Bleeding Brakes, without a helper

I have always bled brakes by having someone inside the car pushing the brake pedal. That method has worked great in the past. Unfortunately, finding a helper is becoming more difficult. So, how can a guy bleed brakes without having a helper? (I'm interested in repairing classic cars as well as newer vehicles, if that makes any difference.)

I just keep bleeders open and master cylinder lid off. This will bleed by gravity. Then close everything, give pedal, and repeat the operation. Never have had any problem with that.

I use a vacuum pump and a mason jar with two nipples in the lid. A hose goes from the bleeder to nipple one on the lid, a second hose goes from nipple two to the vacuum pump.

GRAVITY huh ? ... I’m putting a complete brake system on the Carrotvan.... I’ll have to try that !

Nacho, do you leave all 4 bleeders open at the same time or alternate
starting with the passenger rear?

Thanks, Joe

One at a time I would think ... furtherest away first

Several things that have worked for me.
Gravity bleed does work. Nut unless you want a mess to clean up later, slip a hose over the nipple and into a bottle.
Use a metal oil can to fill the lines with fluid from the bleeder end.
You can also use an old brake fluid bottle 1/2 full with a hose. Loosen the bleeder screw on the wheel in question, slide the hose over the nipple and insert into the fluid. Pump the brake pedal 10-12 times. This way you are pulling fluid from 1 end and pushing from the other. Do each wheel and then check your pedal. Make certain the bottle has fluid in it or you will be pulling air into the system.
In every case the master cylinder was hardest to bleed. If I can I will bench bleed it.

It would take a week to gravity bleed a modern brake system if it has ABS. Gravity bleeding has it's place but if you really want a complete job you need to get a helper or vacuum bleeder . I use a Matco pressure bleeder to get all the all the air out

Gus

This is great advise!
ABS systems can be a nightmare......better read a service manual. I have seen all types of bleed sequences.

I have made rears first then fronts in that way I can monitor them at the same time and close one bleder then the other. Aside that making both sides at the same time front and rear circuit, which are separated between them but not side to side will fill faster.

true... although I never have got problems cleanning all around... it doesn't drips a lot really if you make rears first then fronts and monitoring




true... thats another way to do it... when you release the pedal on every pump at pedal will suck brake fluid from whatever is easier to the cylinders/calipers... bottle or master cylinder. However you still have to pump on every wheel. I just save from that making gravity. At the end is a bit faster and less effort.

there is allways a chance to get some small bubbles at some corner along the circuit. That happens even pumping the pedal. Riding around every hidden bubble will move out up to master cylinder.

I have made this even with master cylinder fully empty!!! not even bleeding the master cylinder itself first

as mentioned. Make a firts gravity bleed, then give pedal 5 or 10 times, and make it again. Give pedal again and you should be done in all 4 corners.

Of course remember to put the MC lid before pump the pedal or will spit out the brake fluid around engine bay/fender.

On a side note with a helper put a block of wood under the pedal so the cups dont go past their normal wear area & it helps him control the pedal stroke better & as said check/bleed the MC first

my method is both gravity bleed, then press [not PUMP] pedal with a hose attached to the bleeder and immersed into a bottle of fluid.
using the wood block zip-tied on the pedal as RR suggested.
the reason i PRESS instead of PUMP is that i have found pumping a bunch has a tendency to aerate the fluid.

i have also used the one way valve a guy can get at most parts stores immersed in a jar of fluid with the hose attached to the bleeder.

Immersing the end of the bleeder hose in fluid prevents air intrusion on the pedal upstroke. This makes it a one-man operation.

In recent years I have used speed bleeder fittings with a bag at the end of the hose, not as cheap as other methods but a lot less messy.

I always bleed brakes by myself. I prefer to work alone on some tasks so I can concentrate on what is going on rather than chatting. Here is the homemade setup that I use.

I like that. I actually bought a kit from an auto parts store. After looking at it a minute I realized I could have just stuck the hose in my brake fluid bottle.....
Allen

I bought this years ago, now I just stick the hose in the bottle.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...arracuda?q=brake+bleeder+tools&pos=3

Yes you can just stick the hose into a brake fluid bottle. I like using the glass jar since I can see the old fluid as it is pumped out. It is nice to watch for dirty fluid or air bubbles on some brake jobs.

I use an old plastic water bottle. Don't like having glass jars around the garage because at some point, somebody will break it. Just an old Arrowhead water bottle that I poke a hole into the plastic cap. insert the hose and the other end goes onto the bleeder. Then I have a length of stainless wire wrapped around the top neck of the bottle so I can hang it out of the way, if needed.

Do you need to submerge the drain hose in fluid for the gravity method?

No, in fact you don't even need a hose.

Gravity works as long as the master cylinder is higher than the bleeder valves
It won't work on my race car, 1970 Cuda tube chassis car or my 1940 ford, pressure or suction only on them due to the master cylinders being lower than the bleeder valves

By doing this, aren't you pushing old fluid into new fluid? Mixing the fluid?

you can buy something similar to the speed bleeders at the parts store.i
it's a rubber line with a check valve.
hose with check valve
works on the same principal as the hose in a bottle of fluid stopping the air from flowing back into the line when the pedal is released.

My helper is usually a 2x4. Pump the brake peddle with the bleeders closed - like your the second body. Wedge the lumber between the brake pedal and the seat frame to hold the pedal down. Crack a bleeder, repeat until no air, move on to next wheel. The only thing ya really need the second body for is to hold the peddle down.

Here's what I use, just pump it up and go to each corner with my Gatorade bottle and a clear plastic tube I make my living with it so the price tag was a little easier to swallow

Gus

OMG Gus, are you selling bogus brake flushes?

HaHaHa we do have a couple writers that try to sell those scams but I mainly bought it because up here in the rust belt we get a fair amount of brake line work. When I do truck frame replacements Toyota gives us all new lines from the ABS actuator to all four corners. It's just much easier to pressurize the system and flush all the rust through the calipers. Time is money

Gus

I usually do the gravity bleed method.
Someone also recently sent me a youtube video where someone used a spray top like from a windex bottle and a hose to hook it up to the bleeder and sprayed into an old container. Sort of like the method when you use a vacuum pump but cheaper.

when i do my 08 mustang i have a Motive pressure bleeder. takes about 10 min to flush the bake fluid after the wheels are off. i have 6 piston calipers in front 4 piston in rear.

ford motive brake bleeder.

for mopars maybe this would do the trick.

motive mopar brake bleeder

I've got one of those too but never used it. Mine has a magnet on the side of the container so you can stick it somewhere where it won't get knocked around.

Never GUESS what Gus is gonna do !

Now jsta how does the BANJOnes do a TOTAL BRAKE FLUSH ??!

I use a vacuum bleeder. But I rarely ever do one and I don't sell them. I spend my days doing major engine repair and replacement.

da gravity bleed, then to finish place board on brake ped, lean wrapped cement block on board leveraging on pedal.

Open furthermost bleeder let fluid or air run, common sense and not being the first time tells you when to close bleeder, go lift block pump ped by hand, repeat.

I can final bleed a whole car alone in about 20 minutes.

Most of use figured this stuff out as a teen with there first mopar.

How do some people manage to breath on there own.

But yet ya cant easily change a cam in a 40 year old rig, what the hell.

I've always gravity bled brakes on my cars, but that wouldn't work on my 2013 Acura SUV with ABS. So I used a hand operated vacuum bleeder to pull out all the old fluid. The result was all new fluid in the system and a pedal with erectile dysfunction, very soft.

Bought 20 ft of clear vinyl tube and ran the hose from each wheel cylinder one by one up to the master while gently pumping the pedal a few hundred times. From the driver seat I could see bubbles traveling up the tube. Problem solved. Took about an hour. This same procedure is said to bleed the master without needing to do bench bleeding.

Each wheel cylinder had one discreet batch of bubbles. Once they were gone, the system was good. The vacuum bleeder obviously had sucked air down the bleeder valve threads. Maybe I should have put grease on the threads? Next time I'll try that.

Sure, I been doing it This way for 30 years with no
Problem. Its a sealed system so where does dirt come from? It is also a liquid, it doesn’t lose any Needed quality's as it ages.

Well, don't concentrate too hard there andy:



lol, OMG typical Moparts Shade Tree Mechanics: Where on Earth is Richard Ehrenberg when you really need him?

I'm not a Mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but, you Dummies do know that the reservoir that is capturing the brake fluid is supposed to be ABOVE the caliper? An air bubble always rises UP. It can't be forced DOWN if the reservoir is above the bleed screw. LOL.

No wonder you guys complain about the brakes on these cars, you don't know what you are doing! My factory brakes will put people through the windshield!

36 replies and 2 of you Clowns have posted incorrect photos of your one-man set-ups.

As usual, someone from another forum will find this thread on google and think Mopar People are clueless, thanks alot.

I use this: (and I wire it above the brakes)

Why do you wire it above the brakes, gravity doesn't flow well uphilll

Go back and read what I typed.

The way kentj340 and andy has it, as soon as you let off the pedal the air bubble will go up into the system by the time you get your 4ss back there to tighten the bleed screw.

What are you talking about? I had trouble finding a cam with the duration and LSA that I wanted that didn't have lift figures that would smash the valve seal without machining the head or crashing the pistons into the valves. That was a function of time and money, not ability to do the work.

yes but no... the bubbles are also pushed out no matter if recipient is above or below the caliper or cylinder. If you pump out the brake fluid enough with hose sunk into the brake fluid, will be eventually blown from the line, included the hose up to recipient, and bubble will be free to go up into the recipient, but not in to the line while you are pumping fluid with the pedal. The lines along the car also makes some ups and downs and the air is allways pushed out no matter what.

anyway, still with recipient above the caliper or cylinder, hose allways goes down again, getting sunk into the brake fluid at recipient, so, will be the same

If you use a hose that is submerge in the fluid how can it suck air back into the system, especially uphill, instead of having the container above the bleeder screw where air can get back into the hose from above?
Theory is one thing, reality is another
I wish I had a old time pressure bleeder now instead of using a vacuum bleeder like I do now

I think this thread needs to be split into 2 parts: Gravity or pressure bleeding because there seems to be confusion as to how air goes down and fluid goes up. Gravity fluid container goes below the caliper,pressure, container goes above the caliper Right?

Gus

Cab and Nacho, on a ONE MAN bleeder, if you hit the end of the stroke and an air bubble is:

halfway between the caliper and oil catch can

and the catch can is BELOW the bleed,

that air bubble rises and goes back into the system.

If the catch can is ABOVE the bleed screw, then the air bubble travels UP to the catch can where it belongs and fluid drains down to the bleed screw.

This is Grade 2 Science, air rises in fluid.

Get a Helper next time and watch it, and you'll see what I mean. It's way faster and you use way less fluid my way.

Grizzly... yes as far the air bubble is still on the line it can return by the returning pedal action, including the hose to the recipient. But once the air bubble is out of the line it won't return no matter if is above or below the bleeder ( just like the ohms law on electricity ) Air won't retunr to the full line because the MC gets easier to get filled by its bowl than get back all the fluid from the line with its air bubbles and the hose is sunk,. That is pumping the system with the recipient,. Some air will return as far is on the line but keeping the pumping action several times with hose into brake fluid will eventually expel the air no matter where is the recipient.

Now about the gravity ( actually together with athmospheric pressure ). The recipient is still below the MC bowls, so no matter if the hose/recipient is above or below the Caliper or rear cylinders. Gravity/athmospheric pressure will still push out the bubble because MC bowl is still above the full system.

it happens the same when you extracts gas from your tank, once the line goes below the actual gas tank level, the gas will flow alone no matter if goes up first or how many turns makes before the final recipient... Is an athmospheric pressure principle.

you are correct. air bubbles will rise, basic science.

why this is irrelevant is the next pump of the brake pedal 10 seconds later this air bubble will be pushed out before it has time to rise naturally to cause problems. also when you bleed like this the line is curved above the bleeder before it goes into the bottle. the air bubble will stay in the middle of the line and not go back into the bottle, also basic science. the only way it can rise back up into the caliper is if the bleeder is at the bottom of the caliper, and you don't want that.

i have bled a lot of brakes with a hose attached to the bleeder and the other end is submerged in brake fluid in a bottle. it's irrelevant weather the bottle is above or below the bleeder. it's more important that the hose stays submerged in the brake fluid than weather the bottle is above or below the bottle.
some people argue that it's better to have it below the bleeder. this way you can see air bubbles trapped in the line to know if the air has been pushed out. others argue that it's better above for the reason why you stated.
i say it's irrelevant. hook the bottle in the easiest way you can as long as it doesn't fall exposing air to the line that should be submerged.

as far is allways below the MC bowls if making it at least by gravity/athmospheric pressure


anyway. I never have used a final recipient or hose... mostly of times I just let it drop to the floor. I just loose maybe 1 or 1.5 fluid ounces bleeding by gravity on my car without pump the pedal. Then clean with water and done. Never have got a problem.

Yes, and I found I have to make numerous trips to refill the master (sometimes running it out ) and pump a gallon of CLEAN brake fluid into the catch can which gets wasted by being contaminated by the dirty stuff.

With the catch can above the caliper, less pumps, I only have to fill the master once, maybe twice and use about a 1/10 th of my clean fluid compared to chasing air bubbles.

Also, if you are doing it yourself, when you turn your back on the catch can and go back to the pedal, you have no way of knowing if an air bubble is working it's way back to the system. And it DOES happen.

This is why I like to pressurize the master cylinder instead of pressing the brake pedal. You just pump the handle, attach the hose, crack the bleeder, then watch until you get clean fluid with no bubbles. Job done then move to the next wheel

Gus