Brake Fluid Problem

[Navala]

I'm doing a brake fluid job, and the PSI won't increase even though I'm using the recovery bottle.( Not sure how to retrieve the fluid from the recovery bottle)

[EssBee]

What you want to do is put the new fluid bottle on the reservoir and pump it up. Once it's at full pressure then that's when you can go and open the bleed nipple on the caliper and the old fluid should then start flowing in to the recovery bottle.

Have a quick look through this guide I made if you're still having problems. I cover the basics of it in there. There's a dedicated section on bleeding brakes in there somewhere.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1638916184

Just double check the manual in the tablet in-game though as there is now a sequence to follow as to which calipers you bleed first - last. I can't remember off of the top of my head which it is now.
I think it start drivers side rear, then passenger rear, passenger front then finally drivers front, but I can't be sure on that one.

[Navala]

Something must have been off, I followed the PDA(which is exactly like your guide states) and the fluid almost never cleared the air out. I would run out of pressure by the time I got to the second set(passenger rear) calipers each time I did it. then I'd have to buy a new bottle and completely start over.

[EssBee]

It can use quite a lot of fluid to bleed the entire system. Using two bottles isn't uncommon now. What I've also started doing now is going back and re-pressurising the bottle after each caliper. Just helps to ensure the fluid/air is being forced out of the caliper as fast and hard as possible.
Bleeding brakes is one of the things that been given a rework in recent updates so it's possible that things are still a little 'wobbly', and further fine tuning may be in store.

If you've got it, or don't mind getting it, I recommend Discord.
The devs are both pretty active on there so you can always talk it through with them directly.
Also, the Steam discussions are pretty quiet for this game as everyone is on Discord instead.
If you ever run in to problems with anything then pop a post in the #help channel there and someone will be able to bail you out pretty quickly... quite often within just minutes or even seconds of you posting.
Saves having to wait days for someone to pick up a post on here.
I'm really about the only person with any real experience in the game who ever checks these discussions these days and obviously I can't always be around. ;D

[Navala]

Originally posted by Steph:

It can use quite a lot of fluid to bleed the entire system. Using two bottles isn't uncommon now. What I've also started doing now is going back and re-pressurising the bottle after each caliper. Just helps to ensure the fluid/air is being forced out of the caliper as fast and hard as possible.
Bleeding brakes is one of the things that been given a rework in recent updates so it's possible that things are still a little 'wobbly', and further fine tuning may be in store.

If you've got it, or don't mind getting it, I recommend Discord.
The devs are both pretty active on there so you can always talk it through with them directly.
Also, the Steam discussions are pretty quiet for this game as everyone is on Discord instead.
If you ever run in to problems with anything then pop a post in the #help channel there and someone will be able to bail you out pretty quickly... quite often within just minutes or even seconds of you posting.
Saves having to wait days for someone to pick up a post on here.
I'm really about the only person with any real experience in the game who ever checks these discussions these days and obviously I can't always be around. ;D

Thanks for all the help. Yea I have Discord, I'll make sure to check it out. Also I tried a few more times and I think I just somehow got a bugged mission, the next two worked fine.

[EssBee]

Thinking about it, I do seem to recall seeing a couple of posts in the #bug reports channel on Discord about players finding the bleed nipples were already open when they took a job and so they couldn't actually pressurise the system to start with. Maybe that's what happened. The nipple was open by default rather than closed. Not so sure this has yet been patched, but it's deffo something that's been brought to the devs attention.

[EssBee]

Throw something in the bug reports channel anyway if you like. Guess it won't hurt to give them a prod. The more people that report it, the more they'll know they need to look in to it. ;D

[Limmin]

Yes, I find it takes two bottles of brake fluid for each full brake line flushing job. I pump the pressure up to 11 psi before each set of calipers. Lately (post build 125), on about the 4rd caliper I run out of fluid and need a new bottle. I let the fluid flow for 30 seconds; after which the lines have no bubbles, so you can let them flow for 5 more seconds, to 35 sec. total then re-tighten the nut.

>> a couple of posts in the #bug reports channel on Discord about players finding the bleed nipples were already open when they took a job and so they couldn't actually pressurise the system to start with

Interesting! On my new, "unlimited" car, I fixed the problems with the car but got the message "brake pedal feels soft." It could refer to the front pads being overdue. But I wonder if it refers to the brake line bleeding fittings being open by that recent bug. That would be for sure a reason for a soft brake pedal. IRL it would mean no more brake pressure and total brake failure!

Update:
1. All my brake line bleed nuts were tight, so my car was not affected by this new issue of "already open" fittings.
2. The "soft brake pedal" was apparently due to old brake fluid and/or air in the lines. Flushing them out and replacing with new per the steps above fixed this problem.

[Navala]

Originally posted by Limmin:

Yes, I find it takes two bottles of brake fluid for each full brake line flushing job. I pump the pressure up to 11 psi before each set of calipers. Lately (post build 125), on about the 4rd caliper I run out of fluid and need a new bottle. I let the fluid flow for 30 seconds; after which the lines have no bubbles, so you can let them flow for 5 more seconds, to 35 sec. total then re-tighten the nut.

>> a couple of posts in the #bug reports channel on Discord about players finding the bleed nipples were already open when they took a job and so they couldn't actually pressurise the system to start with

Interesting! On my new, "unlimited" car, I fixed the problems with the car but got the message "brake pedal feels soft." It could refer to the front pads being overdue. But I wonder if it refers to the brake line bleeding fittings being open by that recent bug. That would be for sure a reason for a soft brake pedal. IRL it would mean no more brake pressure and total brake failure!

Update:
1. All my brake line bleed nuts were tight, so my car was not affected by this new issue of "already open" fittings.
2. The "soft brake pedal" was apparently due to old brake fluid and/or air in the lines. Flushing them out and replacing with new per the steps above fixed this problem.

After playing this for several hours I've learned to check all the caliper bleed nuts before even attempting to do a flush job. Yea it takes me about two as well, but I can kind of fudge it with one bottle(leaving a tiny amount of thin air lines). I just thought with the way the game was, you'd need to collect and reuse brake fluid as you would in real life.

[EssBee]

You wouldn't want to reuse old brake fluid irl.

For one it absorbs moisture from the air extremely quickly, and that'll very quickly lead poor brake performance as well as potentially corroding your brake system internals.
Brake fluid also picks up contaminants from inside your brake system over time, and also the constant heating and cooling during use slowly starts to break it down.
These are the reasons why you should change it every couple of years, and once it's used you should never reuse it.

You should also always ensure that once you open a bottle you replace the cap again as soon as possible. All the time the cap is off, or even on but just loosely, the fluid will be absorbing moisture from the air. So even though you may think the fluid is good, it may well not be at all.

As soon as you have moisture in it, and you put it in to your brake system, under use the water within the fluid will start to boil, leading to potential brake failure.
Needless to say, that's not a good situation to be in!

So never ever reuse old fluid, and always keep the bottle top tightly secured whenever it's not being actively poured.

[Navala]

Originally posted by Steph:

You wouldn't want to reuse old brake fluid irl.

Ah I didn't know that. So the point of a collection bottle isn't really to reuse the brake fluid, but just so you don't make a damned mess everywhere.

Long story short I've never used a collection bottle. I've always done brakes with my family and we just open the valve, have another person in cab press the pedal down, close valve, let up off brake pedal, and repeat this step as needed(basically 3-4 times). Filling the reservoir after each caliper(and yes capping it after each filling)

[EssBee]

There you go, see? You learn something every day. ;D

Yep, those catch bottles are basically just to catch the old fluid which isn't too kind to the bodywork (you certainly don't want to be spilling it on paintwork, and if you do then wash it off as soon as you can) or to the environment.
IRL you can then quite often dispose of old fluid at certain automotive recycling centres. I can't say what it's like in other countries, but I know here in the UK you can often recycle brake fluid at places where you can dispose of/recycle old engine oil and the like.

The other beauty of the catch bottles is the clear plastic tube which lets you see when the dirty old fluid has been flushed through and the fresh clear stuff starts appearing, and also allows you to see for sure when all of the air is out out of the system. (no more bubbles.)