Bleeding Brakes

 

cyclebuster wrote: The volume of the fluid cavity in your calipers is many times greater then the volume of your lines. take the calipers loose, and remove the pads. push slowly on the lever, until they begin to move out. push them both out about 1/2 inch, no more. Hold one side from moving. orient the caliper in hand so that the input line is on top. push it in slowly, with the cap off the master, and lots of rags on the paint, and around the area. air and fluid will come back out the top. secure this caliper from coming out again, and repeat procedure on the other side. Old bleeders break. This works 100 percent of the time, and the bleeders aren't at risk. I never have to repeat this, because at 1/2 inch out those cylinders contain plenty of fluid to push all the air out. Reassemble it, and they are bled, no expensive power bleeders, and no machine shop labor to fix the busted bleeder in your vintage caliper.

 

b7hs wote:
The syringe method works pretty well for me..





You might want a second syringe to drain the reservoir as it fills.

It works both ways: i.e. you can also squeeze the lever (carefully, to avoid the squirting!) and the syringe will take up any fluid (or air) that exits the bleed nipple.. Exclamation

If the bleed nipple or the passage way behind it is clogged however ("I can get no fluid from the bleed nipple at all"), attempting to send fluid through the nipple with the syringe won't get you far either. Confused


That hole that you see fluid squirting out from is (15):



(from the kh(s) manual from the triple resource)


At rest, the piston (cup) at the end of the plunger sits between the two holes you noticed. When the plunger is pushed by the lever (at 7), fluid in front of the piston is pushed (or squirts!) out of the hole in front of it (15). As the piston travels past the (squirting) hole, pressure then builds in front of the piston which pushes out on the piston in the caliper (slave cylinder).  (The full version here)

If the lever isn't returning back all the way, then the plunger might be gunked up like mine was..