Bleeding brakes and changin flex hoses?

[white86tercel]

My front brake flex hoses on my 86 Tercel have numerous small cracks in them and I suspect there is air and/or other contaminents in my brake fluid. I've checked an 80-82 haynes, manual and an 84-94 Chilton manual and come up with a few questions to ask the board before beginning the procedure.

1)The Haynes manual recommends completely drainning the brake system once every two years. The chilton manual makes no such recommendation. Do you guys think it is a good idea for me to completely drain the brake system?

2)Both manuals mention the use of a flare nut wrench but neither manual says what size flare nut wrench I need. Does anyone know which size I need from experience?

3)Both manuals say that I'm supposed to ensure that the brake fluid is between the min line and the max line. Does anyone if I'm supposed to measure the fluid level before or after I put the lid on. In the past I've found that the lid (and the styrofoam plunging thing attached to the lid) significantly change the fluid level.

Thanks in advance

Chris

[shogun]

ILL TELL YOU HO I DID IT, FIRST DRAIN ALL THE FLUID POSSIBLE FOM THE LINES, TAKE THE CLIP OFF THE LINE UN SCREW THE HARD LINE, DO THE SAME TO THE CALIPER BY THIS TIME YOU CAN CLEAN THE MESS AND PUT THE OTHER ONE IN AND WORK BACKWARDS, AT THE END BLEED THE BRAKES STARTING FROM THE FARTHEST PLACE FROM THE PUMP

[Gasoline Fumes]

It's a good idea to flush the brake fluid, it absorbs moisture over time. Same process as bleeding, you just keep doing it until you get the new clear fluid at all four brakes. Don't "drain" the brakes, it will take forever to get the air out of them if you do.
<a href='http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_ho ... akes.shtml' target='_blank'>http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_ho ... s.shtml</a>

Should be a 10 mm wrench. I have a flare nut wrench from Sears with both 10 and 12 mm on it, very nice to have around.

I'm pretty sure it's with the lid on.

[Gasoline Fumes]

FIRST DRAIN ALL THE FLUID POSSIBLE FOM THE LINES

Doesn't that make it harder to bleed? I always just let it drip into a pan while I'm working. It makes me work faster too!

[takza]

<a href='http://tercel4wd.com/invision/index.php ... &f=7&t=219' target='_blank'>http://tercel4wd.com/invision/index.php ... 7&t=219</a>

[sacwac]

Chris,

Don't drain the fluid completely. Add new fluid as you bleed them. Even if your existing brake fluid resembles molasses, like mine did, the new fluid should replace the old as you bleed it.

It's probably with the lid on. To be safe, you could fill to the minimum line, then close the lid. If still low, then add fluid.

I changed the 4 flex lines a couple months ago, the nuts on the rear lines were totally rusted. I sprayed some gun cleaning solvent on them. Use caution here, if your parts are rusted, and they break, you may be left with no brake. This almost happend to me.

Takza, the link doesn't work anymore (invision changed)

[morgsie]

I changed the 4 flex lines a couple months ago, the nuts on the rear lines were totally rusted. I sprayed some gun cleaning solvent on them. Use caution here, if your parts are rusted, and they break, you may be left with no brake. This almost happend to me.

Best way to deal with rusty nuts/bolts is get an oxy acetylene torch (if this is not available a propane toruch should do). Heat the nut up till it is red hot and then "quench" it with water (ie: pour water on it quickly). This is usually a fool proof way of braking them free with out the risk of stripping them. I've ran into problems with this when trying to brake free a nut that attaches to the wheel cylinder, as the wheel clinder wants to absorb a lot of the heat. Usually you can unbolt the wheel cylinder and unscrew it instead of loosing the nut.

I don't see the problem with draining all the fluid from the lines. Usually then you can disconnect all your flex lines and blow out your brake lines with brake cleaner and then blow the brake cleaner out with compressed air. On the other hand if your goal is to get all the dirt out of your brake system i'd get all new wheel cylinders/calipers (or rebuild kits for either of the two OR clean them really really well), flex lines and master cylinder (either rebuild kit or clean really well) and then use silicon brake fluid (DOT 5). Silicon brake fluid is Non-hygroscopic (non-moisture absorbing) unlike regular brake fluid and also does not strip paint. It is said though that at different elevations you can experience "soft-pedal". I personally took my 64 impala (which uses silicon brake fluid) from saskatoon, sk to vancouver, bc (well over 1800km) and didn't notice anything drastic..

[2wagons]

The wrenches in my Kawasaki motorcycle user group say that mixing old DOT and new DOT (5) fluids is not a good idea and that the new DOT (5) fluid can damage some of the brake components and seals. I do not know if this is the case with Tercel brakes systems.