You should take it to a GM dealer to have the fluid done. It's very tricky and that way if they mess something up it's on their ass to fix it.
The actual brakes and pads you can do yourself pretty easily though.

 

Have you attempted it before? What is the tricky part?

 

actually, the bleed sequence is left rear, right front, right rear, left front.

you want to have your helper pump the brakes up first and hold pressure on the pedal while you open the bleed screw. when your partner gets close to the floor, they should tell you so you can close the bleed screw before your partner pumps up the brakes again. rinse, lather, repeat.

if you use DOT3 brake fluid you shouldn't have to bleed the clutch.

 

In order to get all of it, you need to cycle the ABS. Hard to do that at home.

 

you'll be fine if the master reservoir stays full.

 

I have bleed the brakes nearly a dozen times the old fashioned way of pumping the pedal. You probably already know, but it makes more sense to bleed from the caliper farthest to the caliper closest. Brakes have been one of the few issues I have not have issues with.

 

I have bleed the brakes nearly a dozen times the old fashioned way of pumping the pedal. You probably already know, but it makes more sense to bleed from the caliper farthest to the caliper closest.

That's how I have always done it and will continue to do so. I have no problem getting someone to help pump the pedal so I will not be using a vacuum pump.

Yup.

and for the select few who think they know it all. eat your heart out.

What you posted sounds like flusing the entire ABS system also. I do not plan on doing that.

Yeah well in the end the easiest thing is take 30 mins to take it to the dealer and pay what 30-50 max and have it done correctly...

I am not taking it in to be done. $30 to $50 to do this? Yeah right. A dealer gets $80 an hour just for labor and I am sure that is going to take more than 30 minutes. I am not concerned with the cost of having it done. It is more the fact that I am not letting some goon touch my car over something as simple as bleeding the brakes.


Anyways for those that did provide helpful information I have gathered an idea on how to get it done. Just pull some out and keep it above minimum level and fill up while bleeding off all 4 wheels.

 

Or you can do it with one person with this:
Mityvac PneumatiVac 8.8 Liter Evacuator - Model 07300 at Sears.com

or this:
Mity Vac Fluid Evacuator Plus - Model 07201 at Sears.com

or how about this:
Mity Vac Vacuum Brake Bleeder - Model MV6830 at Sears.com

These are just samples. Many companies make these. I think even Harbor Freight sells something along this line.

 

Here's some good info from some smart old members. There's much discussion about dot3 vs dot4 fluid, just skip over those posts if you don't wish to spend a lot of time on that... But the bleed procedure is covered by ***. http://www.redlineforums.com/forums/performance-modifications/5753-changing-brake-fluid-2.html

 

Yup.

and for the select few who think they know it all. eat your heart out.

It would be hard to do that with a pressure bleeder ball as it has it's own supply of fluid. You would probably best to find a dealer that uses a vacuum bleeder/flusher unit, then you can supply your own fluid. Then they can use the TECH2 to AUTO bleed the system again. No data on fluid volume, quart or two should do I would think.
Remember your MC reservior feeds the clutch as well, so maybe you want to pull the line at the trans pump it out then bleed it too??
***

 

As 05RedlineS2 stated - that was in reference to bleeding the ABS module, however, as part of routine maintenance bleeding the ABS module is not completely necessary (for consideration, in the 2 years I've been driving my car and 9 years I've been driving period, ABS has only kicked in once).

Ultimately, by not following that procedure you would not be maintaining a safety item. Personally, I'm fine with the very slight possibility that my ABS might not work correctly for the reason I mentioned above, but it's up to the user to make the final call. I figure if I don't let air get at the ABS module I'll do more good than harm.

I'm glad that thread was brought up though. I was about to flush my fluid with DOT 4, I'm going to go exchange it for some DOT 3 before I do the flush.

Bleeding the brakes is not the part that I am concerned with, that's the easy part. The thing I am worried about is causing the clutch fluid resorvoir dry. I believe that there is a small reservoir area for the clutch itself right? As long as there is ample fluid in the master cyliner reservoir should it fine without having to bleed the clutch at all? I'll just have to make sure it doesn't get too low in between when doing each wheel.

That sounds right. I'd have to look again to make sure but when I was replacing my brake fluid reservoir I believe I did plug the rear line into a secondary reservoir (for the clutch). Really, as long as you don't drive the car around without brake fluid in that reservoir I would guess you don't have to worry about the clutch unless you want to bleed it.

actually, the bleed sequence is left rear, right front, right rear, left front.

you want to have your helper pump the brakes up first and hold pressure on the pedal while you open the bleed screw. when your partner gets close to the floor, they should tell you so you can close the bleed screw before your partner pumps up the brakes again. rinse, lather, repeat.

if you use DOT3 brake fluid you shouldn't have to bleed the clutch.

Good info. I don't quite follow the logic behind that bleed sequence but I'll take your word for it. I thought that was tire rotation sequence.

Personally I'm against letting any wrench monkey I don't know personally service my car (last time I let a shop do work they made a $500 mistake which came out of MY pocket), and Al has done his own brake work without incident many times, so I wouldn't be worried about it at all as long as you have a partner that can listen.

 

*** was saying something about the ABS part of the system, and that you would never know about any air trapped in that part of the system until it was activated or something along those lines.

 

Yeah well in the end the easiest thing is take 30 mins to take it to the dealer and pay what 30-50 max and have it done correctly...

 

Yeah, that's the problem here, I don't trust the dealer...

 

^^^ Why don't you 2 both hit the "ignore posts from this member" button? It will save a ton of megaspace on this site, and we all won't have to sift through all the useless bickering. DO IT!!!

 

In my experiances with cars, If you going to change out a fluid. You do it right the first time, and don't leave any of the old shit lingering. The brake part is simple enough, and i see the bleed procedure has already been posted. The clutch system i'm not really a fan of. People have fubar'ed their slave cylinder with the use of the mighty vac, and also by hand. So i guess its up to you whether or not you wanna buy a 20-30 dollar mighty vac and attempt to flush out SOME of the fluid. Or pay the dealership to replace it ALL, and have piece of mind that if they **** it up its their issue. Around these parts dealerships are charging about 65 an hour. My personal opinion is to dealership the job as well. Id prefer the piece of mind knowing its all done, then just half assing it.

 

I know at least one RL owner who did that, so I've made sure I didn't myself. ;-)

 

Thank goodness somebody else picked up the tire rotation comment. I myself almost rotated my stock lops that way....but corrected it before I put it back on the ground. Front to rear....don't mix sides and your golden (for tire rotation).

Back to the OP....I personally would just get the reservoir low and refill it a few extra times. My peace of mind knowing the reservoir stayed above required is worth more than a bottle of fluid. (Dot3 or dot4). Thats my .02 but i'm a novice.