How do I drain my brake fluid resevoir on a 94 Ranger

[barrys]

I would like to flush out the brake fluid on my 1994 Ranger and I'd like to empty the resevior instead of mixing the old grungy fluid with the new stuff.
I can't see any way to drain the resevior nor does it seem like I can get a tube in through the fill port since they're some filter in there.

Is there a way to remove that filter in the fill port? Then I could just get a tube in there and suck it out with a little hand pump.

Seems the only other thing would be to remove the retaining pins and remove the resevior. But, that seems like a great way to dump a bunch of brake fliud all over the place.

 

[gw33gp]

I thought that filter just lifted up and out of there.

 

[barrys]

I will try that. The one on the VW snaps in and "snapping" it out is a nice way to spray braked fluid all over the place. So, I figured I'd ask...

 

[98 ranger xlt]

Get a cheap turkey baster and suck it out.

 

[barrys]

I did the flush today.

Draining the resevior was interesting so I thought I'd share...

The thing that I thought was the filter in the fill hole was actually the float for the fluid level sensor. This thing did not pull out -- tried for a while with screwdrivers, dental picks, etc.

There were two teenie weenie little tabs in the fill tube that hold it in. They were about 1/16" sqaure. I imagine in the factory, you would just push the float in there and the tabs would let it pass with pushing pressure. But, since I could not pull with that much pressure, I cut them off very very carefully and even managed to keep the little cutoffs from falling into the resevior since there was brake fluid on my utility knife.

With that, the float came right out and I was able to get my drain tube in there. I was not able to suck out all the old fluid, but I got the lions share of it. The flush went fine with clean clear fluid coming out of all 4 brakes.

Perhaps someone with a lot more experience than me (which would be like, well, everyone) can respond with some alternatives to get that float out. My guess is I'm not the first one to have cut those little tabs. And, based on the way the float sensor works, if a repair tech just discards the float, the customer will never ever know until their brakes get all spongy.

Took her out for a test run, worked so well it inspired the following haiku (I'm no beatnick but here we go):

Pedal hard as rock.
Antilock chatter still works.
Stopping on a dime.

Happiness abounds. The best part was that I did my first braking test heading towards my neighbors big old Tahoe in reverse kinda quickly. The brakes might have screwed up on that, but it is a Chevy after all.

P.S. A little product pitch... The Motive Power Bleeder worked so well -- just like on their little youtube vid.
Love that thing... And, their customer service is top notch. You call their phone number, and chances are the company owner will pick up on his cell phone. They're way cool. They'll set you up with whatever you want and their website had the best pricing I could find.
With the power bleeder, you don't have to worry about special treatment of RABS or 4 wheel ABS. Just keep it under 15 lbs. which is plenty.