E36 Brakes...rear wheels no bleed

[marcva]

I rebuilt the calipers on my rear wheels, putting in new stainless pistons, and when I put everything back together, they were reluctant to bleed. I use a Motiv bleeder that I was running at 20 psi, and I got nothing on either corner. I backed off the pressure and reapplied and I got a trickle out of each corner. enough to get the air out, so I have a firm pedal.

I do have an ABS and SRS light on, which I suspect is the pedal sensor. I need to confirm when I can get to a proper code reader. Other than that, my fluid is not immaculate...er, I did re-use a cleanish bottle of typ 2000 in a pinch...so I'm thinking I need a backflush of sorts and refill. When I say cleanish, I pour fluid back from the Motiv bleeder back into the bottle, not spent fluid. Still, I'm a long way from my track days of focus and new everything 1x/month or two...I miss being single.

I own a Mityvac that I can use to clean out the reservoir, so I figured:

1) check codes and fix the offending brake system problem since ABS actuators might interfere with bleeding (?)
2) Evacuate the reservoir with my Mityvac paying special attention to putting the hose at the bottom when I start pumping to maximize suction at the first bottleneck.
3) get a couple fresh bottles of ATE fluid and bleed through until she's peeing bright yellow out all four corners.

If that fails, are there likely spots to break open the lines to purge? replace the rear lines?

I want to have the first three levels of failure worked out since my windows to work on cars are very limited these days. i can't wait until the wife buys us a third car so I can park mine and take my time to do things properly.

Sorry about my absence. Life happened. I'll try to chip in with the stuff I can offload for the alphas.

Marc
E36 332i (er m3/4/5) 173k now need to update my sig.
Vienna, VA

[bmwdirtracer]

Hi Marc. The pressure bleeder makes 20 psi. A foot on the pedal makes ~2000 psi. (Keep the ignition off, by the way). Keep the Motive on the system, and then crack the bleed screw, and reach in the car; push the pedal to the floor. Wouldn't hurt to have your Mitivac on the open bleed screw too. I always use both pressure and vacuum together. (Yes, you will always see bubbles when using vacuum; ignore them.)

Also, use the Mitivac tp suck fluid out of the reservoir from the top, not the bottom, because this introduces air to the system.

[pbonsalb]

I have seen clogged bleeder screws. Remove the bleeder and run a wire into the hole. Or replace the screw. This may be a New England salted winter roads problem.

[dworthy]

+1

If you need to "purge" it quickly, just pump the brakes a couple of times with the motive bleeder at 20-25 psi.

P.S. Welcome to married life, where time is precious.