Bleed Brakes Mechanicsburg PA

When it comes to your safety, nothing is more important than having a well-functioning braking system. If you've noticed that your brakes feel a bit spongy when you've been driving around Flemington, Mechanicsburg, Doylestown, or Philadelphia, then you may have air in your brake lines, which can happen after your brake pads have been replaced.

To get the air out of your system, you need bleed the brakes, which involves several steps. Learn the basics of how to bleed brakes, so you can make sure the braking system in your car is able to stop your vehicle the way that you need.

Preparing to Bleed Brakes

The first step in bleeding your brakes is loosening the brake bleeder screw. The brake bleeder screw is a small nozzle that can be found on the back of your brakes. Although jacking up your vehicle isn't required, it will make reaching the bleeder screw much easier.

To loosen the screw, you'll need a bleeder wrench, which is designed specifically to loosen the bleeder screw. If you've never bled your brakes before, the screw should be very tight, which means you may need to use lubricant to loosen the screw. Once it's been loosened, slightly tighten your screw, but make sure you haven't tightened it all the way.

Bleeding Air from Your Brakes

For this next step, you will need a hose, a jar, and help from a friend.

Attach one end of your hose to the bleeder screw and the other end of the jar. Fill up the jar with brake fluid until it covers the end of the hole. Once the hose is covered, you can start bleeding your brakes.

Your friend should pump your brakes and call out whether the brake pedal is up or down. After a few pumps, your friend needs to hold down the pedal and you should release the bleeder screw. This will cause brake fluid to squirt out of the hose and into the jar. You should see bubbles in your brake fluid if there is air in your brake line. Tighten the screw before your friend releases the brake pedal. Repeat these steps to bleed the brakes until there are no more air bubbles in the brake fluid.

Add Brake Fluid


After you've bled all the air out of your braking system, you need to add more brake fluid to your master cylinder. Failing to add more fluid could drain your master cylinder and allow more air into your brake lines. Make sure you fill your master cylinder to the "full" line.

Once you've filled your master cylinder, you need to bleed your other brakes to remove all air from your system. Refill your brake fluid after bleeding each brake.


Bleed Brakes with Help


Most car owners will need to bleed brakes at some point. If you want to make sure your brakes are being bled the right way, then you should get help from the service and parts department at Fred Beans.

Fred Beans provides car maintenance for drivers from Doylestown, Flemington, Philadelphia, and Mechanicsburg, and we would be glad to assist you. Schedule brake service today!

How Can We Help?