W22 Brake Fluid Change

[DriVer]

Originally posted by two2go:
Seemed to work. I go. I stop. Cost $137 included replacing the fuel filter with an adapter kit I supplied. At 19.3k miles and three years, the old fluid was not too gunky at all.

Excellent! Keep up the good work.

[rvrovers]

Originally Posted by DAN L

ROGER...
i changed my power steering fluid to AMSOIL SYNTHETIC UNIVERSAL POWER STEERING FLUID, PSF. it took almost 2 qts.
on my moho, there is a blue hose that runs from the bottom of the power steering reservoir to the top of the brake master cylinder booster. i removed this line at the brake booster and drained the fluid through the hose. then i cut off about a inch of this hose and reconnected it to the brake booster using a new hose clamp. then i ran the engine, operated the steering and brakes, checked for leaks and topped off the power steering reservoir.
i used 9ea 12 oz cans of CASTROL LMA brake fluid to flush my brake system. castrol lma has a very high boiling point both wet and dry and is readily available at most auto parts stores and is priced reasonably. check out my previous post on how to do this using the aux brake electric motor with a large set of vice grip pliers on the brake bellcrank. my dw operated the bellcrank and refilled the master cylinder while i bled the fluid, under pressure, from the individual brake calipers using a 2' length of 5/16 plastic hose and liter soda bottles. on the front brakes, it was necessary to remove a brake hose bracket to gain access to the bleeder valve.
if you have any questions, you may pm me or send me an email.
dan

Dan L I rember reading your proceedure on using the brake booster pump but didn't save it. I saved a link to it and now the forum has changed and I can not find it. I will need to do this in a few weeks so can you please email me or give me some help finding the other post. rvrovers quadessa2@myway.com

[oldpa]

I Just had my P-32 Sightseer done at the workhorse dealer here in Homestead,FL $169.00

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by rvrovers

Dan L I rember reading your proceedure on using the brake booster pump but didn't save it. I saved a link to it and now the forum has changed and I can not find it. I will need to do this in a few weeks so can you please email me or give me some help finding the other post. rvrovers quadessa2@myway.com

i cannot find many history items on the new "improved" irv2 forum either. it doesn't make sense to do away with this large library of knowledge.

you need a large vice grip plier. the longer, the better.
i attached the vg plier to the flat part of the brake bellcrank. it must be very tight or it will slip. leave the ignition key off. turning the brake bellcrank is a substitute for pushing the brake pedal down inside the coach. going inside and outside the coach to press the brake pedal and refill the master cylinder with brake fluid on her hands would have been a messy operation.
my dw used the vg plier to turn the bellcrank slightly with a 12 inch cheater bar attached, which energized the aux brake booster pump while i opened the brake bleeder valves on the calipers (7/16" box wrench). start with the r. rear, then l. rear, r front, then l. front. my dw monitored the fluid qty in the brake master cylinder and added fluid as necessary. i stopped bleeding the brakes about every 12 oz so my dw could add fluid. i closed the caliper bleed valve while the system was pressurized to keep air out of the caliper. it took 9 ea 12 oz cans of castrol lma dot 4 brake fluid to flush my system to clear fluid. it took most of the fluid to refill the master cylinder and to flush the rear brakes.
i drained the master cylinder as much as possible with a turkey baster with 5/16 plastic tubing attached to it to start with. i had some honey like stuff floating on top of the fluid and on the brake mc caps. it was difficult to get that all out. i used 18" of 5/16 plastic tubing and 5 liter soda bottles to bleed the brake calipers.
the whole procedure took less than 1 hour, including clean up.
if you have more questions or comments, my email address is: dsloucks@hotmail.com

[tropical36]

That's a ridiculous price. I had mine changed in Buffalo, WY for around $150 and where they can charge what they want without question as the shop sits at the bottom of Powder River Pass (almost 10,000 ft.) going east and the scene of many disasters involving brake failure including death.

[bandcworkhorse]

Knock on wood, I have had NO brake problems on my 2005 W22 in nearly 17000 miles. But I decided to flush the fluid today. Got about a quart of nasty looking stuff out of the reservoir with a baster. Hooked up a remote starter to the Hydro-boost motor, employed DW to push the button, opened the bleed nipple, and...nothing. Just a little dribble. I reasoned that unless a brake port was uncovered, no fluid would flow. So I went to method 2; attached vise grips to brake intermediate shaft and DW gave a tug. Opened nipple and...success. Sort of. Good flow for one or two seconds, then just a dribble again. (DW still holding pressure on shaft.) Reasoning again , decided that brake systems usually have a tipple valve that shuts off flow in event of a catastrophic failure so fluid is not lost through a broken line. So reverted to open-close, open-close, open-close routine while DW push-release, push-release, push-release, just as has been done since the invention of hydraulic brakes. So what am I doing wrong? The rest of you make it sound so simple. The good news is, I got another quart of ugly fluid out of the calipers. Persistence pays off, I hope.

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by bandcworkhorse

Knock on wood, I have had NO brake problems on my 2005 W22 in nearly 17000 miles. But I decided to flush the fluid today. Got about a quart of nasty looking stuff out of the reservoir with a baster. Hooked up a remote starter to the Hydro-boost motor, employed DW to push the button, opened the bleed nipple, and...nothing. Just a little dribble. I reasoned that unless a brake port was uncovered, no fluid would flow. So I went to method 2; attached vise grips to brake intermediate shaft and DW gave a tug. Opened nipple and...success. Sort of. Good flow for one or two seconds, then just a dribble again. (DW still holding pressure on shaft.) Reasoning again , decided that brake systems usually have a tipple valve that shuts off flow in event of a catastrophic failure so fluid is not lost through a broken line. So reverted to open-close, open-close, open-close routine while DW push-release, push-release, push-release, just as has been done since the invention of hydraulic brakes. So what am I doing wrong? The rest of you make it sound so simple. The good news is, I got another quart of ugly fluid out of the calipers. Persistence pays off, I hope.

did you find any sticky honey-like stuff in the master cylinder?
my dw says that she had to push the vicegrips attached to the brake bellcrank "close to 1/4 of a turn" when we flushed our brake system. it takes a lot of pressure and the vicegrips slipped several times. my vicegrips were not big enough. when she needed to release the pressure on the vicegrips to rest and check the master cylinder fluid level, she would tell me and i would tighten the bleeder valve. we used about 100 oz of castrol lma dot 4 brake fluid to get clear fluid out of all 4 bleeder valves.

[bandcworkhorse]

The removed fluid was very dark, but no sludge that I could see. I'm just trying to figure out-do others get a continuous flow of fluid as long as the hydro-boost is running and intermediate shaft turned; or just a squirt, then reduced flow, until closing nipple and cycling the shaft?

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by bandcworkhorse

The removed fluid was very dark, but no sludge that I could see. I'm just trying to figure out-do others get a continuous flow of fluid as long as the hydro-boost is running and intermediate shaft turned; or just a squirt, then reduced flow, until closing nipple and cycling the shaft?

i got the squirt, the a reduced but steady flow the amount of which depended on how far the brake belcrank shaft was being turned.
i got quite a lot of gooey honey like stuff out of my master cylinder. it was floating on top of the fluid. driver says it is assembly lube for the brake components and he says it is harmless. imho it could plug orifices in the master cylinder and anti-skid components. is best to get it out of there.

[born2camp]

Just bled all of mine last weekend, used almost 4qts to flush til clean looking. It is not a bad or hard job at all. Mine was dark in color at first and probably why it took more than I thought it should but in the end, running almost clear at the calipers like the new stuff I put in. Also gives you a chance to look over everything while under there during the DW pumping the pedal.

[Clay L]

Like some of the others when I flushed mine a few weeks ago I grabbed the transfer arm under the hood and turned the shaft to activate the electric boost pump which pumped the fluid out.
I had a small mirror placed so I could see the fluid level in the master cylinder reservoir. I used a right angle snap-on adapter with a tube running from the drain fitting into a jar with some fluid in it. ( I got the adaper from my MightyVac kit). DW was underneath watching the fluid and letting me know when it started to run clear.

The job went pretty smoothly. I used 3 1/2 quarts of brake fluid.

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by Clay L

DW was underneath watching the fluid and letting me know when it started to run clear.

Clay L, Now that's what I call optimizing resources.

[Clay L]

Originally Posted by DriVer

Clay L, Now that's what I call optimizing resources.

Well I dunno, I had to buy her dinner to get her to stop complaining about "forced labor and blue jobs" .

[Ace_Clark]

Just buy a new motorhome and be done with it.