Posted by David Sherman on Friday, November 28, 2003 at 9:02PM :
In Reply to: Brakes posted by Josh on Friday, November 28, 2003 at 4:28PM :
Here's my "one-man brake bleeder" solution. Buy about 20' of 1/4 clear plastic tubing and a foot of 1/4" rubber hose. Get a quart or two of brake fluid. Open the bleed screw on one of the wheel cylinders and connect the clear hose to the bleed screw using the rubber hose. Fill up the master cylinder and bring the clear hose over to where you can see from the driver's seat. Pump the brake pedal slowly while watching the clear hose. You will see rusty old brake fluid and maybe air bubbles coming through the hose. Keep at it until the brake fluid in the hose is clear. Make sure you keep the master cylinder topped up. If there are air bubbles in the clear tube after you are getting clean fluid out, put the end of the clear tube into the master cylinder. It helps to clip the tube so it's just above the fluid level in the master cylinder, so that bubbles don't get re-introduced. Using this system you can pump and pump and pump (slowly and evenly) until every air bubble is out of the brake lines. The clear tube lets you watch and make sure there are no more bubbles coming through. When it's good, close the bleed screw and repeat for each wheel. I find this is faster and better than the old 2-man "open/down/close/up/" method and it doesn't require any vacuum or pressure tank.
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