How to Bleed Brakes

It’s important to our service center staff to help make sure that your car keeps running safely on our Omaha roads. So, we’ve put together the guide below on how to bleed brake lines. Why? Because air and water can get trapped in the lines, damaging the brakes and interfering with their operation. Bleeding them from time to time can prevent this. The easiest way to take care of this would be just to schedule an appointment with us. But, if you’re an intrepid do-it-yourselfer, you may want to know how to bleed brakes by yourself. In that case, just follow the steps below.

A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Bleed Brake Lines

Regardless of how determined you may be to do this entirely on your own, you will need to find someone to assist you with some of the steps below. So, this isn’t so much a guide on “how to bleed brakes by yourself,” as it is a guide on “how to bleed brakes with a friend.” That being said, lots of Lincoln drivers have successfully followed these steps on how to bleed brake lines and gotten their cars back and running in no time.

How to Bleed Brakes by Yourself

1. Check your owner’s manual for the correct type of brake fluid to use.
2. Jack up your car on level ground and set it on jack stands.
3. Remove all of the wheels.
4. Locate the caliper bleeding screw near each wheel.
5. Gently loosen the caliper bleeding screws, being careful not to snap or strip them.
6. Tighten the screws back so that they are snug.
7. Raise the hood, unscrew the top of the brake reservoir and set it aside. Fill the brake fluid to the correct level.
8. Starting at the wheel farthest from the master cylinder, loosen the bleeding screw and tightly attach a piece of clear tubing over it.
9. Place the other end of the tube in a catch pan or used plastic bottle. Hold the pan or bottle above the screw.
10. Have an assistant pump the brakes until they feel solid pressure under the pedal. Have them tell you when they feel this pressure. They should stop pumping but continue pressing the pedal.
11. Have the assistant alert you just before the pedal reaches the floor. Re-tighten the screw immediately.
12. Check the brake fluid reservoir and add fluid if necessary.
13. Repeat the last four steps at least five times at this wheel, then tighten the screw. Now, do the same at the other three wheels, one at a time.
14. Watch the fluid in the reservoir while your assistant firmly presses the brake pedal all the way down, then abruptly lets up on it. If there is only a little movement in the fluid, there are no air bubbles and the brakes have been completely bled. If there is a lot of movement in the fluid, there are still air bubbles in the lines, and the brakes will need to be bled again
15. Make sure again that all the bleeder screws have been tightened, but not over-tightened.

Let the Professionals at Sid Dillon Mazda Handle the Job

There were a lot of steps in the directions above. Maybe you have neither the time nor energy to take on a job like that. Why not just let us handle it for you? And, if you found this post on how to bleed brake lines to be helpful, you may be interested in our other tips and tricks. We’re just down the road from Blair. So, drop by or contact us today!

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