How to Bleed Brakes By Yourself

Are you wondering about how to bleed the brake lines of your car? Now and then, air gets trapped in your brake lines, which can make your brake pedals spongy and less effective. Learn about how to bleed your brakes and it’s important. If you think you’d rather leave the job to the service technicians in Glen Cove at Rallye Lexus, reach out to our service team for assistance at our showroom—just down the street from Port Washington.

Why Bleeding the Brakes is Important

As your brake fluid wears down, the fluid begins to absorb more water. This can cause air levels to increase in your brake lines. When this happens, your brakes get “spongy.” They don’t work as effectively, and it just feels weird to brake, which is the last thing you want when you’re making a split-second decision to brake when avoiding a potential accident. Many Roslyn drivers rely on technicians to perform this job, but if you’re a gear head, and you’re wondering about how to bleed brake lines from your driveway, follow the steps of this guide.

How to Bleed Brakes By Yourself

The steps of how to bleed brakes from your Manhasset driveway are fairly simple. First, grab a fluid holder and tubing, as well as a box-end wrench, carjack, and some fresh brake fluid. Then, once you’ve assembled your materials, follow these easy steps for how to bleed brakes:

Step 1:

Consult your owner’s manual to determine what the correct type of brake fluid for your vehicle is, and make sure the replacement brake fluid you have on hand is compatible with your vehicle. Also, check the intervals for brake fluid replacement listed in your owner’s manual to get a sense of where you’re at in your fluid replacement schedule.

Step 2:

Next up, you’ll need to jack your car up off the ground and remove each of your wheels.

Step 3:

Each of your four brake calipers has bleeding screws that you’ll need to loosen. If they don’t readily loosen, do not apply force. Spray the screw with oil and wait half an hour. Then, try once again to loosen the screw. If the screw breaks in the process, let our mechanics take care of the job from here.

Step 4:

Assuming you’ve loosened the screws, you’ll want to re-tighten them. Do this for each brake line, and make sure that, when you re-tighten the screws, they’re exceptionally tight in order to ensure no air re-enters the lines.

Step 5:

After you’ve re-tightened the screws, pop your hood, so you can examine the master cylinder reservoir’s brake fluid level. If you find your reservoir is running low on brake fluid, top it off. Now, we’re on to actually bleeding your brakes. While you bleed your brakes, take off the cap of the master cylinder reservoir for the duration of the process, and then, start with the brake farthest away from the reservoir.

Step 6:

Grab the piece of tubing and place its mouth over the first bleed screw. Then, place the other end of the tubing into a catching receptacle of sorts. Make sure you place the catch container above the height of the screw, so air in the tube doesn’t move back into the brake caliper.

Step 7:

Turn off your car engine, and ask a friend to assist you with this next step. They’ll need to pump the brake several times until they feel some resistance in the pedal. Once they’ve identified some counter pressure in the pedal-feel, tell them to keep the pedal down continuously. As they do this, open the bleeder screws. Fluid should move through the tubes, and the pedal should start to drop farther and farther towards the floor.

Step 8:

Once the pedal reaches the floor, close the bleeder screw immediately. From there, inspect the fluid in the reservoir to make sure you’re still topped off, as you may lose some fluid in the process of bleeding your brakes.

Step 9:

Repeat the previous two steps five times each for every bleeder screw until it can’t detect even one bubble of air in the fluid coursing through the tubes. And again, remember to start with the screw farthest from the master reservoir, working your way, screw by screw, toward the brake line closest to the reservoir.

Step 11:

Once you’re done bleeding your brakes, have your friend hit the brakes, quickly releasing them. As they do this, watch the reservoir. If it’s bubbling significantly, you need to keep bleeding your brakes. If the fluid only moves a little, you’re done!

Step 12:

Put the wheels back on your car and give each of your bleeder screws another tightening.

Do You Have Questions About How to Bleed Your Brake Lines?

If you have more questions about how to bleed your brakes, or you’d just like to let Rallye Lexus take care of the headache, call us at (516) 303-9635. We can get the job done quickly, affordably, and effectively! But while you’re here, check out our service tips for helpful reads on a variety of topics, like our primer on how to jumpstart your car!