Flushing brake system without help or money:
 

I like working alone, it's slow but my 64 year old body has no problem keeping up with my feeble mind.

I used a Folgers coffee container to catch the old fluid, a 9mm wrench to turn the bleeder valve and a 2 ft piece of the plastic hose from my Mightyvac.

I know people are worried about over extending the plunger in the master cylinder but this system will not harm the system or any of it's components.

1. Get the car up on jackstands safely.
2. Remove the wheels.
3. Put the plastic bucket on top of the hub carrier or sit it on a bucket in front of the wheel. The goal here is to get the bucket higher than the bleeder valve. Start with the RR wheel. It's further most from the reservoir and takes the longest to do.
4. Push the hose over the bleeder valve. If you're using a line wrench fit the wrench on the bleeder valve before you put the hose on.
5. Check the fluid level and make sure it's full.
6. Open the bleeder valve and pump the brake peddle 10-15 times with your hand. Push the peddle down until it starts a strong resistance. It won't go far, maybe 3 1/2" so it won't over extend the plunger.
7. Check the fluid and fill the reservoir. I can pump the brake about 20 times on my car before it gets low enough to push air in the lines. Check the hose for clear fluid so you'll know when to move to the next wheel.
8. Remember to check the fluid reservoir after pumping.
9. Make sure you drain the hose before moving from one caliper to another. I lowered the bucket with the end of the hose in it and let it drain itself.

I do a variation of this using a clear bottle (fruit juice). Drill a hole in the cap so a long piece of rubber hose fits tight. Start out with a little fluid in the bottom of the bottle (removed from reservoir), with the hose at the bottom submerged in fluid. Place the bottle so you can see it while pumping the brake pedal. You will clearly see bubbles come from the tube at the bottom of the bottle. Pump until you see no more bubbles. Everything else is same as above. I usually suck out as much fluid from the reservoir with a turkey baster, and fill with fresh fluid. By the time all four are bled, a complete fluid change has been done. When the bottle gets full from multiple bleed jobs, dispose of the old fluid properly.

This is pretty much how I bleed brakes on my lonesome too.

I just open one and let it drip out .No pumping the pedal. Look at the fluid and top it up if its low . Dont pump the pedal at all .. Can take some time to do it this way.

i use a brake bleeder check valve. about 10 bucks. on the bleeder screw i put a tiny hose clamp over the hose and pump away, with a block under the brake pedal to keep the strokes short. its been said here that it takes about a liter of fluid to reach the passenger side rear caliper, and less for the others. worth doing as the first pumps are nasty looking.

A pressure bleeder kit from m source is like 40 bucks or something. Well worth it.

This is the method an older garage owner taught me. He claims to have never screwed up a master cylinder or any of the anti-lock components.

I still have some ATE Super blue, flush till the blue fluid comes through.

I installed speed bleeders and it worked great.

Helpful info!
 

Guys, thanks - very helpful info!

Planning to do this on my '95 W202 - new to me and only 48k, but has minimal maintenance records. Just replaced front pads and may end up doing the rears too.

Did not realize I could harm the ABS system - so plan to use the drip method.

Of the 30+ cars I've owned, it's one of the easiest to work on. And way over-engineered - heaviest brake units I've ever encountered on a vehicle. Not a bad thing! ;)

x2, I have a Motive pressure bleeder, ~40 bucks, makes this a quick and easy one-man job.

I have been using a gatorade bottle and clear tubing, never had any issue. even with freshly rebuilt brakes involving, hard lines, soft lines, calipers and master cylinder (redoing it with new seals).

hook it up to the slave bleeder, keep bottle above hub but below master cylinder, fill master cylinder container, little gentle bumps on the pedal to prime the system and then slow half strokes to push liquid through.

I tried the gravity method with 4 setups. it was slower than mud.

I prefer the helper-at-pedal method. I don't worry about the MC piston going into a rusty-cruddy region since better that happen in the garage than on a steep road. Since I switched to DOT 5 (silicone), I have no rust worries. I once couldn't get any flow from a caliper on my 1982 Aries (1st time brake bleeding). The helper pushed as hard as they could w/ 2 feet and a slug of rust junk blew out. I'm guessing the PO never bled the brakes in 8 years (in humid GA), which shows what can happen if you don't.

How long does this take?

About 30 minutes each line, I like to let about 2 ounces of clean brake fluid run out through each line when I gravity bleed.