I'm in the middle of the '02 rear with limited slip and discs swap for the drum equipped rear my '97 had, and I'm about ready to mount the new master cylinder in on the '02's brake booster, and the new master cylinder says to "bench bleed" it using the bleed plugs.

What the sam hill are they talking about? Can I just mount the thing in the truck, fill it up, and pump it up from the pedal to get the air out of it that way? I still have to re-fill the entire system, as I'm also doing the front discs at the same time as well.

 

Hope this helps: http://autorepair.about.com/od/fixit...ench-bleed.htm

 

OK--what I get out of it then is that bench bleeding will save time in a master cyl replacement. As I'm doing a full system replacement, the "pump pump" method will take longer, but will work as well, and maybe because I'm doing the whole system, I'll probably end up doing it that way, anyway.

Thanks for the help.

 

It will also save some fluid. You don't waste so much bleeding the system on the truck.

 

Doing it which way?

 

You shouldn't waste hardly any by bench bleeding. Use fittings you can put a hose on and put the ends back in the reservoir so they're under the fluid. That way you can see when you stop getting bubbles and it's totally bled.

 

Bench bleeding saves time and fluid as opposed to putting the MC on with all the air inside it. That air has to then be pumped through the lines and out, through conventional bleeding, which would use more fluid. I have never put an MC on without bench bleeding. I didn't know it had a name, just thought it was part of the process of installing a new MC.

 

A friend came over yesterday and we did the bench-bleed thing--I only had to cycle the thing 3 or 4 times. Heck, just turning it a little sideways got a lot of the air out of it without even monkeying with it at all. Having never done a master cylinder before, it was actually real easy. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I've never replaced a MC on a '04-up so have no experience there but there are MC's that will simply not bleed if you install them in the car 1st.