| Author | Message | ||
     FINNEGAN Unregistered guest Posted From: 64.12.117.16 |
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO BLEED THE BRAKES (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 1462 Registered: 4-2003 |
I suggest that you read the manual at www.rrtechnical.info To quote a Canberra brake shop where I was buying spares last month, the Silver Shadow has the easiest brakes to bleed of any car ever built. If you are struggling with this fundamental but safety-critical job, perhaps it's not a job for you. RT. | ||
| Paul Yorke Prolific User Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 210 Registered: 6-2006 |
LOL, Finnegan - I hope you found Richard'a answer helpful and constructive! Shadow I brakes with a master cylinder can be a pig to bleed. (although pigs bleed profusely . . . so maybe that's a bad metaphor! ;) ) A bugger to bleed. Firstly ensure the fluid, the reservoir, and their filters are clear, and that all the flex hoses are in good condition. The power systems are easy enough but the master cylinder isn't quite big enough to pump the fluid cleanly to the rear callipers ( that is all the master cylinder feeds ) Unfortunately the master cylinder also sets the pedal height , so without an air free master cylinder circuit, the pedal will be on the floor. Without the engine running, remove BOTH lids & fill the rear reservoir. The rear calliper lower nipple is often the master cylinder one, open it and pump the pedal to check. Pump the brake pedal firmly and a steady speed. Pause for a moment at the top of each stroke with your foot of the pedal. Once you've bled that side, do the other rear calliper. Once both run clear. close the nipples and see what the pedal height is like. Chances are it will still be very low. If it is, Put a brake hose clamp on the rubber flex hoses that go to one rear trailing arm. Bleed the opposite calliper again. Swap the clamp over and bleed the other calliper. Hopefully that will get the pedal up. ( you may need to repeat this a couple of times.) When that is done, start the engine, lock the brake pedal down. ( I use a rod with a pad wedged against the drivers seat ) Or get somebody to hold the pedal down. It is useful to have somebody to pour the brake fluid in while somebody else bleeds. ( it will go down fast and must not be allowed to fall below the minimum) Open one bleed nipple at a time and allow fluid out until clean and air free. You will probably want to bleed the rear suspension at the same time. The bleed nipples are above and in front of the right hand drive shaft. You will need to undo the rear height control valve linkages, and push them up one at a time to bleed that side. If the car needs a complete fluid change, I would bleed with DOT 4 first and the R363 when it's clean. Good Luck, Paul. | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 789 Registered: 9-2004 |
Paul prehaps Richards outburst was him thinking that early Shadows were not fitted with a brake master cylinder in the USA. Seeing the posting source. Hum OZ with no cunifer springs to mind! | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 1466 Registered: 4-2003 |
Outburst ? What outburst ? I might remind you that our '72 T has a master cylinder, and I have certainly replaced all the seals and hoses, flushed and bled the brakes, suspension and all, numerous times over the decades during its scheduled services. It's a piece of cake compared to a Holden. | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 790 Registered: 9-2004 |
Richard you say: "the Silver Shadow has the easiest brakes to bleed of any car ever built". Really, well every early Shadow with the master cylinder is a sod to bleed even with the power bleeder. Replace seals never, fit a new master cylinder! Citreon BX CX etc are by far more easy, but there are many more. (Message edited by pat lockyer on 04 October 2008) | ||
| Paul Yorke Prolific User Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 214 Registered: 6-2006 |
RT , I think Patrick meant this outburst "I suggest that you read the manual at www.rrtechnical.info To quote a Canberra brake shop where I was buying spares last month, the Silver Shadow has the easiest brakes to bleed of any car ever built. If you are struggling with this fundamental but safety-critical job, perhaps it's not a job for you. RT." To say that The Silver Shadow has the easiest brakes to bleed of any car ever built is absolute and complete rubbish. I'd say it is probably in the Bottom 10% of cars I've worked on. Admittedly, I don't really work on much except R-R & Bentleys, and I haven't worked on a Holden - But Silver Shadows with a master cylinder are the hardest model R-R to bleed, and more difficult compared to all the other make cars I can think of with the possible exception of Inboard disc Jags etc. Patrick, Richard didn't actually say it though - Apparently it was some 'Brake shop in Canberra'. Somebody should put some brakes on their mouth to stop them spouting crap! Although Richard shouldn't really repeat it parrot fashion either. | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 1469 Registered: 4-2003 |
Woops. Sorry. Perhaps page 10 of http://rrtechnical.info/sy/tsd2476/8.pdf needs correcting. | ||
| Paul Yorke Prolific User Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 216 Registered: 6-2006 |
FFS it sure does. You are way to hung up on what people 'say' instead of what's happening in the real world. Maybe in your world EVERYTHING goes by the book, but it ain't like that ITRW. Remember Richard, you really shouldn't repeat things parrot fashion. | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 1009 Registered: 4-2003 |
Before we start getting into the contest of who has the biggest dick can I observe that the original enquiry was an example of a casual almost throwaway enquiry in this case on a fairly technical matter not to mention the factor of safety. While I am the greatest (eat your heart out Ali) exponent of tell anyone anything that I can to keep these cars on the road together with can I say the Patricks Richards and Pauls of these pages, unlike some enclaves of information that have built citadels of knowledge available only to the registered few, (takes a breath,) to get a request (?) 'my car stopped - why' or some such vague observation is in my opinion a lazy presumption. 'Yeah well lets these petrol heads argue out what I meant' is the message I get. The library is there on the web and partially duplicated on the Australian web site. The manuals have been scanned and uploaded after an enormous amount of work mostly by Richard Treacy and it seems that some people can't be bothered even looking them up! Am I becomming an even more irrascible old fart? | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 1474 Registered: 4-2003 |
Do The Right Thing.   | ||
| Chris Gillings Frequent User Username: chrisg Post Number: 53 Registered: 5-2001 |
It would indeed be wonderful if everyone paid attention in class or spent some time trying to find answers for themselves before asking about what for some is the [ahem] bleeding obvious. Sadly, people who do are in the minority. Unfortunately not everyone is as diligent, dedicated or knowledgable as many stalwarts of this forum, without whom it would be useless. There are various clues in this thread to indicate the original poster is very very new to the web, if not RR maintenance. 1. The post is in the Miscellaneous section but is obviously related to Shadows. This shows that they aren't very familiar with the site but chose a section least likely to cause offence at being in the wrong area. 2. The poster seems to have a stuck CAPS LOCK key. This shows that they are not terribly au-fait with web forum etiquette, or they would know that using capitals is VERY MUCH LIKE SHOUTING. (They also seem to have mislaid the punctuation keys on their broken keyboard.) Further assumptions can be made about this user: they have not found the forum's 'Search' option; they probably have never heard of the http://rrtechnical.info site; and they are interested in maintaining their vehicle. This last assumption is the one we should pay most attention to. Our response - which is to help this person - should be informed by all the other assumptions and our attitude modified to suit. A rule of thumb might be 'the simpler the question, the more benevolent and patient we are with the questioner'. A corollary of this would be 'the more detailed the question, the more rude and abrupt we can be' because the questioner has probably been around for a while, should know better and can give as good as they get. I realised a while ago that a distinguishing mark of the Australian culture is that we can call an old friend a 'bastard' but not a new one. I was once accused of telling someone to 'f*** off' but my reply was that I didn't like him enough to have said that. So let's please be gentle and tolerant of visitors because we'd like them to be our friends one day. Then we can be as rude to them as we like. | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 1010 Registered: 4-2003 |
Chris Your point is well taken. It will be interesting to see if our 'visitor' responds. |
