E34 bleeding brakes

[zaleonardz]

I have so much air in my brake system it is unreal, I thought my braking wasnt cool since I got the car.

Combined to that the nipple that I stripped and then took off as a sample to the spares shop 24h later means I now have kak.

So tomorrow I am going to be building a brake pressurization kit as described here
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1297495

With my INPA, I can also open/close solenoids and activate the ABS pump, so its looking good that I will be able to bleed the system properly.

Anybody have any tips using INPA to bleed the ABS system. Should I rebuild the master/slave while I am at it ?

LZ

 

[1lum1nat1]

I think you should come & show the BMW mechies in Bloem a complete DIY on how to fix my car.

Soz, can't help, but it's great to see that you spend so much time on something you love.

 

[zaleonardz]

Tankies man.

I take a great pride in saying that almost everything on that car is working, and I did it with my own two hands knowing virtually nothing when I start, and its for that reason that I prefer driving my 5 instead of my 7 (that and the V8 of course)

She is now almost fully serviced with every possible liquid/filter replaced, just need to do the diff still, but want to get the brakes sorted.

 

[rick540]

Not sure if Inpa will initiate comms with an E34, have you checked?

Far as I know the only way to bleed the setup properly is to run the pump. You can use DIS and it will also work fine for bleeding by running the pump. The master cyl on that thing is R16000.00 from BMW, now who are they kidding with a price like that!

 

[zaleonardz]

INPA communicates with very little on the E34, for the life of me I cannot talk to the DME which is very disappointing, however the ABS works fine.

There is a brake bleeding procedure in INPA, but its not compatible with the BOSCH ABS5 pump, but I can open/close solenoids using the communication session for the ABS.

 

[zaleonardz]

Soooooo, after building a brake pressurization kit, and many more attemps at bleeding, and more googling, and more and more.

I finally stumbled on the fact that I have the H31 brake system, meaning that its not vacuum driven, its hydaulically driven from the power steering, and of course, I had a major power steering leak the day before and ran the system dry.

I also used the wrong oil in the power steering system, so THAT is why i cannot get my master cylinder pressurized.

This is fun, but dang it, wasted 2 days, and could not find this sooner, as this is standard on the E32, and was only used on the E34 540...

 

[zaleonardz]

So typical,

I cannot find the right power steering fluid, and I cannot use anything else.

I am looking for Pentosin 11s which is the Castrol equiv.

None of the dealers are open, and the spares shops look at you funny, anyone got any ideas.. the E34 is down ;(

 

[Uber Soldat]

JSN should be open if you need fluid. I used the same Donax TX i put in the gearbox, in my power steering, no problems. :thumbsup:

 

[zaleonardz]

Tankies Uber and Uber's dad for loaning me some oil, you guys ROCK :clap:

I hope I can get the brakes sorted tomorrow, we are going to give it a pretty darn good bash, else its a master cylinder rebuild for me.

 

[zaleonardz]

OK,

So my slave cylinder is shot, I donno how that happened, it could be that the seals were just hanging on, and when I let her drain like an idiot they let go, master seems fine though

So do I rebuild the slave cylinder which is pretty damm sealed, or do I get a scrapyard one ?

Does anyone have a slave cylinder for an E34 540 laying around ?

LZ

 

[freerider]

lol, i have an almost full litre of pentosin 11s in my garage, i used to use it in my mountain bikes brakes

 

[zaleonardz]

His uberness helped me out wif da oil, so we are good there, got any slave cylinders laying around

 

[freerider]

one old one yeah, but I somehow doubt that it will be 100% effective on a car :mmm:

 

[zaleonardz]

Ok so I plucked them up. I did some research today, and I messed up the brakes by using the WRONG fluid.

I asked the spares guy for the best possible quality fluids, checked the bottle and it specified BMW brake fluid, and didnt think of it again, this stuff was more of a oil then a brake fluid which I should have noticed before putting it in, I looked for the words dot4 but did not see it, but at the back of the bottle it specifies BMW brake fluid... BIG mistake.

So entire brake overhaul for me, I cleaned up all the lines this morning, and will have the slave cylinder rebuilt tomorrow, but ALWAYS do your homework on fluids, and DO NOT trust the spares guy. Read before you act, this is gonna cost me a few bob to fix, depends if I stuffed up the ABS pump or not, we shall see.

Brake master + slave out

ABS pump blocked off while lines are being cleaned

Slave Cylinder out

Back of bottle

Whats dat doing in here

 

[zaleonardz]

So finally.

Complete brake system rebuild from top to bottom, only component that I did not touch was the brake Bombe cause that seemed fine, and managed to bleed her completely as well as bleeding the ABS pump.

So I have a E34 again, although she's still up on stands, I am going to bleed her again once more tomorrow evening just to make sure.

Oh, and she's now licensed and on my name is aswell,

 

[zaleonardz]

Didnt take many pics of the brake rebuild, but the one pic shows clearly what components are involved, and its really a easy job.

Front piston seal is a 60mm and rear is either a 40mm or a 42mm