I have new lines and MC and a rebuilt and replated booster, so bleeding the brakes is tomorrow. I have read good things about gravity bleeding, and will try it. Any tricks or personal experiences? Thanks
That is usually how I do it,mainly because it is difficult to get people to follow directions. Not hard, pump, hold, real difficult. Anyway,I have not had bad results with it.
I have gravity bled before and NOT a fan of it . I just bought a vacuum pump for bleeding today . Haven't used it yet but will possibly use tomorrow . Good Luck .
I have read about the speed bleeders , can you tell me more about them and how good they really are ?
How does the vacuum pump work on bleeding the brakes? I also have a new brake system and need to do this.
Four speed bleeders and one girlfriend usually does the trick. Oh and a nice dinner outing afterwards
They are a bleeder valve with a ball and spring inside. You open them as you would a normal. When you pump the pedal.. the fluid forces the ball so the fluid can get through, it closes again when you stop and will not let air in. Then close it like any other bleeder and you are good to go.
Gravity bleeding is ok for getting most of the air out, but usually it also will require some manual bleeding afterwards. Make sure you bench bleed your new master cyl before installing it.
I thought you could install the master cylinder and bleed it with the bleeder screw and rubber hoses back into it. Will this not work if the lines are connected?
the best way to bleed the master cylinder is to place it carefully in a vice and be careful not to over clamp the m/c which could compress the actual cylinder itself. i have always had a problem successfully bleeding the rears. anyone ever use a power bleeder?
Power bleeders work great but are rather expensive if you're just gonna use it a couple times. You can get the same results with manual bleeding, just need a second person. The only problem I have seen with the speed bleeders is air/fluid can get past the bleeder screw threads when the screw is opened(loose), which can result in air trapped in the wheel cylinder.
I gravity fed mine and have had no problems. Biggest thing is to not let the resevoir run out. I just jacked the front end of the car up to help gravity a bit. Then I bled the rear-passenger side. Took about 2 minutes to get there. Then I moved over to the rear-driver's side. Only about 30 seconds there. Then I jacked up just the driver's side of the front. Went to the front-passenger side and bled it. Took about 1 minute at most. Then I put the car down and bled the front-driver's side. About 30-45 seconds again. No air, no leaks, no problems. They do sell check ball bleeders now. If I have to redo anything, I'll be putting them in. They look they'd really help do the job right. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=EAR-280027ERL&N=700+115&autoview=sku I'm not sure if the one I gave the link to is the right size, but at $5 a piece, you can't go wrong.
I run a clear tube from the wheel cylinder bleeder into a jar of clean brake fluid. Open the bleeder and pump the pedal slowly until you no longer see bubbles going through the tubing. Make sure the end of the tube is below the surface of the brake fluid in the jar and frequently check to make sure your master does not run out of fluid... Works like a charm everytime for me.. :beer
Thanks for all that info guys . Tomorrow I will bleed my truck brakes , but the big pain in the --- that I have is the Cadillac anti loc system . But gotta fix it .
Yup! I've done several with gravity alone. My 69 Vette & Caddy have a brake system warning light activated by a shuttle valve in the splitter block. If you pressure bleed the system or use pedal pressure it moves the shuttle and the light goes on. I always start with the wheel farthest from the master cylinder. Take the cap off the MC and open the bleeder, let it trickle until a solid stream, one wheel at a time.
