Bleeding Brakes - Epilogue

Dick Steinkamp

Dick Steinkamp

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The Haynes manual only has generic bleeding instructions. Ones that apply to most any car. It doesn't address the 3 bleeder screws on each front caliper.

What is the proper way to bleed these front calipers?

Thanks.
 
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Errrr, why does that appear to be different from 2002, which on tii is the same caliper? Or did I start happy hour too soon?
 
I'm not sure if this will help or confuse further. It's official instructions for RHD E9…
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Both Chris and the letter provided by Michael state the same for bleeding the front calipers (Inner, outer lower, outer upper). Phemisg's method differs (outer upper, inner, outer lower). I wonder if it actually matters, or if a 2002tii is done differently than an E3/E9?

Two other questions (and then I'll just go do it ;) )

The letter states that the brakes must be pressure bled. Is this actually the case? Has anyone had any luck with the typical method of brake bleeding (helper pushing and holding the brake pedal. 2nd person opening a bleeder attached to a tube submerged in brake fluid while the brake pedal is down)

The letter states nearside rear, offside rear...then nearside front, offside front. I've always done the opposite on other cars (offside rear, nearside rear, offside front, nearside front). Perhaps this is because the letter refers to a RHD car, or are all E3s/E9s done the opposite of what I normally do?

(I believe I may be getting to the point of over thinking this o_O)
 
Very interesting.
I don't have the Blue book or Bavaria specific manuals at hand, but I have two Haynes manuals here for 2002 and E12 with same caliper, etc. Both say OIL. Haynes is usually good about RHD, and the E12 manual speaks to RHD dual servos. Calipers appear to be the same as LHD and can't imagine why they would be different - or differently plumbed. I believe the sequence is caliper design driven, not plumbing.
 
You always want to have the highest bleeder done last, air bubbles rise to the top. You can bleed brakes by yourself. Start with having a bottle ( I use an old plastic pop bottle with a hole made thru the cap for the tubing to go thru ) Keep the end of the tube immersed in brake fluid in the bottle, as long as that happens , air cannot get back into the system, open the bleeder and slowly pump the pedal and allow the air and brake fluid to get out of the caliper. If you could watch this, you would see all the bubbles go thru the tube until it clears to just clean brake fluid, good way to change the brake fluid ( which should be done every couple of years or 3 no more than that regardless of mileage. ) You don't need to keep the pedal down, I do this for about 8-9 strokes per bleeder. The only thing that really have to watch is to keep the reservoir full, don't let it empty or you will have to start all over. close the bleeder, move on to the next. If you have had the whole system apart, you may have to go thru all it twice. I work alone most of the time, so I had to figure how to do this by myself. Have done dozens of cars this way and always ended up with a good hard pedal If it didn't get hard , there was something else wrong
 
Our input crossed. I use your method of starting furthest from the master, but knowledgeable people have said it doesn't make any difference.
I've also used the manual method with success before I got a pressure bleeder. Sometimes the manual method can get out reluctant air pockets better.
As to the order on caliper, I get the impression it does make a difference. One way to find out.
Perhaps Mr. Chris can peek in his Blue book and report back.
 
Dick Steinkamp said:
The letter states nearside rear, offside rear...then nearside front, offside front. I've always done the opposite on other cars (offside rear, nearside rear, offside front, nearside front). Perhaps this is because the letter refers to a RHD car, or are all E3s/E9s done the opposite of what I normally do?
Click to expand...

yes definitely because these are instructions for a RHD drive. Remember RHD cars also have two servos/booster. So I think you can ignore the confusing offside/nearside and stick with what you know.

Dick Steinkamp said:
The letter states that the brakes must be pressure bled. Is this actually the case? Has anyone had any luck with the typical method of brake bleeding (helper pushing and holding the brake pedal. 2nd person opening a bleeder attached to a tube submerged in brake fluid while the brake pedal is down)
Click to expand...

My mechanic has pressure bled the brakes before but has told me he actually prefers to manually bleed the brakes i.e. with me pushing the pedal when told!
 
E3 and e9 are the same process. The blue book says always bleed lower piston B (which is inner) then lower piston C. Upper is last. I’ve always felt that Haynes and Chilton books are great for diagnosing spark plugs but not good for anything else. This is especially true when different markets have different specs like smog settings for timing on US cars. They try to cover too many models in one one book and wiring diagrams are insufficient.

F24DD8D6-B844-4E46-BFCF-22F07180B9D2.jpeg
 
HB Chris said:
E3 and e9 are the same process. The blue book says always bleed lower piston B (which is inner) then lower piston C. Upper is last. I’ve always felt that Haynes and Chilton books are great for diagnosing spark plugs but not good for anything else. This is especially true when different markets have different specs like smog settings for timing on US cars. They try to cover to many models in one one book and wiring diagrams are insufficient.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris - good to know that the blue manual and the instructions in the letter sent from BMW match. Thanks for confirmation.
 
I thought we were talking E3. But to your question, the E9 appears to share calipers with E3, E12, etc., so I assume nipple configuration is the same. I can't speak to 3.0CS with certainty as I've not worked on one, but I don't see why it would be different.
 
HB Chris said:
E3 and e9 are the same process. The blue book says always bleed lower piston B (which is inner) then lower piston C. Upper is last. I’ve always felt that Haynes and Chilton books are great for diagnosing spark plugs but not good for anything else. This is especially true when different markets have different specs like smog settings for timing on US cars. They try to cover too many models in one one book and wiring diagrams are insufficient.

View attachment 101239
Click to expand...
If upper is last, then why is it labeled A? I believe the diagram also supports the OIL sequence, and that is the consensus on 2002FAQ. Anyway, have at it and let us know how it works.
 
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