[zeus87gn]

I am only aware of 3 methods for this. They are Gravity, Pressure and Vacuum.

Gravity bleeding consists of loosening the bleeder screws at the wheels and allowing the fluid to naturally flow downhill and take the air out with it. Personally, I have never obtained good results with it. If you prefer this method, that is your choice.


Pressure bleeding (sometime called pump bleeding) procedures can be found at the bottom of this page: Brake Bleeding, Rear Cylinders, and Linelock Install
This method is quite typical of what most people are used to doing. However, I recommend that pump bleeding be done with the ignition key off. It can prolong the life of the P/M motor and possibly a newly installed accumulator as they don’t need to be in use to get the desired results. The pedal will most likely be quite firm when pump bleeding with the key off but it can be done. I also make this recommendation as there is a chance that the high-pressure system can introduce some air into the system unintentionally.


Vacuum bleeding is my preferred method. It is easy, simple, highly effective and does not require the need for pumping the pedal. It will also rid your brake system of small contaminants that cannot be removed with pump bleeding. Of course, a special vacuum pump is needed. They can be obtained from some parts stores and also from on line catalogs. You do not need to depress the plunger on the proportioning valve to do vacuum bleeding.
<insert pic of pump>

Step 1 - With the vacuum method, you first need to wrap the threads of the bleeder screw on each wheel with Teflon (PTFE) tape. This helps to keep the vacuum from pulling in air through the bleeder threads and instead pulling brake fluid through the lines. Remove each bleeder from the wheel, wrap once or twice with tape and reinstall finger tight until it bottoms out. Loosen ¼ turn or so and connect the clear tubing right to the end of the bleeder screw. This can be done as you get to each wheel.
<insert pic>

Step 2 - Bleed the wheels in the same order as pressure bleeding. For each wheel, connect the clear tubing from the bleeder screw to the vacuum pump and raise the suction level to about 20”.
<insert pic>

Allow the fluid to flow until clear (transparent gold) fluid appears w/in the hose. Tiny air bubbles may appear w/in the clear hose. This can be considered ‘normal’ as the Teflon tape does not create the perfect seal. Large air bubbles are what you are looking to try and remove. DO NOT allow the d/s of the bowl to run empty during this process. Your assistant may be helpful to keep this from happening.
<insert pic>

NOTE: 20” of vacuum on the system may be too much for some seals – especially on rear wheel cylinders. If you find that there are large gulps of air (much larger than you would suspect) you may be sucking air in past the seals on the cylinders. Drop you vacuum down and see if you get acceptable results.