I rebuilt the master cyl and wheel cylinders on my '48 3600. Thought the bleeding process would be pretty straight forward. Fill the master resevoir, open the farthest bleed valve, and start pumping until fluid came out the farthest bleed valve. Them, move closer until all four wheel cylcinders have been bled. Any advice for a guy who has never done this before? My wife's leg is worn out from all the pumping! I disconnected the brake line at the master cylinder (original single stage) to see if fluid would pump out. It does, but only in a trickle. thanks for any advice. Didn't see anything on this in the archived posts.
If you open the bleeder valve and just start pumping without closing the valve while she holds the pedal down you will never get it bled. Its sucking air back in everytime she pumps it. Pump the pedal a few times and let her hold it down. Open the bled valve and watch for fluid/air bubbles to come out. Then close the valve before she lets up on the pedal. Then she pumps it up again and you repeat the process. If your doing this and no fluid is coming out after a few tries to get all the air out then something must be wrong with the wheel cylinder.... I would think fluid should "squirt" out more than a "trickle".
Just to see what happens why not try bleeding some of the other wheels to see if your getting anything at them.
I also failed to ask if you "bench bleed" the master cylinder. They can be a booger if you don't.
Do you have a shop manual?? If not you can find help with the online manuals.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/
