2010 Tahoe brake bleed - one man bottle method gone wrong

Motive pressure bleeder FTW.

sumo said:

One man bottle. Take a hose from bleeder, fill a coke bottle halfway full of brake fluid and submerge the hose. Open the bleeder and pump the pedal. Since the hose is submerged in fluid, instead of sucking in air, it sucks in fluid.

As far as the spongy feeling, you may have stripped the caliper bleeder threads or one of them may not be fully closed.

Best way of bleeding is if you know someone with a snapon scab tool or tech2, there’s a automated brake bleed feature that gets all Air out.

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This is the exact method that I did, with a chunk of pine under the pedal.

I did both the front and rear brakes (pad/rotors) since I was getting a break wear indicator sound and the peddle felt soft, so I thought I might have had air in the lines. Fronts were low but not on the squealer, and rears where around 50% with one of the inside pads low. Then I tried to flush using the exact one man bottle method that was described and I've got the same mushy peddle with the same squeal, but now from video taping with my phone I can actually see the air bubbles coming out of the bleeder when I'm pumping.

I'm going to get those spring loaded bleeders that someone else mentioned and try again. Or just get the regular bleeders and have my wife pump the brakes while I open and close. If that doesn't work I'm going to replace the MC. I don't know what else the problem could be.

I always had issues bleeding brakes until I quit being cheap and bought the Motive. It's about $60 I think but once you've used one you'll never go back. You fill it's tank with a quart of fluid, attach it to the fluid reservoir and pressurize it by pumping it up. Then you just go to each bleeder and crack them them open. It forces the fluid through the lines instead of trying to vacuum it from the bleeders like the others do. At the same time it refills the reservoir. So easy.

Rocket Man said:

I always had issues bleeding brakes until I quit being cheap and bought the Motive. It's about $60 I think but once you've used one you'll never go back. You fill it's tank with a quart of fluid, attach it to the fluid reservoir and pressurize it by pumping it up. Then you just go to each bleeder and crack them them open. It forces the fluid through the lines instead of trying to vacuum it from the bleeders like the others do. At the same time it refills the reservoir. So easy.

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ya this sounds absolutely ideal. Maybe I'll just buy one of these instead. It's about the same price as 4 of those special bleeders and with the pressurized bleeder I can use it on anything moving forward.

This is a great suggestion, thanks Rocket Man.

Also something to think about. You could have a brake line that may need to be replaced. Rubber hose from the caliper to the actual brake line. I had a front right hose that collapsing restricting flow. It be a good time to switch to stainless steel lines. Ever since I did that, my brake pedal is always firm like you pumped the brakes with the truck off.

i been doing the one man bleeder set up for years now. love it. if you let the master run dry you need to bleed the master. might want to bleed it anyways. thats where the mushy pedal would start. air in the master and it wont clear the abs pump of air.

to do it i get a wrench on the two brake lines off the master, break em free, then snug it up, now wrap a rag around the wrench and line, cause fluids gonna fly. have your helper pump the brakes then hold them as you crack the line nut, if theres air you'll hear it spitting out, repeat till its clear, then do the other line.

then re bleed the calipers.

I bleed the air from the ABS module by turning the key to the on position (not start) just as I begin to push the brake pedal downward. The system goes through a self check and cycles all the solenoids in the ABS module when the key is first turned to on. A do this a few times when bleeding each corner and have no reason to believe there's any air trapped in the ABS module. With the way it's all set up, any trapped air should be pushed through with the first or second pumping cycle.

I like the Motive bleeder and would invest in one if I was having issues with the one-man-one-bottle (giggity) method. I think between the Motive bleeder and cycling the key to activate the ABS solenoids, you should be able to get the lines 100% air-free, assuming you have no leaks anywhere. Bleed the right rear caliper first until it has all new fluid in it and you'll have like 95% new fluid in the entire system. Bleed the left rear, right front then left front in the same manner and you'll have virtually 100% new fluid.

If you even have any doubts about the condition of the flex lines, I highly recommend replacing them with stainless braided ones as @sumo mentioned. A firm and responsive brake pedal is such a great feeling and yet so foreign on GM trucks.

Scottydoggs said:

have your helper pump the brakes then hold them as you crack the line nut, if theres air you'll hear it spitting out, repeat till its clear, then do the other line.

then re bleed the calipers.

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this is where folks are ******* up. they see "hold the pedal" or whatever, and smash it to the floor. you know a helper would for sure, if you don't make it clear to only go halfway or so. the board is a good idea.

i can only assume people know how to bleed brakes. most dont know the bleed the master lines.

Scottydoggs said:

i can only assume people know how to bleed brakes. most dont know the bleed the master lines.

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