Bleeding the master cylinder

[Eastcoast SHO]

ok i went through hours and hours of reading threads from searches but i am still a litlle confused about this one.....the other day i was going down hill around 50mph come up over the hill saw stopped cars put on my brakes, as luck would have it broke 2 solid lines and one front steel braided line, swerved over into on coming traffic stopped about 200 yds from the time i actually hit my brakes, so i changed all the lines and got new braided lines, bled the brakes pedal is still mushy, right rear dribbles out, ive been seeing a certain sequence on which tire to bleed first and so on, but i have also seen that if you run the master cylinder dry(which happened during loss of brakes) you must bleed that as well, how would i bleed the master cylinder and do i need to bleed my abs if they do not work? basically how would i bleed the whole damn thing the right way? thanks guys

 

[93rev2sev]

Oh man, you could get a lot of different answers to this one. To bleed the MS, crack the fitting for the hard line at the MS and push the brakes - brake fluid should drip at a constant rate...tell your partner to watch and listen for air bubbles, have your partner tighten the line back up. Then and only then, let up on the brake pedal. Do that 3 times to all the lines, one line at a time.

That seems to work for me. But I'm sure there are alternative methods.

Edit: Tell your partner to keep the wrench on the fitting and adjust it so fluid dosent spray...you just want it to drip a steady stream.

Important...keep normal braking pressure on the brake pedal until your partner has assured you that the fitting is tight.

Edit again...I usually work the wrench. I tell my partner to push the pedal like a medium stop. Then I open the fitting...let a little bit of fluid out, close the fitting and tell my partner to let up on the pedal.

I repeat this until I see no signs of air bubbles...and then I do it once more.

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

also on the rear calipers i know you have to turn them clockwise(?) to retract them, do they automatically retract or do you still have to push i seem to be having trouble with this, doesnt really want to turn easy, would it help if i took the caliper off and put it in a vice and get rid of the pressure from the fluid? one more thing ha ha does anyone know the easiest route to put the e-brake spring back on kinda ****** that one up

 

[hawkeye18]

To bleed the ABS, you have to have the ABS bleeder tool. or... just take your car out to a dirt (or rock) road and stomp the **** out of the brakes (engaging the ABS). This *should* work, but it's much easier, safer, and effectiver (hey, it's a word in my world) to use the bleeding tool. It's called the Thexton Teves IV.

As far as the calipers go, it makes it much easier to open the bleeder screws to retract the piston. When you retract the piston without the bleeder screws open, you're pushing brake fluid against the entire length of the system.

What I do is get a big set of vise grips and a c-clamp. push with the c-clamp, twist with the vise grips (make sure you don't tear the boot or f*@# up the piston surface!). It worked like a champ for me but there's another active thread around here with info on the "official" rear piston retractor tool.

Hope this helps!