How to bleed Jaguar XJS teves ABS

After rebuilding the front and rear suspension I was in the unenviable position where there was almost no fluid in the ABS. I proceeded to bleed the brakes as per the Jaguar ROM, I should have known better. There was no way the brakes were going to bleed this way. Anyway after some thought I decided a pressure bleeding system was a must have. So I built my own from a cheap pressure sprayer.

This cost me $11.00. It has a pressure relief valve that I checked which opens at 30psi. I only need about 10-15psi into the brake fluid reservoir. Be careful not to pump too much pressure into the reservoir.

I used a 1" rubber plug that fits quite tightly inside the reservoir. I cut the hose connection off the trigger handle and drilled a hole in the plug for it go through. I found is at 15-20psi this plug would pop out of the reservoir so I figured this was safe enough. About 20-30 pumps on my sprayer was enough pressure to bleed the system without having the plug pop out.

I used a jar as a container to bleed each brake into. I drilled a hole in the top that held the hose tightly enough that I could pick up the jar full of fluid. This just makes it easier when bleeding the rears so the jar does not keep falling over and spilling its contents on your garage floor. I cut the clear hose long enough to have the jar on a block of wood when I bleed the rears.

The plug is a tight fit in the reservoir so as long as you don't pump too much pressure this is enough to keep it in place.

Pump the pressure to about 10psi .

You can not quite see it in this picture but there is a pin. Pull this pin out being careful not to drop it. This is the retaining pin that holds the feed pipe from the reservoir to the accumulator pump. Check the reservoir and add more fluid if needed.

Pull this pipe until brake fluid runs out, let it run until all of the air is purged, you can hear the sputter as the air is purged. Don't forget to put the pin back in.

Next step is to undo this. This is the high pressure feed from the accumulator to the ABS valve block. Let the fluid run out until all the air is purged. When you have finished this wash the engine bay well with water to clean all of the brake fluid off the paint.

I didn't take photos of bleeding the brakes at the calipers I forgot.

So the next step is to bleed each of the calipers. At this point you will need to add more brake fluid to the reservoir. Release the pressure from the sprayer before you remove the plug or brake fluid will spray out. Fill the reservoir with fluid and re-pressurise the reservoir.

Start with the rears (the caliper furthest from the reservoir) connect the hose and jar and loosen the bleed nipple, fluid and air will start to flow from the caliper. Once all of the air is purged, this may take a few minuets keep the fluid flowing until NO little air bubbles are visible in the tube and then close the bleed nipple. Move onto the next caliper.

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful write up Warren. I have an 89 XJS and everytime I step on the brake the accumulator lights come on. Also the engine shake at idle, any thought?

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  2. If the engine is rough at idle you most likely have a misfire. Is it an I6 or V12?

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  3. In the proper words relative to the heritage of the vehicle, "This is bloody brilliant!!!" I have had my moms 93 Jag XJS unable to be driven due to brake problems. I tore the master cylinder apart, cleaned out the gel, fixed the valves for the brakes and tried to bleed the system. The system would not bleed out the air. The way you show is exactly what the vehicle needs. Thanks!!!

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  4. Necessity is a wonderful thing. As I rebuilt the whole suspension system I had the brakes totally drained. I had the same problem the rears would not bleed. The ABS would run as per the procedure but ran too long so I had to keep stopping it.

    This is cheap and works really well. And best the brakes can be bled with out a helper.

    thanks for your comments Warren

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  5. the other way this can be done ( if you have a modern ATE bleed pump) Basically does the same thing but you don't have to make this contraption. Then it is literally a one man operation done in 20 min

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