If you have a turkey baster or fluid pump, you can remove some of the old brake fluid from the reservoir. DO NOT drain it completely! You can safely remove about 3/4 of the reservoir's capacity, ensuring there's enough left over so no air can enter the system from that end.

Replace whatever amount you drained with new brake fluid. This reduces the quantity of old fluid that has to be flushed from the system.

First, determine how you're going to lift the car and how many wheels you can remove at a time.

You should flush the brake lines in order based on their distance from the master cylinder, starting with the passenger rear, then driver rear, then passenger front and finally driver front.

Since the first brake line you'll be flushing is the passenger rear, you'll probably start by lifting the back of the car first. Before you lift it, remove the hub cap (or caps, if you're lifting both rear wheels at the same time) with a plastic trip remover or flathead screwdriver. It simply pops off. Then, using your tire iron, loosen - don't remove! - each lug bolt.

Lift the car and place jack stands under the driver and passenger rear lift points, which are rubber risers just in front and behind of the wheel wells. It may be easier to place the jack under the forward lift points, raising the side of the car enough to place the jack stands under the respective rear lift points. Use whatever method works best for you.

Remove the lug bolts completely and pull the wheel off.

For the rear wheels, the bleeder screw is on the inner side of the caliper, above the brake line itself. A plastic cap covers it initially. Note the six-sided nut directly behind the bleeder nipple: this is what you'll turn to open and close the bleeder valve.

Try to fit the plastic tubing over the bleeder nipple as securely as possible. In our case, the tubing was slightly too skinny, so we used a barbecue lighter to heat the end until we could fit it over the nipple.

Here's what it should look like when the tubing is ready to go. Put the other end of the tubing in a container where you'll be collecting the old brake fluid. Make sure it's something you can cap securely later on.

The bleeding of brake fluid is fairly simple, but requires effective communication from both the person at the pedal and the person opening and closing the bleeder screw. Before you begin, ensure the following:

1) The fluid reservoir is topped off in the engine bay; 2) The person working the brake pedal is ready to go; 3) The person managing the bleeder screw is wearing gloves and eye protection in case fluid gets anywhere.

Bleeding involves repeating the following steps several times:

Using the 9mm box wrench, the person at the bleeder opens the valve by turning the screw approximately 90 degrees. The person should then say "open" or "down".

The person at the pedals then depresses the brakes, firmly but gently, and says "down".

Fluid should flow out of the bleeder. When it stops, the person at the bleeder should close the valve and say "closed" or "up".

The person at the pedals then releases the brake pedal, and says "up" when it's all the way back up. The person should not release the brake pedal until the valve is closed! This is why communication is key.

Repeat this process until the fluid is visibly clear of air bubbles and contaminants. For the passenger-rear brakes, this may take as many as 15-20 times, but this will shorten with each wheel.

Remember: open the valve, press the pedal, close the valve, release the pedal. The pedal should not be released while the valve is open, or air will enter the system.

After every 5-6 bleeds, check the fluid level in the reservoir and top it off as needed. Again, don't let the reservoir empty! Air entering from the brake fluid reservoir is bad news.

Once the fluid is looking clean and new, tighten the bleeder screw, replace the cap, and give the brake pedal a few hard pumps to ensure there aren't any leaks.

If it looks satisfactory, replace the wheel. Screw in the lug bolts but don't tighten them fully yet - wait until the wheel is back on the ground before torquing them to the proper spec.

If you've only raised the one wheel, lower it and tighten the lug bolts using a torque wrench to 81 lb-ft. Replace the hub cap. Otherwise, move to the next wheel and repeat the bleed process. Once both wheels are back on the ground, tighten the lug bolts 81 lb-ft.

After bleeding the passenger rear brakes, move to the driver rear, followed by the passenger front and driver front. Remember to check the brake fluid reservoir often to ensure it remains topped off.

When you reach the front brakes, you'll notice the calipers and bleeder screws are configured slightly differently. The bleeder screw is located on front-facing side of the calipers and features a slightly different rubber cap. Once you locate it, the process is identical to the rear wheels.

Once all four brakes are bled and the car is back on the ground, top off the reservoir one last time to just below the max fill line.