How to Bleed Brakes

There are several reasons to bleed your brakes, with all of them surrounding the greater good of your vehicle and your safety while driving. Bleeding your brakes can release air bubbles that become trapped in your brake system, which can make you brakes unreliable.

When you bleed your brakes for this reason, you may not need to bleed all of the brake fluid from the brake system. Once all of the air bubbles are released, you can stop bleeding the brakes and replace the little bit of brake fluid that was lost during the process.

Brakes are also bled every time you need to change. In this case, all of your brake fluid will be bled from the system. Then, a whole new batch of brake fluid will be put into the system. Learn more about this process below.

1. Check your owner’s manual to confirm which type of brake fluid your vehicle needs, and purchase it from your local automotive parts center.
2. Securely park your vehicle on a flat surface and use a jack to lift up the front end of your vehicle enough for you to scoot under.
3. Locate the four caliper bleeding screws on your brake system and, one at a time, loosen each screen using a box-end wrench, ensuring that the three other screws are tight.
4. Place clear tubing over the loosened screw and drain the fluid through the tube into a bucket. During this part of the process, make sure that the tubing is going above the height of the caliper to ensure no air is entering the brake system.
5. Test the pressure of the brake pedal during this process with the help of an assistant.
6. Repeat this process for the remaining three brake calipers.
7. Once the process is complete, tightly screw the calipers back into place and try the brake pedal with the vehicle on once it’s been lowered back onto solid ground.