The shop manual for my '79 says to bleed the brakes in the following sequence: left rear, right rear, left front, right front.
Since the right rear is farthest from the MC it would seem that should be the starting point followed by the left rear, right front, left front.
Anyone know the reason for this sequence?

 

There has been a lot of discussion about this. There probably isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' sequence to use.

 

I think either way will wok, but I've always done rr,lr,rf and lf. Just makes more sense to me.

 

 

Just make sure when bleeding the rears, you bleed the inner one first then the outer one.

 

The only reason I can think using this sequence is when you have a complete dry / empty system. It would would help to prevent pushing air into a previously bled line. I have not found a problem bleeding in any order on a working brake system.

 

Medic, I have bled the brakes on dozens of cars over the years and have found that the best way is to use gravity. The rear brake line from the distribution block to the rear T-piece is basically horizontal, which will not aid the flow of brake fluid to the rear.

However, if you can raise the front of the car a few feet, say on some ramps, then leave it overnight, then the heavier (than air) brake fluid will migrate to the rear, as well as the front calipers, and the air in the system will migrate upwards to the master cylinder. It will make your job of bleeding them the next day much easier.

As to the "correct" sequence, there really isn't one. I drive right hand drive Holdens, as well as the Corvettes, and it doesn't seem to matter which way you do them. The Holdens have the master cylinder on the right side of the firewall. One trick though, is to have a RUBBER hammer with you and give the calipers a few taps with it to help shake the air bubbles loose before bleeding. Make sure you do the rear calipers in the sequence that sstocker31 says or you will have problems later on.

Hope this helps.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

 

I have bled the 78 brakes many times over the years for various reasons and always start with RR first. Normal brake procedure of pumping the air out using the brake pedal is what I always do and never have had a brake issue...all these years-32+ and counting.

 

I used the power bleeder today and thought for sure I had all the air out. Not so much. I'll try the other suggestions and see how that pans out.

 

Read post #3 by TOM454......pay close attention to the section about the master cylinder and how the output ports aren't at the top of the bore. If you don't have bleeders then bench bleeding and moving the M/C around to help get rid of trapped air bubbles is in order.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1569348376

 

It makes no sense to bleed the brakes from the rear to the front. If I do the 'farthest' rear bleeder first and then do one nearer to the M/C, wouldn't any air that got into the line from the near brake caliper just be passed on to the farthest one (that I've already done)????

I've always bled from the nearest bleeder to the farthest one, in sequence. Never had a problem having to go back to a previous bleeder.