I was looking for speed bleeders for my 199 TBU. Local place can get Russell 639560s for $12/pair but has this Earl's Plumbing bleeder in stock. Looks like a different design with more moving parts at twice the price. I'm leaning toward Russells as that's what I've read about here. Plan was to do the TBU tomorrow but I'd have to wait for Russells. I've already put this off way too long!

Forum search turns up nothing about Earl bleeders. Anyone have any experience with them?

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The Russel bleeders will have the check ball and spring internal to the body - it has the same number of total parts. Either one should work just fine. Make sure you have some thread sealant on the threads so that when you are bleeding, it goes out the nipple at the top instead of around the threads.

-Charlie

Thanks, Charlie!

The guy at the parts store suggested coating them with Loctite Blue 242 and letting them set for a few minutes before installing. He sounded legit but I figured it wouldn't hurt to mention that here, see if anyone screams BS.

Mark

These are the only speed bleeders I worked with. I went with these because they make then in stainless steel. As per my environment. These were my best option. Even come with tread locker on them with the check ball bleeder cover too.

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ive never heard of the "earls".
not good to mess with brakes on a unknown name....at least for me anway

Earls been around for a long time, I think with specialty lubrication systems for racing.

Strike 1 against the parts guy.

LocTite is an anaerobic material which means that it cures in absence of air. Leaving it disassembled may allow a little evaporation (probably not noticeably in 5-10 mins), but it def won't start to firm up because it's curing.

You haven't heard of basically the oldest automotive performance plumbing company? They were basically the company that brought AN fittings to the automotive world...

-Charlie

Would lack of thread sealant cause problems bleeding? What's the best type of sealant to use. Better yet, can I use blue 242 or the yellow (petroleum) teflon tape? I jumped the gun and didn't use anything. Now I'm not able to bleed and I'm thinking that must be the problem. I had a wheel off when I remembered and didn't want to put it back on to drive to Autozone. I know I shouldn't admit that but it's the truth.

bleed screws/nipples seal against the tapered bottom of the bore (the cone-shaped area) - not the threads.

I understand that. I'm wondering if the sealant is needed when bleeding to maintain an airtight seal on the threads after loosening the valve. Just trying to figure out why it's not bleeding.

shouldn't have anything to do the issue you're having - perhaps the valve isn't loosened enough? (I've never used speed bleeders, personally)

or do you have the ball & spring type? sounds like the ball is stuck?

I loosened it up a fair amount and it wasn't leaking but I did get some fluid out after that.

I (slowly) went through 32oz of brake fluid between all four corners, thought I was good to go. Pedal felt almost too firm but I figured between new brakes and steel lines there had to be a difference. As soon as I fired it up and stepped on the brake to put 'er in gear the pedal sank right to the floor.

Guess I missed something. RR, LR, RF, LF. Nothing was leaking after that. I'd tried bleeding with the key on but it didn't make a difference and as I understand it, my '96 shouldn't require that. Times like this I really hate learning new things! Time to read another few dozen posts about bleeding.

When you say it isn't bleeding, do you mean you aren't getting fluid out, or your still have air in your brake lines even though you are getting fluid out? Can you walk us through your bleeding procedure?

At first I was not getting fluid out.

• After replacing the calipers, rotors, pads and lines between the hard lines I topped off the MC.
• I replaced the RR bleed valve with Earl's Solo Bleed.
• I loosened it maybe 1/2 turn, attached a hose and pumped the brakes a little more than 1/2 way about 30 times. Nothing was coming out.
• I loosened it a couple more turns and it started coming out, very slowly. After another 30+ pumps I had maybe 8oz of some filthy looking fluid, but the drops coming from the hose had become clear:

I repeated the process on the remaining wheels - LR, RF, LF. I'd tighten the valve, pull off the hose and move on to the next wheel.

The pedal felt quite firm. These were slow, deliberate pumps holding for a couple seconds a little over halfway down. After releasing the pedal I'd wait a second for it to fully return before the next pump.

After putting the front tires back on and double checking all my connections it seemed time for a test. I put my foot on the brake, started the engine, and the pedal sank to the floor. I pumped it a few times to see if that would help but it did not. After stopping the engine I could pump a couple times and return to the firm feeling it had while I was trying to bleed.

I hope that helps shine some light on what I've done wrong. I added some photos in case there's something obvious I'm missing.