gravity method works with speedbleeders (do one wheel at a time) only...it won't work doing all 4 and without them...you'll get one wheel that will purge better than all others and air can get into the system easily

i use a mity vac brake bleed kit...it works well and i don't have to get in the car to pump the pedal

 

the gravity bleed works just fine to get you started, and as i stated, you do need to bleed the regular way afterwards. i did a gravity bleed on my old blazer not too long ago after replacing a wheel cylinder and a bleeder screw in one of the calipers. i had no problems doing the gravity bleed whatsoever, and there was air in the system before i started.

but if you want to do them one wheel at a time, go ahead, won't hurt anything.

 

These things happen sometimes,i think its time for an upgrade.

 

ok, i loosened the nuts that hold the master cylinder to the brake booster and a little brake fluid came out around the bottom nut. this would mean that the MC is leaking externally, correct?

 

why are you removing the master cylinder? just curious.

 

I answered the wrong thread h:

 

i just loosened the nuts so i could pull it out a little because the paint around it on the booster is all bubbled up so i think there is fluid leaking out. it didn't look wet though, so i was seeing if it was wet behind the MC, and it was.

 

its blown, replace it.

BTW gravity bleeding works quite well on a lot of vehicles. I just replaced the master in my '91 Si along with the front rotors and pads. I replaced the master without getting any air in the lines too, its actually rather easy and eliminates the need to bleed the system when installing a new master cylinder. However I bled my system anyway just to purge out all the cruddy old fluid. Since I had a buddy to help we didn't bother gravity bleeding. However I did just replace most of the metal and rubber brake lines on an '85 GMC 6000 full-size school bus Friday and gravity bleeding worked like a charm on that bad boy. Talk about some serious brakes. The master cylinder resevoir holds a gallon of hydraulic fluid!

 

ok, i'll look into replacing it. how did you replace yours w/o getting any air in your lines? also do i need to "bench bleed" the new MC before installing it? thanks.