Ok, I think I may have screwed up here a bit. I was flushing my brake fluid in my 300E (yes ABS, no ARS) and I was all by myself. So I got my handy-dandy hand held vac pump (15-20psi tops) to siphon the fluid out. Fronts went great. Then I sucked four ounces out of the right rear and went to refill the reservoir and it was still full. WTF?!?! Now I have no pedal (obvioulsy) and my attempts at a two man bleed on the rears are getting me nowhere. What did I do and how can I rectify the situation??
HELP! ....
and Thanks!
-Matt-

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Currently:
1972 350SL Euro 4spd
1973 BMW R75/5
1981 BMW R80GS
1995 FZJ80 with OM606 Conversion In Progress

The reservoir has a front chamber and a rear chamber. Depending on how your car is tilted, you might have emptied one and not the other.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

On some reservoirs, I can't remember which, the rear reservoir is almost totally surrounded by the front reservoir giving the mistaken impression the reservoir is full when in fact it is empty.

Look closely.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Thanks guys.... I had the back-end of the car Jacked up too high for any fluid to drain into the back res. Let 'er down a bit and presto clean fluid was a-flowing to the back. Thanks for the prompt responses that got me thinking!
-Matt-

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Currently:
1972 350SL Euro 4spd
1973 BMW R75/5
1981 BMW R80GS
1995 FZJ80 with OM606 Conversion In Progress

The rear res only fills when the front is completely full through a port just below the inboard side of the reservoir opening. The level in the rear res can be observed by looking at the inboard face of the reservoir.

Duke

Question...

I thought you were supposed to start with the rear first? Right rear... left rear... right front... left front.

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Willy

'94 E420 White

Mods
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Berg Werks Keyless Entry
Buzzer replaced with Chime
Dash Light Upgrade
Burlwood/Leather shift knob
Alpine CDA-9815 Head Unit
2002/2003 16" C Class 7-Spoke Wheels
Updated "Chip" to fix Code 19 problem

It really doesn't make any difference where you start or the specific bleeding sequence. I usually start with the shortest, which would be the LF - the shortest path for the old fluid in the lines out of the system.

At the rear the path lengths are not always obvious, and since the front and rear circuits are independent you can start at either end.

Duke