How To Bleed A Shimano Hydraulic Disc Brake

Join Owen as he shows you how to bleed most of the Shimano mineral oil brake systems. Using Shimano's Bleed kit bleeding your Shimano brakes has never been easier. Using a funnel and syringe it's easy to see bubbles and the colour of the fluid change. Using Owens tricks your brake system will be free of air and feeling firmer than ever!

⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - What tools you need to bleed Shimano brakes
2:18 - How to bleed Shimano brakes

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Are you using hydraulic brakes yet or are you still on good old-fashioned cables? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

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[gmbntech]

Are you using hydraulic brakes yet or are you still on good old-fashioned cables? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

[ThunderStruckMTB]

I'm just gonna be that guy.... 1) Before pushing the caliper pistons back into their bores you need to open the lever and install the bleed cup so that the fluid has somewhere to go, otherwise you risk tearing the delicate diaphragm in the lever and fluid WILL squirt out from the lever vent port. Shimano has updated their latest dealer manuals to say exactly this. 2) Why push all of the filthy fluid from the caliper to the lever? Do a quick gravity bleed/fluid replacement to get that filthy fluid out of the caliper first before doing any bleeding from the bottom up.

[kevinwmitchell]

I appreciate all the helpful content you folks provide but I have to say this how to isn't one of your best. Most notably, you provide no comment or instruction on bleeding the syringe hose of air before attaching to the caliper. Around 5:23 you can see the hose attached, with an air void in the hose and the hose oriented in a vertical direction. Once you start injecting mineral oil into the caliper, this air is going to be pushed in first. Yes on a front caliper you probably will push this air all the way through to the collection cup. But on rear calipers where the hose routing sometimes has a number of bends, you are potentially adding air into the system that could be a bitch to bleed out. Also, after closing the bleed port on the caliper, almost all Shimano brake bleed instructions advise cycling the brake lever repeatedly, until no more bubbles exit into the bleed cup. You don't cover this.

[BeniKenesei]

Like others said, if you press the pistons back with the bleed screw still installed in the lever, you have a pretty big chance of wrecking your shimano levers. For older shimanos and other brakes it's usually not an issue. Just install the funnel with or without oil on the lever as the first step!

[tsops]

I find tapping the hoses a bit at the end to get rid of any cheeky final bubbles helps also. Great vid, thanks as always for all your efforts!

[pontap]

If you follow the steps but can't push oil through, it can be that you need to screw the lever adjustment back a bit again. I just encountered this issue.

[muppet]

@gmbntech. Thanks for this great vid. It’s about the only one I’ve seen that tells you to adjust the reach and bite point first. Was never sure before. Great content as always.

[mybike]

Thanks - Easy Az with this great video...

[dannyk]

great explanation and walk through thanks

[simonm]

I used the old mineral oil the last time to clean chains. If you put it into a plastic bottle with a big lid you can put the chain in and shake it (don't do it with glass bottles since they can break - don't ask why I know this). The oil cleans the chain and lubricates it at the same time. After some time the dirt settles on the ground of the bottle and the oil can be used to clean more chains

[MrDstnyw]

I use green citroen lhm mineral oil works fine bet there are a ton of reasons why i probly shouldnt

[Themilkmanskid.]

Seen other vids where they push fluid from bottom to top to clean the line, then draw in fresh fluid from the funnel at the top.🤷 I like this vid better and will try this way.

[Paul_]

I'm a newbie, doing maintenance on my bike, I'm having trouble with my brakes. After pulling my brake lever, the pistons on the caliper stays out and coursing my pads to rub on the discs . Any advice would be grateful. Thank you in advance

My bleed nipples just leak all the fluid out when I brake after bleeding. Exact same issue in both front and rear. Very frustrating. Yes of course I tightened the nut again.

[lewisjacksonv]

What a great tutorial! Easy to follow and understand. Asset to gmbn!

[BeyReaper]

Is the process the same for Sram? Actually Magura, bc thats whats on the bike I just bought. If they're not the same can you make a video on that or can someone link a good video on it?

[rolandegyed]

A question, maybe a dumb one (I recently upgraded from v-brakes to hydros, so I don't know everything yet): why do you need to pour mineral oil into the syphon on top? Isn't that just for collecting the old oil?

[SCRAPSTrash]

@gmbntech
Air in the syringe when it's filed with oil. Is this an issue? Or will the air in the syringe cycle through the system with out worry of trapping air inside the brakes?

[LowFrequencyJim]

I though you were supposed to pull the old fluid out from the caliper side as contaminated fluid can ruin the levers?

[LaurentiusTriarius]

On pretty much all the dirtbikes I had the fluid is not that nasty when I bleed them mid or off season (about every 6 months) but when I had Shimano brakes I bled them like every 2-3 months and the fluid was ALWAYS nasty, like brown/black. Why is that?