Brake bleeding

[Davidmf]

Hi i have a roomster 2011 and am going to change the brake fluid can anyone tell me the bleeding order

[Warrior193]

Hi, welcome to the forum, I have not bled brakes for a very long time now - but I would suggest you use a pressure type bleeder system (eezibleed or similar) and start on the rear, wheel furthest from the master cylinder, then the other rear wheel, then front wheel furthest from M.C, finishing with wheel nearest M.C. Other members may be able to advise whether better to do with engine running or not - I'd guess engine running for vacuum assistance. Take care that the M.C reservoir is always kept topped up, or you will have to repeat process all over!

[Davidmf]

Ok i thought you started at the front of the car and worked your way back

[Warrior193]

No, I believe the idea is to get the longest pipe run cleared first to guarantee that fresh fluid is pushed right through the system. The last time I bled brakes it was usual (showing my age!) for the twin circuits to be split front/rear - I understand that now they are split diagonally so that you will still have one front, one rear brake operating in the case of failure.

[aubrey]

I bled my Roomster a few times, never had the engine running but used a sealey pressure bleeder. I always used VCDS first and did the ABS bleed, that tells you which front and rear pairs to open together and then did the final normal bleed order of FR, FL, RR, RL

Finally while the pressure bleeder was still connected I always did the clutch too.

 

[rum4mo]

I also just follow logic and start at the longest pipe run and work back to the shortest, I use a turkey baster to remove as much old fluid as possible from the reservoir first, without removing the strainer, running maybe 0.5LTR out of the OSR to try to clear old fluid out of the reservoir and longest pipe run, followed by  0.3LTR out of the NSR, followed by 0.2LTR out of the OSF and same out of the NSF. unfortunately that accounts for a bit more than 1.0litre, but that is my method. I don't flush out the ABS block because I'm lazy and the quantity of fluid held within it is small when compared with the system capacity so it will not degrade the new fluid by much - and I always replace the fluid every 2 years. 

The clutch, unfortunately gets ignored - as tends to be the way many people do.

I tend to always buy either the correct spec of VW Group brake fluid, or same from TRW which means a slightly more modern spec than the basic DOT4 which came about before many cars had ESP etc - but that is just my choice of brake fluid.

 

Edit:- one thing to be aware of is, the bleeding of brakes procedure laid down by VW Group, seems to be the same for all marques and models and the quantities of fluid to be drawn from each wheel bleed point is the same regardless of model size - so just a standard set of instructions written by a technical author and copy and pasted into all the marques models maintenance routines - so deep thought or consideration being gone into, so a routine operation, although the VW Group script says to start at the front/shortest pipe run - though I'll stick with my method, and some others, of starting at the longest pipe run.

No need to run the engine for any reason, and probably safer not to run it while carrying out brake bleeding.

Edited 13 September, 2020 by rum4mo

[aubrey]

I've never understood ignoring the clutch. It may well not be necessary or make any difference, but is takes a couple of minutes extra when the pressure bleeder is already connected. So why not ?

[Davidmf]

Ive never done the clutch would be good to know how

[aubrey]

Exactly the same as bleeding a wheel. The only fiddly bit is where the slave cylinder is and hence getting a bit of tube on it with a little cup to bleed into.  It is above the bell housing on top of the engine. You can see it looking down from above, in and left a bit from the battery. Once you see it then you will see the bleed nipple with the same dust cap as on the wheel brakes. So with the pressure bleeder still attached and a little bit of clear tube going into a cup, again the same as at the wheels. Just loosen the bleed nipple until clear fluid flows, again exactly the same as at the wheels.

It's been a few years since I've done a Roomster, it may be the case that I removed the airbox but I can't fully remember.

Edited 14 September, 2020 by aubrey

[26DIPP]

How do you bleed the clutch without pressure bleeder?