"McLarry" (McLarry)
03/18/2014 at 00:15 • Filed to: None
0
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"McLarry" (McLarry)
03/18/2014 at 00:15 • Filed to: None | 0
| 6 |
Hey folks. I hate asking 'dumb' questions and betraying my ignorance in front of y'all, but I'm sure one of you guys has to know the answer to this. While driving my wife's e46 (2005 330xi) I noticed the brakes felt a little...shaky. I mentioned this to my wife and she said it's been like that for a while. I popped the hood and checked the brake reservoir and it appears to be empty. A friend told me this happened to him and you can just add more brake fluid, but I've always heard you can't let the fluid drop below a certain level or adding more will cause air bubbles. SO... can I just top it off and keep an eye on it (suspecting a leak), or does the system need to be bled (or even flushed)? Is it safe for her to drive it to work tomorrow? Thanks in advance for any advice.
M54B30
> McLarry
03/18/2014 at 00:23 |
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I would add fluid for the mean time and get it flushed pretty soon. I think that's an acceptable short term solution, at least it's what I would do.
EL_ULY
> McLarry
03/18/2014 at 00:34 |
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Funny the brake light didn't come on, hmm. Anywho, start by keeping it simple. Low fluid is probably because your pads are running low. You can top it off, it will be fine. No air bubbles will form. Don't go straight into leaks, flushing things, and all that jazz just yet. Only thing is if your pads are low and you replace them, while squeezing the caliper the fluid will spill out. No biggie just clear some our before hand. As for the shake, I'll give that a warped rotors diag before going all crazy about the lower control arms, rear control bushing, and all that "typical BMW" blah blah. These are car issues, not BMW issues. If the shake is felt in the steering wheel, then it's the front. If it is felt in your booty, then it is rear. I say top off your fluid first, take the wheels off, check all the pads, sliding pins, and bushings. Start simple.
samssun
> McLarry
03/18/2014 at 00:37 |
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Adding fluid won't cause air bubbles, but if the fluid level bottoms out you'll pull air into the lines. Bleeding will be a pain since you're going the entire length of each brake line.
Speed Bleeders would be a huge time saver, and if you switch brake fluid colors you can just pump away (top off every so often) until you get new fluid at all four calipers.
hethoughtofcars
> McLarry
03/18/2014 at 00:39 |
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When I owned an e46 I didn't have a chance to have brake problems (everything else broke though! *sigh*). I had to fix the brakes on my e90, though. Can you define "shaky" a bit? Does the pedal throb? Do you need to push it to the floor? Do you hear the brakes squealing at all?
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McLarry
> hethoughtofcars
03/18/2014 at 00:48 |
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The pedal didn't drop to the floor or anything...It may have throbbed a bit, but I think the shake was primarily in the steering wheel.
ixismore
> samssun
03/18/2014 at 09:17 |
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Changing color makes sense but sucks in practice. We used to use Super blue and ATE's amber stuff but they always mixed and never quite helped. Amber ended up easier to flush out as the blue hides the new fluid from the old (less translucent can't see water and contaminents). Speed bleeders weren't terriffic on our ATE systems for some reason. The Vacuula never worked quite right and was finicky compared to our Japanese cars. My 2 cents from using ATE Blue and Amber with a Vacuula (spelling?) an E46 330xi and E36 M Roadster, but YMMV.
(Also blue is apparently now illegal in America! How dare it be blue..
http://hooniverse.kinja.com/braking-news-a…
)