I'll be working solo tomorrow... Anyone here successfully use the gravity bleeding technique? Does this method really remove all of the air? Can you arm me any relevant tips so I can finish my front brake project tomorrow? I mean, is it really as simple (and timely) as opening the bleeder valves one at a time and waiting for them to bleed? I am well aware that I need to keep an eye on the resevoir tank and periodically fill it up. Does the car have to be running or on accessory while gravity bleeding?

FYI-- I changed my front calipers, rubber flex hoses and pads. I imagine that it should only be necessary to bleed both front sides since they were the only areas I opened up.. Should I gravity bleed the rear for good measure or should I just fuhgheddaboutit..?

Thank you,
Cyph's 1999 ES300

 

Here goes. $.55 cents for a 3' piece of 3/16 clear tubing, turkey baster, mason jar, a 32oz container of DOT3, and a 3/8 box end wrench = Piece of cake.

Removed about 50% of the nasty old brake fluid from the master cylinder with a cheapo turkey baster and disposed into the mason jar. Attached the tubing to the rear passenger bleed screw and cracked her open about 1/4 turn. Sure enough, I got a slow, but constant trickle. I kept filling the master cylinder as it kept trickling out the rear passenger side bleed screw, and was amazed at how many bubbles were coming out. About a half hour elapsed, the bubbles ceased to appear, and clean, clear new DOT 3 began to flow out the tube. Rear Right was done. Repeated the same process with the rear drivers side with the same success, but in about 5 minutes this time as opposed to 30 (figure because they share the same brake line until the R-ABS). Proceeded to the front right and that took a whole whopping 3 minutes or so. Also, I tapped out quite a bit of bubbles just by tapping the caliper with a 3/4" wrench while pinching the fluid tube shut. Then when I would un-pinch the tubing, a healthy bubble would come out instead of a ton of little tiny bubbles. About three tries at this and there were no more bubbles. Front drivers side was a carbon copy of the last, but in about 1.5 minutes flat.

So my end result? My brakes havent felt this good in years. My brake system is entirely flushed, my master cylinder has only clean clear fluid in the reservoir, I did it myself without the possibility of my wife screwing up my master cylinder by pumping too far, I got to drink about 4 beers in the process, I didnt hardly spill a drop of fluid, and lastly, it cost me all of about 6 bucks to do the whole dang thing! What a great deal. Thanks for all the insight guys, and I hope this helps motivate some of you guys to give it a shot. At the worst, you get to spend about an hour drinking a few beers under your truck.

 

To bad we all drive cars! LOL

 

Thanks for sharing your experience Teck, I think that just about sums up everything that I could find online about gravity bleeding... Except I think I'm gonna tap on the new calipers with a rubber mallet . I'll post back with my results.

 

The pedal seems pretty firm but I can't tell if it's because of the new pads or because I got most of the air out...