My brake fluid is just over 2 years old so is due for a change. I was going to have a go at bleeding the brakes and refilling the system with fresh fluid so I have ordered one of those Gunsen eezibleed gizmos.

My plan is:-

Attach eezibleed to spare wheel at 20psi (or a bit less maybe) and hydraulic fluid bottle as per instructions.

Bleed brakes in the order N/S Rear, O/S Rear, NS Front, OS Front.

Bleed until fluid is clean, clear and bubble free.

Take off Gunsen.

Make a cup of tea.

I have a question though, I have read conflicting reports that the engine should be running while bleeding is taking place, something to do with keeping the ABS pump working (?). Can anyone confirm that the engine should be running or is it not necessary?

Thanks

I have not bleed the brakes on any Skoda Fabia yet. But, you can 'bleed' the brakes on most ABS systems in the normal way starting as you indicate, furthest from the master cylinder. I doubt you will need the engine running but you can check this with your dealer. The only problem you may encounter is removing any air that gets into the ABS modulator. There may be a bleed valve on it to help with this, I haven't looked. So the secret is to always make sure you don't run out of fluid in the master cylinder allowing air to enter the system from above. If you get air in the ABS modulator it's difficult to remove it without special equipment usually only found in a technicians workshop, a solenoid scan modulator. I would approach this with caution if you haven't done this before as you could put yourself off the road...am I right in thinking you are an ADI? You won't want to be off the road! We had many a car brought in on a low loader with no brakes after an owner has been careless during this operation. Oh...one other thing just in case you are not sure. Make certain you suck the old fluid out of the mastercylinder carefully (any cooking baster will do this) rather than pushing it through with new fluid. Take out just enough to level it out at the bottom of the cylinder...even just small particules of grit can cause serious damage to your ABS pump etc. Good luck.

The pressure type bleed kit is much safer to use than the old tradditional one way valve or pipe below the fluid level in a jar type. The problem with the old method is that when maually pumping the brake foot pedal it is possible to move the master cylinder piston much further than it normal operating position . This may cause the master cylinder seals to be reversed when the seals hit the previously unused part of the cylinder bore. When using this old method it is important to limit the travel of brake pedal to less than the normal full down brake position especially on old cars which may have unpolished / tarnished cylinder bore in the unused portion of the cylinder.

Thanks for the replies, I've decided on the pressure system precisely because of the danger to the cylinder valve. I'm reasonably competant with spanners and such like so I'm sure I'll be ok...touch wood

I need to change my brake fluid,and have an 'Ezybleed' to do it. The only problem I can see is that the clutch master cylinder uses the same container as does the brake master cylinder. If you look on the right side of the fluid container (car not Ezybleed) you will see the outlet pipe connection to the clutch master cylinder.If you drain the container completely then you will have to bleed the clutch system as well as the brake system.This is because you have open ended the clutch pipe in the brake container. I am thinking of going down the lines of lowering the level of old fluid ,but not as low as the clutch pipe,then fitting the Ezybleed ,etc.

I would be interested what other people think,and what Garages do to overcome this problem ?

I spoke to the service engineer at my local dealer the other day and the way they bleed the brakes is to do much the same as you and pump the fluid through the system, they have to be careful and make sure that there is no air left in the nooks and crannies in the abs pump block.

Ian.

Am I right in thinking then that the clutch needs bled separately? I had sort of hoped just doing the four wheels would be sufficient.