It is so easy I don't see the point in a helper. ps, If I'm just flushing the fluid, I don't even jack the car up. I drive the it onto 2" thick solid oak wood planks to give me a little more work room, turn the wheel all the way out for better access to the bleed nipple. I lay on a piece of card board. pps I don't have a big beer belly.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Limiting the pedal stroke as mentioned on an old master cylinder sounds like a good ideal to me. There can be rust etc in the bore past the portion normaly in use. Not ideal for the seals to drag over. Could easily shorten the remaining life of the master.I liked the ideal of putting a board under the pedal.

Pressure or vacuum bleeding is probably superior. I was just thinking a person could use a good sized airtight holding container. Installed between the cars vaccum system and the brake bleeder to catch the brake fluid in. One control valve should be enough. Or a small vacuum pump off of ebay. Many times those small motorised pumps go for ten dollars or so as demand for the smaller ones is small.

Using clear hose you would just watch for clear fluid coming through. You just do not want to feed brake fluid into your vacuum pump. Anyone ever try this? Any downside?

I bought a chemical pump type sprayer a few months ago thinking I was going to make a power bleeder but I can't find the right cap adapter for it. All the ones from the parts stores will not work for the W123 reservoir. And its a bit tough to find one from a salvage yard.

Any ideas fellas?

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the sooner you start... the sooner you'll get done If it ain't broke, don't fix it.. Its always simpler to tell the truth...
2007 Honda Accord EX
2007 Honda Accord SE V6
96 C220
97 Explorer - Found Another Home
2000 Honda Accord V6 - Found Another Home
85 300D - Found Another Home
84 300D - Found Another Home
80 300TD - Found Another Home
Previous cars:
96 Caravan
87 Camry
84 Cressida
82 Vanagon
80 Fiesta
78 Nova
Ford Cortina
Opel Kadet
68 Kombi
Contessa

I have been using a simple method for years and it works on every vehicle I have tried it on except OLD Ford trucks. The trick is to have the car level. Fill the system as full as possible. Open one bleeder at a time and watch for clean fluid to dribble out. Close that bleeder and move on to the next one. Don't hook anything to the bleeder, just put a small pan or can somewhere to catch the fluid. Make sure the reservoir stays full. Gravity is a wonderful thing. As long as the bleeders are lower than the reservoir it will do all the work for you. This may take a while but it gives you more time to think of other things to do (have a drink or something).
OK, let me have it, I'm ready, Flame suit on.
Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

That just is not an accurate description of the physics of the situation..
If you have a loop de loop ( highly scientific term ) you can have the fluid go right past an air bubble .... not taking it with it...
I vote for some velocity and pressure to be sure the air is lost...

Barry 123400,
I totally agree with limiting the pedal travel , especially on old cars...
but I do that by limiting the opening time of the nipple... typically less than one second... that takes care of the pedal travel but provides the velocity and volume necessary to take not only any air but other particles which may have built up. A completely passive ( gravity only ) does not provide this effect.

The very slow velocity of the fluid provides no assurance that air won't linger in various hiding places such as the top of any bend or the top of the slave cylinders. While it might work for some situations, it's not a sure thing unless you have some decent velocity of the fluid and the air is forced out of the system.

I've used the gravity method in the past with mixed results. The '86 still doesn't have the solid feel of the pedal that the other vehicles have.........and I'm betting that it still has some air trapped somewhere.

"IF" a hoppy toad had wings he wouldn't bump his butt.
Just try it, if it doesn't work then spend money on something you may use once every 2 or 3 years.
Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

Please describe the item you are talking about spending money on .

Using the old fashioned pumping method does not get any money invested in anything which will only be used once in a while...

"The very slow velocity of the fluid provides no assurance that air won't linger in various hiding places such as the top of any bend or the top of the slave cylinders."--Brian

Thanks Brian, Well stated. If I was in charge of infractions I would slap one on his S.A. hoppy toad.... LOL

Well, the old gravity feed method has it's uses. When the OP explained his predicament, and it was going from bad to worse, THAT was a good time to fill the master, crack the bleeders and go get a cold one. Come back 20 minutes later with a better outlook and bleed it properly

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Ok,,,
The problem with using gravity only... is that if you have some restriction ... IE, not an unrestricted flow from the MC is that fluid will come out BUT by letting air go in at the nipple to replace the fluid... unrestricted flow will use the ' head' provided by the MC being above the nipple... but lots of conditions have to be right.... and you can't tell which are not there by whether or not fluid is coming out of the nipple by gravity.