8 Step To Gravity Bleed Brakes Alone – This Is the Right Way!

With the right way of bleeding a brake alone, you can get rid of the microbubbles which are causing the brake to lose its working ability. Filling the brake reservoir with pure fluid and then gently opening up the drain nut/bleeder screw of the bleeder will ensure a bleed of the brake. To end the bleeding process of the brake attaching back the drain nut tightly.

In order to avoid facing a spongy or bubbly brake, it’s wise to bleed the brake by gravity. A lot of drivers don’t know the right way to get it done and things get even complex when you needs to get it done all by yourself.

Learning how to gravity bleed brakes alone and then trying can help.  It might be confusing for some of you but no worries! I’m here to explain the whole procedure today. Let’s Get Started!

Here’s How to Gravity Bleed Brakes Alone.

bleeding a car brake using gravity method does not require any special equipment or tools. This method is simple, safe, and require minimum resources to perform bleeding. You need following tools to gravity bleed a car brake.

1. Reach the Bleeders

Start by, wearing the safety equipment. You have 2 options to reach the bleeder and these are: 

• Remove the all 4 wheels nut and then take out the all four tires. 
• Use a jack lifter to lift the truck and access the bleeders on all four sides. 

Follow whatever route you find easy to reach the bleeders but make sure the selected method is safe and won’t cause further struggle. 

2. Cover the Reservoir with A Towel

Next, grab one or two towels and simply clean the cap of the reservoir. Be sure to make a simple ring around the reservoir with towels. It’ll help later to deal with the microbubbles including fluid (which could be really bad for the metal parts).   

3. Add Fluid On The Brake Reservoir

Remove the cap from the reservoir using your hand. In this process, you’ll see some bad fluid popping up. Let it be like that for 20 – 30 minutes to remove filthy fluid as much as possible. 

Refill the easy absorbing type brake fluid like the Prestone AS800Y DOT 4 to ensure the fluid inside is fresh. Put the cap back in its place. 

4. Insert The Tubing Into The Bleeder

Take out the bleeder screw cap from the bleeder. Now rotate the bleeder screw counter clock wise and to check if brake fluid came out or not. Close the screw as soon as you see brake fluid coming out of the screw. Now simply attach the vinyl tubing head. Be sure that the other end of the tubing is placed in waste container. 

5. Open the Bleeder Screw

Insert the wrench on the bleeder to open it with a ¾ turn motion. Look closely at the upper side of vinyl tubing to see if the bad brake fluid is coming or not. It’s what we all call gravity brake bleed in case you don’t know. 

FYI, the colour of brake fluid which will come out is either dark brown in colour like coffee or orange-brown like tea. Wait until you observe clean new braking fluid free of air bubbles coming out of tube.. This will need 5 – 20 minutes at least. 

6. Close the Bleeder Mouth & Detach the Tubing.

Once you see the clear fluid coming out of the tubing, it’s when you have to close the bleeder mouth using the wrench. Take out the vinyl tubing from the bleeder’s mouth. 

7. Refill the Brake Reservoir.  

Move to the reservoir and simply fill it with fresh fluid again. For that, open the cap and fill the reservoir with the brake fluid. Close the cap to finish this procedure.

8. Repeat the Gravity Bleeding Method For Each Wheel

Do the same thing from Step 2 – 7 for each wheel. This will ensure no bad fluid is filled inside. And then, you have to do the same thing on the other 3 wheels. That’s how to bleed brakes naturally through gravity.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you bleed brakes by gravity?

Yup, you can! With the right direction and technique, you can bleed the brakes by gravity and ensure no air bubbles inside to restrict the hydraulic pressure.

2. How often should you bleed your brakes?

You should bleed the brake by gravity every 1 or 2 years in order to keep the brake fluid fresh. It’ll later help the brake to operate quickly and efficiently. In short, you have to bleed in every 20k to 150k miles.  

3. How long does it take to gravity bleed brakes?

It will take up to 5 to 20 minutes to completely bleed the brakes by gravity. Some trucks can take more than 40 minutes based on the trapped bubbles inside.

Overall Thoughts

This is not the easiest way of cleaning the brake fluid, but then again, results will be best with gravity bleeding. 

Yeah, it’s true that it takes a long time to complete but you have the facility of getting rid of the bad fluid without spending much on this. 

Hope you find this guide about how to gravity bleed brakes alone detailed to try with your truck and see the result for yourself. Have Fun!