bleeding solo
 

is there a way to bleed the brakes solo ? Looking foe some ideas. I just want to get enough pedal to get to the shop and have a power flush/bleed.

Some people have luck using a vacuum pump like a mityvac. I did not, however I used a clear hose run through the cap of a 20oz pop bottle and screwed on to the bottle. It’s been a while but I think made sure the bottle or at least part of the hose was above the bleeder screw. I cracked the bleeder, made sure the reservoir was topped off and pumped the pedal slowly. The fluid fills and travels through the tube into the empty bottle. Any air should rise (hence keeping part of the hose or the bottle above the bleeder) away from the bleeder and help prevent it from being sucked back in. I did that alone until there was no more bubbles (being sure the reservoir was always topped off and not sucking any air) and called it a day. Didn’t have to take it anywhere after and all has been well.

If you have an electric brake, you can.

i have this new Wilwood master with such a pretty cap. Cant put a hole in it. No electric brake :)

Hole in the bottle cap on the pop bottle, not reservoir cap

Try reading this thread:

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=844367

Gravity and atmospheric pressure is all you need to bleed brake systems, I've been doing it for 50 years and it hasn't failed me yet.

I've always had good results with the 'One-Man brake bleeding' kits. There's many variations, this one is just the first that came up. But they included a one-way valve to stop air re-entering during bleeding. As long as the other end is always under topped-up fluid, you can go all day removing any pesky bubbles, moving from corner to corner.

https://www.peterstevens.com.au/oxfo...bleed-kit.html

gravity bleeding works but can be messy, brake fluid will eat paint off anything it touches. if you do it that way put a short piece of hose on the bleeder to route fluid away from any pretty painted parts.

they make speed bleeders for one man bleeding that also work ok.

but IMO its best to have a helper push the pedal for you the old fashioned way, quick & easy & you can see when there is no more air in the line if you use a hose with the end submerged in a bottle with a couple inches of brake fluid. get a family member, friend or neighbor that can give you 10 minutes to push the pedal.

I bought a self bleeder...just not enough patience for that it takes so looooong. I gave my buddy a 6 pack and it was much easier but it did still take longer than expected after a new master/booster install. like twice as long.

i had a lot of air from the new install. was going on 15min on the rear line when i gave up and hassled my friend to come over. we still bled more air and i still had a weak pedal. its going to take one more to get it perfect i think

I've used the solo kit that attaches a rubber tube to a (loosened) bleeder, and feeds into a little bottle - the feed from the bleeder has a tube that goes to the very bottom of the bottle so that it only draws up brake fluid - not air - it works perfect.
You just need to go slowly.

i assume you did, but was the new master fully bench bled before installing? it can take a long time to get all the air out when bench bleeding new masters.

last new one i did took like 50-75 pumps, the big bubbles came out on the first 10-20 pumps but super small ones continued for a long time.

installed with all new lines & prop valve & manually bled each corner pretty quick & have a like new firm pedal.

I did bench bleed but maybe not enough. I still don't have a pedal. finally got the pressure up then I had a small leak, and have to start over ! I got everything ready just waiting for the wife to help. I tried simply using a longer line and pinching it off between pumps but that turned out to be too easy to work.

Pressure bleeder kits are less than 100 USD and force the fluid through. Usually come with many caps, adapters. .
This is a 1 man operation as well. Worth doing, you will not need a shop to bleed your brakes.

Never used a pressure bleeder in 50 years of doing automotive work as my profession. Gravity bled them all by myself in a few minutes. I was tasked to put out a professional product, at a reasonable price, that was 100% safe for the public.

I never took my car to a shop to have my brakes bled, because I was the shop. If you ever siphoned gasoline, and know how the process works, know the physical laws that make a siphon work, you surely should be able to gravity bleed brakes properly, and in a timely manner.

I have no idea of why gravity bleeding seems to be an insurmountable process for many people that frequent this forum..........:noidea:

It does not take a half hour per wheel as some have eluded to, :confused2 most times 2-3 minutes, if that long, keep the dialogue going by all means........;)

gravity bleeding is not an "insurmountable process"... its just very messy for the car & will eat any paint it touches unless you take measures to put a hose on the bleeder to get the brake fluid away from any parts of the car & use a container on the ground to catch the fluid.

nothing wrong with that, i just have always preferred to do it manually & watch the fluid to know when the bubbles have stopped. nobody on here is doing this as a business in a shop & needs it done in 2-3 minutes.

You're forgetting that the main reason people post about bleeding brakes is that they can't seem to get the air out of the system. Gravity bleeding does it more efficiently than other forms of bleeding, most times once is all that is required.

The vacuum method, and pressure bleeding, either with pedal movement, or with an air pushing fluid through the system many times don't work the first time, and are repeated over and over to purge the air. Gravity will purge air at the master cylinder as well as the bleeder because without pressure against the fluid column the air will travel upwards to the master cylinder, and you effect air letting at both ends of the fluid column instead of forcing all the air downward through the bleeder multiple times.

Pressure bleeding still ends up on the floor if you're not abundantly careful, and has the potential to squirt fluid all over the undercarriage, so the argument that gravity bleeding is going to remove paint, and is messy is a weak point.

Efficiency is why I prefer to use gravity bleeding, it works quickly and most time once is all that is required to completely purge the system. Even if someone isn't in a production setting, it's still the best choice of, one and done, and that is the main point, to get it done the first time correctly, and move on.

BTW, pumping the pedal to remove air is a great method to remove paint on a fender, inner fender, and firewall. I've seen more paint on left fenders ruined by using this method than I can count by trapped air forcing the fluid back through the system when the pedal is released during the bleeding process. It's much easier to touch up undercarriage paint than it is the paint on the top of the fender. All it takes is leaving the cover off the reservoir one time while bleeding to cause a ruined exterior paint job.........;)

so you don't gravity bleed from the bleeder screw you do it from the flex line ? doesn't that leave air in the caliper ?

i wasted 90 on the acton one man bleeder. i couldn't get it to seal. It would suck bubbles even if the bleeder screw was closed. I tried everything with that unit.

In the post I referred you to I only replaced a line, and there was no air in the caliper, so I just bled it at the connection. No need to touch a bleeder that is 25 years old, and take a chance on snapping it off, making more work for myself. If you have air in the calipers, you would just open the bleeder, let it drip until just fluid is coming out, no bubbles left, and you're done.

One other thing is you can do multiple wheels at the same time, just go to the one that starts dripping first, monitor it until there is no bubbles and tighten it, and go to the next wheel, and repeat.

Once you use this method, you'll most likely continue to bleed brakes that way from that point forward. I first did it in 1965, and use this method exclusively.