How to Bleed your Brakes with a Helper

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We're going to show you how to bleed brakes with the help of a friend. While we're doing this on this specific vehicle, this application can be applied to a variety of different cars. The only difference, really, is going to be the location of your bleeder screws and the size of the fittings. If you like this video, please click subscribe. We have a ton more information on this and many other vehicles, as well as more generic help tips like this.

If you ever need parts for your car, you can follow the link down in the description over to 1AAuto.com. Our master cylinder reservoir is already clean because I had to fill the fluid and bleed the master cylinder in this due to a brake line failure we had, which is why we're bleeding the rest of our brakes now.

If yours is dirty, wipe it off and make sure you don't let any dirt or contaminants get into the fluid. Remove your cap, and fill the master cylinder all the way because we don't want this to bleed down and get air into it, or we'll be starting our whole process over. Once it's full, we'll throw the cap back on so nothing gets in there. Make sure you keep your fluid nice and tight too. You don't want any moisture getting in there. The proper procedure for bleeding your brakes on the vast majority of vehicles, including this one, is to start at the furthest wheel from the master cylinder which is going to be the passenger rear. We'll then go to the driver's rear, passenger front, and end on the driver's front.

This is to make sure that any air or dirty fluid in the system gets flushed completely through the longest line to make sure that there isn't any trapped when go closer and closer to the master cylinder. This vehicle does have an ABS module underneath, just about the middle of the truck, but it's a little more forward, so these lines still hold true. A rear-mounted ABS unit will make this procedure the opposite of the way we're going to do it.

If your vehicle has a rear-mounted ABS module. This process will be reversed of the way we're going to do it, with your brakes starting to bleed in the front and ending in the rear. This will depend on where your module is, so just take a look at it and see which lines are the longest. If it's in the passenger rear corner, then the farthest line is going to be the driver's front. If it's in the driver's rear, then the passenger front should be your farthest corner. A simple check over the brake lines should show you which one has the longest lines. Underneath the truck on the inside of the frame rail, this sits, actually, just about dead under the driver's seat in the front.

Our ABS module is not located in the engine bay like the majority of them are. It's still more to the front of the vehicle, so the bleeding procedure will be the same. When bleeding with two people, be sure to use some kind of container for the fluid. We're going to use our single person bleeder just because we have one. You can also use a hose into a bucket or another type of bottle to contain the fluid, or just put a catch pan underneath it and spray everything down later. Brake fluid is very caustic, so be sure not to get it on the ground, dirt, driveway, garage, or wherever you're working.

With two people, you'll, at the brake caliper, want to yell, "Pump," at which point the person in the driver's seat will slowly and completely pump the pedal three times. They'll then tell you they're holding. Open the bleeder valve. Wait for the fluid to run out. Close it completely. Then let the person in the driver's seat know they can lift their foot off the pedal and repeat the process two to three times or until all the air is out of your lines. We'll now finish bleeding the front brakes using the two person method.

While you don't have to alternate the way we have, we're just showing you both methods, front and rear, so you can see the similarities and differences between them. "Pump it up." "Hold." "Pump." Now that we've got all the air out of our system and we have a good firm brake pedal inside the truck, we can go ahead and close our last line. Remove the hose. Top off our brake fluid for the final time.

Reinstall our wheels and tires if you removed yours, and you don't have to, we just did this to make it easier to show you, and you're good to go. Always dispose of automotive fluids properly and safely as not to create pollution. Brake fluid and other various hazardous waste from vehicles can generally be returned at your local parts store, as they take in these kind of wastes. If you're local junk yard or dump has a hazardous waste sta., store these parts safely and bring them at the appropriate time.

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