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Bleeding an XKE Brake System

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Basil

Basil

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My E-Type has a vacuum assisted brake system with two circuits - one for the front brakes and one for the rear brakes. There is a master cylinder and a vacuum-assisted "slave" cylinder.

My question is this: Will I be able to fill and bleed my system without the engine in place and running (to provide vacuum for the slave servo)? Or do I have to wait until I have the engine back in the car and running and the vacuum system for the brakes hooked up?
 
Borrow a pressure bleeder if you can. That will move the fluid really well, and could save hours of time.... There are some small hand pumped units on the market, but I have not tried one. I have bled brakes the "conventional" way for years, but I finally broke down and bought a good pressure unit. With the set up time, it does not seem much quicker, but man! the overall hassle is much reduced. I should have gotten one long ago.
 
Basil, you can bleed it quite capably without vacuum ASSIST. The ports inside the master cylinder are still opened by moving the brake pedal(and rod which pushes on the master cylinder piston)..
Just how easy the bleeding will be is dependent on how you do it.

1) the old pedal pumper assistant and coke bottle with hose at the wheel.. one stroke, two stroke, three stroke, hold... while opening and closing the bleeder valve.

2) hand held bleeder like Mighty-vac helps considerably.

3) powered bleeder(usually a pressure system that applies to your master cylinder cap and pushed brake fluid into the system).

hth
 
Ron, what about the Slave Cyl which I think operates via Vacuum only (There are two cyls on this car - a master cyl connected to teh pedal via a rod and a slave cyl that seems to operate via vacuuum (or will the pressure from teh master be sufficient then to also fill teh slave cyl?
 
What year?

I'll have to research and get back to you.
If nothing elese, you should be able to use a vacuum pump(aka Mighty-Vac) to suction the slave. Usually though moving hydraulic fluid, under pressure, is enough to fill remote reservoirs(which is essentially what the slave is).
 
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