Brake bleeding your Defender - part 1 - The Fine Art of Land Rover Maintenance

Full brake bleed.... In part one of two we explore the brake fluid boiling point, hygroscopic, how to bleed up the circuits on the None ABS brake system methodically.

[@mjallenuk]

I like the decency to point out that an old jar and airline still work best... Money saved that can be spent somewhere more worthwhile!

[@trailerfitter2]

She is upset. After buying the jars for filling with those coffee refills.

[@mjallenuk]

***** haha ... best switch to the big pickle jars mate ;o)

[@buzzingadventures1980]

Is this the same procedure for a td5 disco 2, it's the first time I'm going to attempt to have a go at bleeding the brakes and I want to get it right....great videos..love the channel!

[@bradb4960]

UK Comms Prepper 2E0KIA grate info do you do any thing on the p38 Range Rover having some lights on mine for wheel sensor a Is that the way Land Rover label them?

[@fabiopunk1661]

so no need to close the bleed nipple just after each pedal push (before lifting the foot) to avoid air to go back into the system?

[@dadomago2615]

Thanks for this useful video. I just have a doubt after reading hundreds of webpages about the bleeding topic. They all say what you say in your video "bleed the farthest caliper first and so on". But the farthest caliper is the rear left one (on a RHD Landy). So my question is "why you suggest to start with the front left? thanks

[@trailerfitter2]

+Dado Mago one that has the longest pipe from the master cylinder. LR might state otherwise.

[@453421abcdefg12345]

This is very confusing, the manual shown at the beginning of this video clearly states, the first wheel to be bled is the front drivers side, then you recommend bleeding the front passenger side ?Which is it ? Chris B.

[@josephsaid756]

Hi thanks for the video. I usually do my Land rover series 3 lwb brakes (single line non servo) myself. A nightmare according the many online but it rarely bothers me. I would like to bleed/replace the fluid in my 2003 td5 without abs as it has been there for a long while. How does it compare to bleeding series 3lwb brakes (easier or harder)? I have tried gravity bleeding before on the series but can it work as well on a 2003 110? cheers.

[@brendanquinlivan1220]

I tried reverse bleeding my brakes using a oil can as suggested but had some trouble with it... either the bleed screw was too tight and no fluid was entering the system or else it was too loose and fluid was seeping out the threads! What am I doing wrong?

[@carlos8849]

Wrap 4 layers of teflon tape around the bleed screw thread so as to prevent the aforementioned seeping. It works very well.

[@ljmac1609]

Interesting that RRC w/ABS manual begins w/ bleeding drivers side (closest to MC on LHD): the outside bleeder 1 of 3 on both front calipers then immediately goes to outside bleeder on passenger side caliper. Any reason for the extraordinary difference with Defenders?

[@trailerfitter2]

+L J Mac It depends how the system is plumbed up. Some have diagonal split systems incase a hose breaks it will leave on front brake and one rear brake, Others have a split system front and rear for the same reason. Also as things develop, engineers change their minds about techniques.

[@ljmac1609]

+Land Rover Toolbox Videos Thank you! Everything went swimmingly bleeding the brakes using your prescribed detailed methods & the LR RRC manual on sequence & ABS ; this was 1st time though owning LRs for many years brake bleeding I’ve avoided due to the abundance of forum posts about how tricky it can be especially RRCs. The one issue is the bleed nipple on the outside passenger caliper had no fluid to bleed even eventually removing the bleed screw. I nipped it off & after bleeding all others properly the brakes seem perfectly fine except for that piston/bleed nipple. Short of replacing the caliper is there a method of clearing that particular nipple to have fluid flowing & allow the outside piston to operate again?

[@trailerfitter2]

Reverse bleeding works.