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Pro tip: That $20 harbor freight vacuum bleeder saved my bacon on a 2005 Accord...
I was stuck on a brake job last Tuesday, couldn't get the rear caliper to bleed after a master cylinder swap on my buddy's Accord. Pounded on it for an hour with the two-man method, nothing. Finally grabbed one of those cheap vacuum bleeders from Harbor Freight for like 20 bucks, and it pulled the air out in under 5 minutes. Now I'm wondering if those expensive pressure bleeders are really worth the cash, or if the budget vacuum trick is all you need for most cars. Has anyone else had bad luck with the vacuum method on certain makes, or am I just lucky it worked this time?
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the_richard12d ago
The part about German cars laughing at the vacuum bleeder makes sense. I read somewhere that some ABS modules can trap air in a way that vacuum alone just can't pull out. You probably need the pressure to push fluid through those tight spots.
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miller.susan12d ago
Man, that "pounded on it for an hour with the two-man method" bit really hit home. I've been there more times than I can count, fighting with air in the system until my back aches. I had a similar nightmare on a 2004 Subaru Outback last fall, rear caliper just would not give up that last bubble no matter how much we pumped and held. That cheap little vacuum bleeder from Harbor Freight saved my weekend too. But honestly, I've had it fail me on some older German cars, those BMWs with finicky ABS modules seemed to laugh at it and I had to bust out the pressure bleeder anyway. So you're probably not just lucky, but it might be a case of the cheap trick working great on simpler systems while the expensive stuff shines on the real finicky ones.
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