I was having a bear of a time bleeding the front brake on a scooter. Then I ran across this. Bled it in less than 5 minutes. Useful trick. Got the syringe at Ace Hardware.

How to reverse bleed a braking system - YouTube

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

i have heard of doing this, never had tried it though. ive got a vacuum bleeder i used. when it feels like ive got most of the air out, i zip tie the lever down for an hour and it lets the rest of the air escape back to the master cylinder.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Never tried the reverse method either.
I usually just let gravity do it's thing for half an hour while I do something else, then finish it off with the vacuum pump.

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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

I had tried pumping, gravity the the vacuum methods with no success before this method.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Just about the smallest hydraulic brake system on the planet and such a huge problem

I thought you were cussing at your brakes, you being English and all.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

You know what they say about scooters...

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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

I don't know.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

It is not the brakes that bleed but rather the knuckles if the wrench slips.

That's a good method for single line systems.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I have taken a long clear tube to reverse bleed a clutch and simply filled the tube nearly to the top with brake fluid and blown on it to push the fluid into the top of the clutch master. I first did this with my 74 Saab 99.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Ever since my Peugeot days, I have been a fan of reverse pressure bleeding. The clutch on the 504 could only be bled that way. I use a pump-type oil can that has never been used for anything except brake fluid. I just took advantage of the break in the weather and bled the brakes on my son't '86 Mustang GT. I had previously tried the regular method with no success. The pressure pump oiler got it done in just a few minutes.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

This is basically how we do bicycle hydraulic brakes.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I haven't seen that method before. Thanks for posting the link. Can't figure how pumping the lever didn't do the job on a scooter. Does it have ABS or linked brakes or some other complexity in the braking system?

My Yamaha motorbike has ABS brakes and it's a bear to bleed. The ABS unit is under the seat, so the front brake lines run from the lever back under the seat, then up to the front of the bike and split to the calipers. The best way I've found to bleed it is to put the caliper bleeder under vacuum with a Mityvac, and then use the pump-the-lever approach. If you don't use both pressure and vacuum, air bubbles collect in the vicinity of the ABS unit and you end up with mushy (if clean) brakes.

Yes scooter has some kind of ABS. It's right next to the caliper. Maybe that's what it made it impossible to bleed using the traditional pumping method. I couldn't get any pressure to build at all the traditional way. I had dried out the master cylinder before using the syringe and my first push on the syringe sent a 4' high stream of brake fluid up out of the master cylinder after a few bubbles came out.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13