Bleeding Brakes without taking all four wheels off

[Colin Palmer]

Hi all,

Can you bleed brakes without taking wheels off? I take it there wont be enough room to do this (especially rear wheels).

I feel uncomfortable taking all four wheels off, I would prefer to do no more than two at a time. My Ford Focus haynes manual states the rear brakes must be bled first then front brakes. So putting one end of the car on axel stands a time is better for me. However, I know different cars have different bleeding procedures.

Does anyone have any tips on how to bleed brakes safely and easiest way possible?

I have two ramps and two axel stands and a jack.

Thanks

Colin

Topic

[Krys Kozlowski]

Hey mate,

Usually, we don’t take wheels off at all, we mainly lift the car to have easier access to the brake calipers and the bleeder valves. Usually, you would start with the caliper which is furthest from the master cylinder in the front, usually passenger side. Then do the other rear one, then the passenger front one, and lastly the front driver side one.

First, fill up the master cylinder barrel in the front. I would then lift up the car with a mate on the driver’s seat (Polish method, I know ;]), get underneath the lift,my hose and bottle set to the valve, open it, and have him pump liquid through the system by applying the brake pedal steadily a few times, until I would not see bubbles in the liquid. Then, while he would depress the pedal, I would tightly close the valve, either during his movement or while he would hold down the pedal to the ground (less accurate, so better do the first one).

[Colin Palmer]

Hi kkozlowski

When you say you lift the car, I take it you mean yo lift the whole car using a professional car lift?

I dont have access to that equipment.

Could I jack up one corner at a time?

Colin

[Krys Kozlowski]

Hey Colin,

Yes, I meant a professional lift. But that is not necessary, we used to bleed cars parked over shop tunnels without lifting them at all. You should consider two things though.

One, if you lift up a car with one axle only, make sure to lock the other axle somehow, perhaps with two logs of wood of any kind of wedges.

Two, when lifting a car with a person inside, be extra careful of movement of said person inside the car and any respective safety measures.

And keep your fluid container full enough so it never goes below “low”. If you’re angling the vehicle downwards, you may spill some, so be aware, as brake fluid tends to not like car paint and can cause long term corrosion.

Cheers

[college man]

How about jack up the rear of the car pull the two wheels
(I know you don’t want to) bleed the rear. put the wheels
back on. then do the front.

[Bill]

That’s what i would do…Sometimes you can’t get at the bleeders with the wheels on.

[David]

I normally just lift the rear one side at a time with a floor jack ( jack stand too for safety ) and bleed that side and then do the other side, you only need enough room to be able to crack the bleed nipple.
And always start with the furthest rear so that all the air is push back to the rear.

[Daniel]

If you can get to the bleeders with the wheels on it’s no prob. Most vehicles you are supposed to do one rear wheel then the front wheel diagonal from it. When I do a system flush at home I just “gravity bleed” them. Meaning I just open all the bleeders at the same time and top off the master cylinder periodically.

[Colin Palmer]

Thanks everyone.

I will probably do one wheel at time following the sequence in the haynes manual.

[Author]

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