservoirs (something GM should have done to begin with on the delta cars), but maybe the same techniques could be applied for us.

Since it seems many people have found out that bleeding the clutch on these cars to be a pain in the ass, that maybe the process of filling, pumping, syringing, and then refilling and repeating until all fluid is clean could work for us. It seems that any dirty fluid from the clutch reservior would enter back into the master cylinder reservior, and maybe by doing the steps in the video a few times that this would get the old contaminated fluid out.

In actuality I don't know how well this would work, just throwing it out there as an idea. What do you all think, could this work for us?

 

To the top. Anyone this that this will work on the LSJ cars?

 

will what work? a brake fluid flush?

 

No, using that same method in the vidoe to bleed the clutch on the delta cars. In the video it shows where they pulled the old brake fluid out from the clutch reservior and refilled with new. After, they pumped the pedal to cycle the new fluid around. In doing this old fluid that was in the lines then cycled back into the reservoir, so they repeated the syringing and refilling of brake fluid in the clutch reservoir until everything was clean.

Sure it may require refilling the master cylinder and bleeding the brakes more than a few times, but that is fairly simple compared to what people have said about bleeding the clutch off on these cars. I don't even know if this will work, just putting it out there as an idea to see if anyone this way is possible

 

The video link is bad so I cant watch it for reason, but yes draining/refilling the master a few times before actually bleeding the system will make the job go a bit quicker. But no imo thats not a substitute for actuallyflushing the fluid out with a bleeding procedure.

 

Whoops, here's the page that has the video in it

http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Clutch_Care.html

Thought it worked earlier

 

Ok, I have just a couple last questions since everything else I was wondering about has been pretty much answered.

Can I safely go ahead and suction as much as I can out of the master cylinder and refill with fresh fluid, I plan on doing the brakes for now, without introducing air to the clutch system? It doesn't seem like it will as long as I don't mess with the clutch during the process, but I just wanted to get opinions from you all that have bled these systems on these cars before.


Also, what size brake bleeder wrench is needed to bleed the brakes on the LSJ cars? I need to get one

 

yes suction the stuff out. dont touch the pedals until you refill the reservoir. 11mm for the calipers and 9 mm for clutch as i recall for bleeding.

 

Needless to say that my brake fluid is well unclear It's probably never been changed and I have 38,000 miles on the car. Obviously I have to change it but what does having dirty brake fluid do exactly besides obviously degrade performance.

 

Over time moisture gets into the system and degrades the fluid, which reduces the boiling point of the fluid and overall braking performance. Plus it's good to get the contaminated fluid of the system to keep from messing up other brake system components



Ok I have got a question for you all on the Delco Supreme 11 brake fluid. From what I have read up on, supposedly this fluid has more additives to last longer than conventional DOT 3 brake fluids. Has anyone else heard this? Sounds more like more of a marketing hype from GM Goodwrench to get people to buy their fluid over something else?

Should I stick with the GM Delco OEM fluid since I am not going to bleed the clutch just yet, or is it fine to put in any kind of DOT 3 brake fluid?

 

Thanks! That's a great way to explain it out to me and I will definitely be flushing it but myself. I don't like when people mess with the fluids of my car and besides mechanics charge an arm and a leg for that sort of thing.

Now to flush it obviously I have to bleed out the fluid. Can I do this all from one wheel or do I have to hit all four or just the front two? I know you have to bleed the line of air afterwards but draining I mean.

 

Supreme11 is designed to last longer.....theres lots of fluid designed to last several years, the problem is the boiling points are lower. The dry point is lower, and the wet point is lower. Now obviously as a DOT3 fluid it has to meet a spec, but low boiling points are bad on even sportily driven cars, especially ones that have "longlife" fluids in them.

I would switch to a different fluid. I recommend and use ATE Typ200. Its the best fluid youll find for the money.(under $15/liter) If the choice is dont service the fluid or use any old fluid.....use any old fluid, Castrol GT-LMA is a decent quality very cheap fluid thats available everywhere just about.

Flushing is essentially just bleeding the system until you get all the old fluid out. You need to do it at all 4 wheels. Youre not really "draining" the system, you dont let it all run out then fill it up and bleed it. Just bleed it, and keep bleeding it till fresh fluid comes out.

 

Well reason I was thinking of using the Supreme 11 is because I can't find anything else except for the Valvoline DOT3 DOT4 syntehtic fluid or cheapo no name brand fluid. I have heard before that synthetic and conventional brake fluids don't really mix together, so to avoid any kind of synthetic getting into the clutch reservoir I'll stick with a conventional. I'll see if I can find some other better conventionals around.



This is probably a dumb question but I have never bled an ABS system car before, but does the vehicle need to be on or the ignition turned to the on position when pumping the brakes to bleed them?

 

That's a good question yeah I'd wonder that myself. It probably needs to be on no?

 

You figured out how to register to this site and then make almost 100 posts but you cant find brake fluid? ok. Youre not trying too hard are you

Leave the key off when bleeding the brakes. Unless you allow air into the ABS system by an error or some other circumstance, you wont have any problems bleeding the brakes.

 

My thing is when you step on the brake with the car off eventually the brakes can't go down anymore or will this be negated since you're bleeding them?