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Bleeding brakes with a jar and a hose back in 2004
I still remember doing brake bleeds on my '87 F-150 in my dad's driveway with a mason jar, some clear tubing, and my brother pumping the pedal while I yelled "hold it!" down to him. We went through a whole six pack of brake fluid that way, half of it ending up on the gravel or my arm because the hose kept slipping off the bleeder screw. Now I've got a Motive pressure bleeder that I bought a few years back, cost me about $80 online, and it does the whole job solo in 20 minutes without a single air bubble coming back through. What really sold me was doing my sister's Subaru Outback brake lines after a caliper seized last November, the old jar method would've been a two person circus in the cold. Pressure bleeding just makes sense when you're working alone or dealing with ABS modules that hold air stubbornly. Sometimes I miss the teamwork and the cussing, but not the brake pedal going soft two days later because we missed a burp in the line. Has anyone else made the jump to a pressure bleeder or do you still trust the vacuum pump or buddy method?
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xena88611d ago
Laughing at the whole six pack of fluid ending up on the gravel, because same. Honestly the buddy method never really failed me that bad, you just gotta keep the hose tight on the bleeder and not let the reservoir run dry. A soft pedal two days later is usually air getting in around the threads or the master running low, not some mystery burp in the line. I've done the jar trick on everything from old trucks to a Corolla with ABS and never needed an $80 gadget to get a firm pedal. It just takes a patient buddy and a clear tube so you can watch for bubbles. Call me cheap but I'd rather spend that money on the fluid itself.
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