Just make sure you are using something compatable with DOT 3. A DOT 5 will not mix, and will potentially eat away your lines. A DOT 5.1 is perfectly safe and is good till 600* wet boiling point (ATE Super Blue). Make sure it's not a silicone brake fluid, they should never be used. If mosture gets into a silicone brake fluid it can cause a loss of the braking system.

To Flush:

For ABS do this order: Driver Rear - Pass. Rear - Driver Front - Pass. Front
For Non-ABS do this order: Pass. Rear - Driver Rear - Pass. Front - Driver Front

Then tell your helper to step on the pedal and press down gently but firmly. Open the bleeder valve and watch the fluid as it flows through the clear hose into the clear glass or bottle. Bleed as you would normally. When the fluid color changes from grungy black to some thing closer to what the new fluid looks like, you can stop. Close the bleeder valve and go to the next wheel brake. Be very sure to add fresh brake fluid up to the level in the reservoir every single time. (Basicly you do the brakes as normal but allow for the new fluid to get through each line)

For ABS before moving to the next wheel:
Before you do the final top-off (it might overflow), have your helper apply the brakes over and over, to exhaust the high-pressure reservoir of the ABS. This will cause the level in the master cylinder reservoir to rise slightly. It may take 25 to 35 pedal applications to do this, but when the level stops rising after a couple of dozen, that should be it. (There's a miata myth that the ABS will always store air pockets in it, which leads to the spongy pedal feel. I think doing this last step helps, at least it doesn't hurt)


This might not be how everyone else does it, but it's how I've done it. A vacuum pump makes things easy as well.

I wonder if keeping it on the side a adds slight resistance, leaning the system out ever so slightly, adding more power?

I'm actually changing out my brake lines and pads this weekend. I thought when flushing out the brake fluid you start with the passenger front-> passenger rear-> driver rear -> driver front->

How do other people flush out their brake fluid?

I guess I'll check my manual before I begin.

--sorry for the thread jack

you always want to start the furthest away from the master as possible. But in the case of ABS you want to start off as far away as the ABS unit as possible.

Start at the caliper farthest away from the master cylinder and work toward it so order is drivers rear -> passenger rear -> passenger front -> drivers front. Normally the passenger rear would be furthest (in most cars) but b/c the brake lines run down the passenger side, the drivers side rear is the furthest.

Thanks guys. I'm glad I read this post before I started this job.

Oh and when I did mine, the Right Rear, has the "block" on the line to connect the hard line that crosses over the rear cross-member. When I did mine, the thing was siezed in there but good. Ended up, having to replace the hard line that runs across the cross-member.

Not overly challenging in the grand scheme of things. Just get a replacement piece of hardline (I think I got a 4 footer), then just bend it by hand to get it into approximately the same shape as the stocker, then you need to rent or buy a "double flare" tool, to put a "fresh end" on the hardline at the right length. I just rented it. Probably took all of a few hours total, including the re-bleeding....

I'm not sure if it's just because of the "arctic wasteland" use of salt in the winter here... but my car has never really been driven through a winter (just the occasional "clear" days)... so something to watch out for.

Dave,

Nice setup. There looks to be lots of room for the I/C pipe by the A/C and power steering. Did you have to bend or reroute anything? Nice job.

The NACA duct on the headlight lid...is that carbon fiber sticker material?

There would be tons of room if I used Corky's water-bypass, however there is enough to fit a 2" pipe in there. The only thing I had to move was the power steering lines, it was easy enough.

The NACA duct is real carbon fiber, the cooling panel over the radiator is the sticker ;)