dave_aber wrote:Pretty much yes to all your questions - you can 'keep up' at the reservoir end fairly easily, as it pulls the fluid through at a sensible rate. Gone indeed are the days of "DOWN, HOLD", tighten, "UP", slacken, "DOWN, HOLD", etc.
The silicone hose I used was pretty transparent, so I could see the air bubbles coming through, and then stopping. The fluid was pretty much the same colour though, I guess you'd just have to make a judgement call on that one.
Factsheet - not a bad idea. My Bongo is a 1997 model, so it's probably on 14 year old brake fluid. I'm planning on doing the ATF next time I'm home, so I could (should) probably do the brake fluid too.
The problem with Eezi-bleeds are that there never seem to be reservoir caps for Japanese models - probably because they tend to be rubber caps rather than screw-on plastic lids, so wouldn't hold the pressure anyway. You can still use an eezi-bleed, but you have to inject the fluid at the bleed nipple end. This leads to a problem as you need to syphon the fluid out at the reservoir as it comes through. More worrying is if you have no dust caps on your bleed nipples, you will probably push all manner of crap into the brake calipers. The old adage "dirt is death to hydraulic systems" comes to mind....
Yup, thats why I never used my Eezi-bleed, and as I had no ready assistant, the job just never got done. But my brake fluid could be 16 years old, so I ought to do it. I bought Dot 4 on advice from here but noticed the other day that the reservoir cap said 'Use only Dot 3'. Can it really matter?
Our of interest, did you notice any improvement in the brakes ofter you'd changed the brake fluid?
I'm going to copy and paste you advice into a personal sheet in case I decide to get on with the job pronto (I'm in Bongo fettling mood while the weather is nice so might even try it tomorrow, if my Dot 4 is deemed fit for purpose.
