Do i really need to bleed all the brakes or can i just empty the reservoir( not the whole way) and fill with new fluid? this wont hurt anything will it? i imagine the new fluid will make it through the lines eventually. im asking because my bleeders are siezed up thanks guys

 

1985... One of the main resons to replace the fluid is to remove all moisture that has built up. You may have pockets of water inside your caliper rusting and creating havoc. Pull out the bleeders and clean, replace as necessary. It is important to replace all of the fluid. The newer and higher DOT fluids have less tolerance for water and in the case of DOT 5, I do not believe that it will absorb any water.

 

yeah i realize that it sucks that i cant break them loose can i use a little heat? or a no no?

 

It's pretty important to get that nasty old brake fluid out of the calipers.

I see you live in salt country, that can be a real problem. Over time, the bleeder and the caliper can become one. They can be darn near impossible to remove. If you've alread rounded them off, the job is even tougher.

Soak them in a good penetrating oil for about a week. Go out there every chance you get, and give them a little squirt. Hint: WD-40 is NOT a penetrating oil. I use PB Blaster.

Use a 6 point socket of end wrench. Gently tap the handle with a hammer to get them to break loose. Sometimes the shock of tapping will break things loose, when steady torque will round it off. Yes, a little heat sometimes works nicely. Just have a fire extinguisher handy.

If it's rounded off, use a slightly smaller socket, like a metric, and tap it onto the bleeder with a hammer.

Sometimes they break off. Then you have to disassemble the caliper, and drill and tap for a larger fitting. Then you have to clean the caliper out really well, and put it all back together. If you don't have any NPT taps, it might be cheaper to just buy a rebuilt caliper. Certainly easier and quicker.

I've tried using thread repair coils, but they always leaked. I always ended up drilling and tapping for a larger fitting.

 

Don't even bother with the bleeder! If you are worried about changing the fluid then buy new calipers!!!! It is not even worth all of your time trying to fix the broken bleeder screw, just buy new calipers. The bleeder on my right rear is broken took about 10ftlbs to break. When it comes time to do brakes I will be replacing all of the calipers. I have better things to do than rebuild these crappy calipers.

Look here at the prices...http://www.napaonline.com/masterpage...=3&SubCatId=13

 

When I've "changed" brake fluid, I will suck out what's in the master cyl, replace with new. Drive the truck again for a day or 2, repeat this procedure until the fluid stays new looking in the reservior after a couple days driving.
Yeah it takes 2 cans of brake fluid to do it, and it's probably not as good as bleeding them down completely, but it's got to be waaay better than not doing it at all, and how long do you really need it to last?? AND it's MUCH easier!
Heck I got a 35 ear old Jeep sitting in the garage that the brakes work great on and that fluid looks freakin terrible! Probably never changed.

FWIW, I do the power steering the same way. After sucking out as much as you can and replacing with new fluid 5 or so times, you pretty much got new fluid in there.

 

Well, that works with PS fluid, because it's constantly circulating. It doesn't work with brake fluid because once the water and crummy brake fluid reaches the caliper, it stays there.

 

Like others have said, get rid of the old fluid, its full of moisture and contaminants which lower your boiling point drastically and thus cause the fluid to fail/break down even quicker. You CANNOT use DOT 5 fluid due to its inability to absorb water, DOT 5.1 is okay but you're more likely to come across DOT 3 or DOT 4 fluid first.

I had a look at my 04's brake fluid last week, its due to be swapped out.