Any tips on bleeding brakes the 1st time?

[crspdsk8]

I have finally got the whole brake system plumbed and ready to add fluid and bleed the system. I have Wilwood brakes all the way around. Is their any tricks to make this go quicker or be more efficient?

I am not a mechanic by any means and I was always taught to start with the caliper at the farthest point form the MC and work my way to the closest. I have also heard to bleed them all at the same time? Which way would be best?
Is a vacuum pump better or quicker to bleed the system to pull the fluid to each caliper?

Any tips or suggestions are very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Charles

[esff32]

Charles, I was curious as to the best way also. Based on the advice of Tony Zullo, I just went the hardware store and bought a drain stopper plug that fit snugly into the opening of the reservoir, drilled a small hole and used my air compressor (turned way down) to push the fluid to the calipers. I opened up all four corners until a got i bit of fluid out. Make sure you keep checking the level of the fluid, its a pretty small reservoir. I then closed them and did as you said, started from the furthest and worked my way around. It went a lot smoother than I thought it would. Did your masters come with aluminum crush washers? Mine did and I had leaks and swapped them out for copper ones. I would recommend it due to the fact I had to re-bleed them today. Good luck!

[crspdsk8]

Charles, I was curious as to the best way also. Based on the advice of Tony Zullo, I just went the hardware store and bought a drain stopper plug that fit snugly into the opening of the reservoir, drilled a small hole and used my air compressor (turned way down) to push the fluid to the calipers. I opened up all four corners until a got i bit of fluid out. Make sure you keep checking the level of the fluid, its a pretty small reservoir. I then closed them and did as you said, started from the furthest and worked my way around. It went a lot smoother than I thought it would. Did your masters come with aluminum crush washers? Mine did and I had leaks and swapped them out for copper ones. I would recommend it due to the fact I had to re-bleed them today. Good luck!

Thanks for the tip Evan. I never thought of using air to force the fluid through the system. How much fluid did you use to fill the system or how many times did you have to refill the reservoir? I am pretty sure my MC came with copper ones but will double check when I get home. If not, I will make sure to get them before starting. I hate doing things twice if I don't have too. lol Thanks again!

[esff32]

Thanks for the tip Evan. I never thought of using air to force the fluid through the system. How much fluid did you use to fill the system or how many times did you have to refill the reservoir? I am pretty sure my MC came with copper ones but will double check when I get home. If not, I will make sure to get them before starting. I hate doing things twice if I don't have too. lol Thanks again!

No problem Charles. I think when all was said and done, i only used about a pint of fluid for the whole car but you might want to get a little extra just in case of a spill. I pretty much anticipate evrerything is going to go wrong. :rolleyes: I filled it a few times throughout the process. I would check it as often as possible, it can't hurt. I have one of those cheapy brake bleeder from the auto part store and it worked great. Once the bottle got full, I just poured it back into the reservoir. Give me a shout if you need any more help, we are in the same time zone. Lol

[Jeff Kleiner]

I start out by gravity bleeding. The simple approach is to just open the bleeder at all 4 wheels and let fluid flow out (keep the cap off of the reservior so it doesn't air lock). It could take a while, say 10 minutes or so for the farthest away, with an empty system. After you have a good steady trickle or drip close the bleeders and go through the classic two person bleed drill....or you can do what I do, take it a step further and eliminate the need for a second person. Before gravity bleeding I put sections of clear soft plastic hose over the nipple of the bleeders and run them into 4 small glass jars (like baby food size). This will catch the fluid and save the mess on the floor. After you get flow at all 4 corners add a couple of inches or so of fluid to each jar and make sure the end of the hoses are submerged. Top off the fluid level in the reservior and slowly depress and release the pedal. Any remaining air will push through and when you release the pedal fresh fluid will be drawn back in. Do the push/release cycle a couple of times, top off the reservior and repeat. Close the bleeders and you should have a high firm pedal without having to go through the "pump it, now hold it, OK do it again" drill at all 4 corners :)

Cheers,
Jeff

[Jay Mann]

I tried a few methods with limited success. I finally bought the Phoenix Systems | V-12™ The Economy Professional Model Brake Bleeder. With this tool I can reverse bleed the system by myself in a very short time, with no mess. The brake system has no air in it and stopping is limited only by the tire traction.

[wallace18]

I used the HF bleeder that hooks to your air line. It worked great for me.

[Santiago]

I'm a little surprised nobody mentioned bench bleeding the master cylinder. Not sure what Wilwood recommends (if you're running their master), but for many OEM masters the standard protocol is to bench bleed the master cylinder itself to ensure you're not trapping air in its internal passages. Bleeding the calipers clears the lines and calipers (assuming you do them in their right order if they have more than one bleeder), but doesn't always get out all the air in a brand new master.

Pretty simple process really. First, clamp the master down in a bench vise (hence the name), second, run rubber hoses from its outlet ports back into its reservoir, lastly pump the rear a few times with the plunger. Make sure you keep the fluid in the reservoir about 1/2 full or more.

Once you've ensured that the master has no air, plug the outlet ports and install in the car. Since you're hooking up empty lines to it, your reservoir may drain so you want to be on hand to make sure you fill it before it empties (otherwise you defeat the purpose of bench bleeding in the first place). Then bleed the rest of the system as others indicated.

Only tip I can offer on that is to have a soft mallet on hand to tap the calipers while bleeding. An air bubble can hang-up (due to surface tension) inside a caliper, so a light tap on the body of the caliper can dislodge it. I suspect that the pressurized bleeder systems (be they compressed air or a Motive pressurized tank - which is what I use) do a good job of dislodging these air bubbles as well w/o tapping the caliper bodies. I also suspect that the old stand-by of pump-pump-pump / then release does something similar by building up pressure internally. The worse luck I've had bleeding a new system has been with those speed-bleeders and Mity-vac pumps. I don't think either of these produce enough pressure to dislodge those occasional air bubbles.

Last thing, I track my car (a Mustang), so I'm bleeding my brakes constantly. Most of what I said are precautionary measures. In practice, you bleed the brakes, go out, drive the thing, and if the brakes are not to your liking you're just going to re-bleed them as your first response. Any worry over this/that is going to be taken care of right there. So all this is more likely than not for the person who is (a) going to whomp on their brakes from the get go (that would be me) or (b) doesn't want to crack open their brake system again for a very long time.

Best,
-j

[willy]

I got some "speed bleeders" on the calipuers worked the first time and easy to do yourself.

[Jay Mann]

The problems I had with my initial attempts to bleed the brakes were caused by the dual M/C system with the balance bar between them. If you use the conventional bleeding process, you need two extra people, one on a front caliper and one on a rear to work in harmony. If not, the pumping action is not going to stroke the piston properly. Thats why a power bleeder process is required. The reverse bleed is very effective because the air is being forced up, which is its natural tendency. The reverse bleed also allows for bleeding one line at a time, starting with the longest one. The only thing to be aware if is that you are filling the reservoirs, so it is easy to pump too much fluid in which can cause a real mess under the dash.

[crspdsk8]

Thanks for all of the responses! I am planning on trying to tackle this tomorrow and hopefully don't run into any problems.

Charles