Brake Bleed Question

[saihageh]

I'm about to bleed the brakes on my GT, with friend at pedal, no power bleeder. Do I need to be concerned with the brake light switch possibly breaking there by needing to put a small piece of 2x4 between the pedal and floor, or there is no danger of messing up the switch and the pedal can be depressed all the way to the floor, and does the friend pump the pedal with the key on or off?
Than You

[BuildItYourSelf]

All the way to the floor is fine.
Key off but don't matter.

[scott1998]

Key doesn't matter. Highly recommend a power bleeder. One of the benefits of the power bleeder is that you do not need to push the pedal to the floor. Since the master cylinder is not usually operated at the bottom of the range this can cause problems.

[-Ray-]

2 man method has been done on my G8 with no problems. I've also had a GM service dept. do a machine bleed that left me with a softer pedal than I would have liked.

[scott1998]

2 man method has been done on my G8 with no problems. I've also had a GM service dept. do a machine bleed that left me with a softer pedal than I would have liked.

I don't trust most dealers to do anything right. I should clarify I've never had a problem with the traditional method in any car I've owned, but now that I have a power bleeder I will never go back. Especially considering the dot 4 in these cars has a service life of only two years.

[hflores3]

Key doesn't matter. Highly recommend a power bleeder. One of the benefits of the power bleeder is that you do not need to push the pedal to the floor. Since the master cylinder is not usually operated at the bottom of the range this can cause problems.

Scott1998 I'm not agreeing. Nor am I disagreeing. ..... I want you to keep posting so I can see more of the photo in your member identification.

[Rob@WretchedMS]

Just make sure when you bleed them that the person doing the pedal work isn't going too fast or too hard. You will be moving the pistons inside the master further than they normally go, and if you press super hard you can sometimes cause damage, if you pump the pedal too quickly you can foam the fluid and this makes life hard, don't do that.

[-Ray-]

I don't trust most dealers to do anything right. I should clarify I've never had a problem with the traditional method in any car I've owned, but now that I have a power bleeder I will never go back. Especially considering the dot 4 in these cars has a service life of only two years.

I know the dealership and the tech in question very well. I started making my own power bleeder, but never got around to buying a reservoir cap.

[Napalm]

pedal method won't hurt the switch one bit.

however I'd suggest you invest in something like a mitivac - or the cheaper harbor freight version. so as to suck out some of the fluid from the resoviour before you start.

it will save you lots of time and help flush your brake fluid - which you need to do - flush all your brake fluid.

also as when you go through all 4 wheels - I tell people to use LH rear, RH rear, LH front, RH front. this is opposte from most cars - reason being is the abs unit on our cars is on the RH side - which is opposite from most american cars.

otherwise enjoy.

[WhatNext]

I was just going to ask about vacuuming the fluid. Got a Astro vac which is similar to the mitivac. I am suppose to be able to attach a line to the bleeder nozzle on each caliber and suck the brake fluid out.

Any advice?