While replacing my brake pads I noticed my front brake hoses dry rotting and spliting. I replaced them but had nobody to push the pedal while I beld. I went with the gravity method and ran plenty of fluid thru the sys. I never let the master get even half empty. Well, the pedal is still spongey. I have had great results gravity bleeding on every other vehicle Ive worked on. Of coarse all the others had single wheel cylinders or single piston calipers. Is it because of the more complex design of the corvette 4 piston calipers that I dont have much success with gravity bleeding on my vette? Anyone else had poor results gravity bleeding on thier vette? Thanks in advance for any input.

 

In the last four years or so, that's how I have been doing my cars-gravity, and I like it. One thing someone once told me to do to is tap the calipers lightly with a "rubber mallet" as air bubbles can attach themselves to the inside of a caliper, and this will knock them loose.

 

I gravity bleed mine and like it. After I have ran some fluid through the system I slowly push the pedal down a few time to push out any extra air. Be careful doing that though, or put the cap back on the master or it'll squirt out. Otherwise it works good.

-Justin

 

I gravity fed my fronts and it worked ok. After about 5 days of waiting for the rears to bleed out with no sucess I stuck a clear hose on the bleeder and sucked all the air out untill fluid came out of the bleeder. This may seem a little overboard but I had to do something. After that we hand pumped the pedal to push any excess air out and the pedal is very solid. Hope this helps Robbie :steering:

 

Hi, yeah,,,,I use this method also, wasnt too successful til an old skodie told me about the tapping procedure tho,,,,,,,,it works,,,,,,,Peace,,,,,,,,Moosie :seeya

 

I used this method for the first time last night. Worked well, found leaks on my rears. I will be doing it again tonight and I will include the bubble tap procedure as well. :thumbs:

 

When I first tried this on a new rear caliper after about a half hour I had nothing.. I was about to give up when someone on this post said to tap the pedal slowly to get the fluid moving.. It was air locked. I did that and it started flowing. Easiest way I've seen so far..

 

Tapping will definitely help dislodge any 'stuck' bubbles.
Here's another trick, that may help more: First, put some grease around the
base of the bleeder (to keep air from entering via the threads). Get your
wrench on there with the bleeder just snug. Place some clear tubing over the
bleeder and the other end down into a clear plastic bottle with some fluid in
the bottom. Make sure the end of the tube stays under the level of the fluid.
Now, crack the bleeder. Now, you can push on the brake pedal and this will
push the fluid out rapidly - carrying the bubbles with it (tap caliper, too).
The tube should fill with fluid, and pumping the pedal is OK - as the return
stroke will not pull air into the caliper. It will pull back a little of the clean fluid
that was just pushed into the tube. Don't forget to do ALL the bleeders.

:seeya

 

Gravity bleeding is the only way thats worked for me. Try tapping the caliper to loosen things up.

 

Thanks to all for the input. Incidentally I just found out thru another thread I started that my rear calipers should really have two bleeders. They do infact have 3. I learned from the other members that the bottom bleeder on the outside half should have a plug in it. I had been trying to gravity bleed thru this bottom bleeder which could have been letting air back in as fluid dripped out. Im gonna re-try the process of bleeding while dis-regaurding this bottom bleeder. I think I will also summons the help of my stepson to pump then hold the pedal down, then ill loosen the bleeder and let fluid flow untill he gives signal of pedal on floor. Then Ill tighten the bleeder before he releases. Im also gonna incorporate the trick of attaching a clear hose and catch the fluid in a bottle. I ran out of brake clean and I dont want any more fluid dripping down all over my newly machined rotors.

One more question; on every other vehicle other than my vette, others have told me and I have read in manuals that one should always start bleeding on the wheel that is farthest from the master. Then proceed to the next closest and so on. Now the vette manual says to do it in this order, right rear, left rear, right front, left front. This goes against the general rule that Ive always known to apply to other vehicles. So why is the order different for these C3 vettes?

 

Thats correct. Passenger rear, driver rear, pass front, driv front.

 

go to the auto parts and rent a pressure bleeder and you will have no problems with trapped air. :chevy


[Modified by clem zahrobsky, 7:57 PM 3/19/2003]