Pressure Bleeding Brake Fluid
 

I'm planning to pressure bleed my brake fluid soon and thinking of purchasing the following items from Pelican Parts for this job;

- Black Label European Power Bleeder Kit ($69.95)
- ATE Gold Brake Fluid x3 liters ($15/liter)

Questions:
1) In addition to the instructions from PelicanParts do you offer any other tip for this job? Pelican Technical Article: Bleeding Boxster Brakes - 986 / 987

2) Is "ATE Gold Brake Fluid" a good fluid to use? What color is this fluid? Any other good alternatives?

3) I thought I had read somewhere that it only takes 1 liter of the brake fluid to bleed the system but Pelican Parts states a minimum of 3 liters, which is correct?

One liter is more than enough, I have no idea why Pelican thinks you need that much. ATE Gold (also known as ATE 200) is an amber yellow color.

ATE Gold is fine whether you're just driving on the street or tracking the car.

A liter should be enough if you do it right (ie don't let the reservoir to go empty).

Ummm.... gold?

Its even easier if you choose another color of brake fluid so that when you see the new color come out at the brake you know you are done.

I alternate between Gold and Blue.

Also, there are 2 bleeder nipples per wheel so do make sure you bleed both.

brake flush - YouTube

Thanks guys! I was going to get other color fluid but it seems like the super blue is discountinued? Any other option or places to get different color fluid?

According to our federal nannies, any other color brake fluid than yellow-amber will lead to the end of civilization as we know it, so they have officially banned its manufacture...........

Yellow-amber- the only color now allowed to be sold..........

You can find super blue now online, but the cans are now marked with "For off road use only".

Dang I just did a search and even the "for off road use only" seem to be very hard to find. I found one on eBay for $34.95.

If you use a syringe and draw as much of the old fluid out of the master cylinder before you add the fresh fluid and start your bleed, it only takes a few ounces to flush out each of the 4 lines, and if you do some measuring you can be assured of getting the fluid fully replaced. There is an article on Boxster Register (registration required) that tells how many ounces in each line:

PCA Boxster Register

Here is an excerpt:
=========
Rear calipers: pull six(6) ounces out of each caliper, three(3) out of each bleeder valve
Front calipers: pull five(5) ounces out of each caliper, 2.5 out of each bleeder valve
This uses 20 ounces and it takes approximately 10 ounces to refill the master cylinder. This leaves me 2-3 ounces in the can for any needed top off or bleed until the next flush.
=========

I really do not understand why people persist in trying to drain the master reservoir before doing a pressure bleed and flush. The Motive system pushes out all the old fluid in the system ahead of the fresh fluid, that is one of several distinct advantages of using the pressure bleeding procedure.

This is good info for all of us.
Thanks

I was sold more trans fluid than I needed/used from Pelican. I did not think much about it at the time. I should have asked about it initially. I live two miles from the nearest Porsche dealership. I called them and asked about it -There response was that if you have an accident you will have extra. I could have sent it back, of course on my dime.
It worked out okay though because I was just doing a drain and fill, TIP trans, and I used the additional fluid later. I just drained a little more from the trans after a couple weeks of driving and refilled the trans with the fresh fluid.

There is an option to add a UV dye which is a bit more inconvenient because you need a UV flashlight but should work just fine. ~$8

Probably worth it if your a racer and do frequent changes. You could lay a "band" of the UV fluid with the existing gold and you will see it in the drain tube for a couple seconds as it passes through, indicating you have reached the fresh fluid.

Interdynamics Oil and Fuel Systems UV Dye (1 oz.) 374CS: You

Before I would be adding a general purpose "hydraulic fluid" dye to one of these system, I 'd want to know it is 100% compatible with all of the seals and components in the ABS and PSM systems. A couple of companies list dyes for "hydraulic fluids" (several OEM's use "hydraulic" systems for level control, and Mercedes even used it at one time to operate their power windows), but no one seems to list a UV dye specifically for modern antilock brake and stability management systems.........

The last time I did this on my FJ cruiser, I didn't have the syringe and so I didn't pull the old fluid out before attaching the Motive bleeder. I used super blue, and as it went into the full master cylinder it seemed to go right to the bottom and I was getting blue out of the caliper bleed screws almost immediately while the master cylinder was still 75% or more full with the old amber fluid. It seemed like it took forever for the master cylinder to get full of the blue. It was kind of weird. Since then I have suctioned out the fluid first, just make it a little easier and less time under the car. (With the Toyotas you don't have to jack them up or even take the wheel off, you can just slide under and access the bleed screw from the back of the wheel.)

Edit: I am now remembering I couldn't get the stupid universal Toyota motive adapter to hold pressure (you use chains and screws to tighten it down and I could never get a seal that would hold over 5-10 lb) so I had to use the old pedal method, and just poured the new fluid in to the master cylinder. So maybe pouring it in made it swirl around to the bottom.

We probably do a dozen or more cars a week, even more "in season", all kinds of makes and models, and I have never seen the Motive system leave old fluid behind in any of them.

deleted. unrelated to the topic

You can tell when the New added fluid have reached the bleeder, different color/viscosity. Always the case here anyway

I am now remembering I couldn't get the stupid universal Toyota motive adapter to hold pressure (you use chains and screws to tighten it down and I could never get a seal that would hold over 5-10 lb) so I had to use the old pedal method, and just poured the new fluid in to the master cylinder. So maybe pouring it in made it swirl around to the bottom.

I completely drained my brake system when I replaced the booster and painted my calipers. I am old school just filled the reservoir and pumped the pedal. I put on Speed Bleeders at each corner.