Bleeding/flushing brake lines
 

Planning to bleed brakes. Had Chevy mechanic warn me about using pressure bleeder, advised gravity bleeding. Any wisdom on this topic would be appreciated.

If you have ABS on your HHR, don't even attempt it, you need to have a scan tool to operate the valves in the brake controller or you will never get it bled. Why do you feel the brakes need bled, are you having issues with the master cylinder, leaking brake lines, etc?

Pressure or manual bleeding will work fine. The order is RR, LF, LR, RF.

The brakes should be bled every other year or more often if you're hard on them.

bleeding brakes
 

Yup,

Panel is right, bleeding that old, wet fluid is just as important as any other maintenance. I'm thinking that you save damage to all of those expensive braking parts for what....$6.00? Then there is the safety factor of having dry fluid that won't boil, it is win-win. You will need a quart of any good brand of DOT3/4 you decide to buy.

The only time that you can get in trouble is when you let air enter the system, do you homework, read up on the procedure, always keep the reservoir full and go for it. Besides, regularly doing this task keeps the bleeders excercised so that they don't seize up and break off.

QuickRick

I have an electric vaccuum pump that I use when doing a brake job. Never had a problem with bleeding ABS breaks. Like the others say, just keep an eye on the brake reservoir when doing this job.

Piece of cake with the right tools.

I'm thinking I should look into bleeding my brakes and putting new fluid in now that I've hit the 5 year 50k mile mark...

I just did mine last week (at 100K and 6 years), and it made a huge difference, without really changing anything else. I seem to have had no air, but lots of cruddy-looking fluid that I pushed out.

I did buy some Russell Speed Bleeders and installed them, because my "help" is not always all that effective. I got spoiled when I was doing competitive stuff, too. They are much easier to use once you get used to them.

One other thing I just thought of - is there a clutch bleed point? Never even checked for one... I'll search. Got it: https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/driv...-clutch-45927/
Looks like I'm not quite done...