How do I bleed the rear brakes

[Gforcefd]

I had a new rear brake line installed, but my brakes don't feel great and I need to bleed them.

How?

[Damkid]

somebody in the car pushing on the brakes and holding it down, while you open the bleeder on which ever wheel your bleeding, (the brake pedal will start to go down til it hits the floor) once all the fluid/air stops comin out (pedal is on the floor) close the bleeder screw and whoever is in the car pumps up the brakes until the pedal comes up as high as it'll go, repeat as many times as needed until no air comes out of the lines

also every so often check the brake fluid, keep it topped up

[wrestler3025]

Damkid is right. I will add for a little more clarification though, tell the person in the car not to let the pedal up once they have started going down. If they let the pedal up before you close the bleeder, it will suck air back in. Gforcefd also look at the age of your brake fluid. If you are going to bleed them, and the fluid is older(which most of the time it is) suck all the fluid that you can out of the reservoir and fill it up with fresh fluid before you start. I will continue to blled the brakes until I see the new fluid coming out. I then move on to the next bleeder.

[miami man]

i remembered years ago they say to start with the bleeder that is farthest away from the master cylnder. my first job in the 70s was at a full service gas station and one of my jobs was sittiing in the car and pumping the brakes until it went to the floor then the mechanic closed the bleeder then yelled pump it up again then yelled hold it down closed the bleeder again and we repeated it several times until the brakes felt good. remember to yellout loud and clearly.

[miami man]

also there was an article about building a power bleeder and have to find it but the old way is fine for me.

[mattswabb]

I have a vacuum bleeder. I never use it. Now what I do is take a short piece of clear hose and put it over the bleeder and the other end into a small cup of brake fluid. Make sure this is below the level of the bleeder screw. Now crack open the bleeder just a little bit and slowly pump the brakes. Keep the MC full.

What this does is pushes out the air when the pedal is pressed and when it lets up the fluid (not air) is drawn back. Do this 20 pumps per wheel and all the air will be gone. Shut the bleeder and move to the next wheel.

I’ve have great success this way and it only takes 1 person to bleed them.

[FestYboy]

one last note: if you find any air when bleeding the RR (then LR, RF and LF in that order) DO NOT PUMP the brake pedal. pumping the pedal will adgitate the air in the system and it will be MUCH harder to get it all out. Do this: suck out all the old fluid from resivoir and refill w/ new, crack open both rear bleeders and let it gravity bleed until the res. is almost empty. Refill res. and close the bleeders. have helper get in and press and hold the pedal, then crack the RR bleeder and watch for air. if there is air, have helper press pedal till it hits the floor and hold it there untill you close the bleeder. release the pedal and press again (NO PUMPING); repeat untill there is no air and you see fresh fluid. Make sure the res. doesn't go dry durring the whole process. repeat above steps for each wheel in the order provided earlier.

PS: Matt knows my trick!!! it works very well except there has to be some fluid in the container before starting and if you pump the pedal too fast, you'll still adgitate the air in the system and then it will take FOREVER to get it all out.

[WmWatt]

You can pressure bleed a couple of different ways, or gravity bleed. In gravity bleeding you just open the bleeder nipple and wait for the air bubbles to stop coming out. Simple but not as quick. When I did it I put a long length of plastic hose over the bleeder nipple and sucked on it to assist gravity. You can pressure bleed yourself by pushing down on the brake pedal and then keeping it there by propping a stick of wood between the brake pedal and the seat, then go around back and open the bleeder nipple. Stick a scrap of plywood between the seat and the stick of wood to protect the seat.

The biggest problem could be getting the &%$#$% bleeder nipple to turn. They break off pretty easily when rusted on older vehicles. Penetrating oil or similar (WD-40, etc) can help. If not, a sixty second blast from a blow torch followed by penetrating oil and some gentle torque with vice grips is good.