'95 Eurovan, tips or advice for bleeding brakes

[RiversToTheSea]

I want to bleed the brakes and flush out the who-knows-how-old brake fluid. I've bled brakes many times, but never on a vehicle with drum brakes. The Bentley manual doesn't go into much detail.

How hard is it to bleed the rear drum brakes, and what tips or advice do you have? For the fronts once you pull the wheel the caliper is right there easily accessible. But for the rears the drum is in the way, so how much harder is it to bleed drum brakes? What can I do to make it easier?

[mikemtnbike]

It’s super easy. The bleeder is on the back of the drum (well, really, it comes out through the plate all the hardware mounts to). You don’t even have to take the tire off. Just don’t overtighten the bleeder it’ll snap off and you’ll sound like me cursing.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[BatesEV]

The way to make it the easiest is a power bleeder. I bought a Schwabin one and it was a breeze. As on the van you can leave the wheels on. The rears have to be done loaded(wheels on ground) due to the bias valve on the axle. I would pre soak all the bleeders a day in advance with some penetrant. My fav is PB Blaster. But no mater what method you use suck out all the original fluid and refill with the new before you start.

[mikemtnbike]

I'm old school/ cheap and found the two person method (wife pumping the brakes, me operating the bleeders and keeping the reservoir full) really easy too. Since the fluid came out dark brown, I was pretty happy to get it done (I had also just replaced all hardware, soft lines, etc.)
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[Saturn]

At the end of January I replaced the master cylinder in my 1995 EVC and then had to bleed the entire system. Drawing fluid out through rear wheel cylinders in the drum brakes is the same as disc brake calipers: open bleeder nipple, watch for bubbles and the fluid to change color. If you going through bleeding the entire system, have you replaced out the rubber lines going into the calipers? If they are original they might have internal swelling which will make bleeding the system a lot more difficult. One thing I do is to put a bead of grease around the base of the bleeder nipple to prevent air leaking through the threads. This will show up as bubbles in the clear hose and/or catch container. There is a potential of wasting fluid thinking there is still air coming out of the system. Additionally would recommend DOT 4 fluid as it has a higher boiling point than DOT 3.

With my EVC I was able to access the rear bleeders without having to lift the vehicle at all. Have a good light source and bit of patience. Had a friend of mine pressing the brake pedal down and also monitoring the fluid level in the reservoir. Here is a short write up of the work on I performed.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9798201#9798201

[Abscate]

Don’t forget to save your brake fluid and send it back to FCP for free refills
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.ssS!

[RiversToTheSea]

Excellent, thanks for all the advice everyone!
I ran out of time to do it right now, but will do it soon.

[Abscate]

I have had a lot of luck single man bleeding 😃 by routing the bleed hose up in a big U shape of a couple of feet and then finding doing two stages.

First stage , wide open bleeder. Just pump pedal and push through 200 ml fresh fluid.

Now a bit of back and forth. Find the magic spot on the bleeder which puts some resistance to flow, pump down sharply, let up slowly. The extra head on the bleeder line captures the bubbles , if any.

Put the nip on the bleeder, cap that sucka , and move to next one
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.ssS!

[EuroTec]

I have a simple technique that I've used for may years to bleed brakes by yourself.

You'll need a plastic water bottle with the cap. I like a Perrier bottle because they're heavier. You'll also need about 40 - 50 cm of 5mm ID rubber hose.

Drill a hole in the cap slightly smaller than the OD of the hose then drill a second small hose to allow air to escape. Push the hose into the hole until it is almost touching the bottom of the bottle.

Add brake fluid to the bottle so that it has a few cm of depth. Screw the cap with hose onto the bottle.

I also add a piece of soft mechanics wire to the neck of the bottle so that I can hang it near the brake that I'm bleeding. Hang the bottle near the bleeder valve. Open the bleeder valve slightly, push the hose onto it then open it about a half turn more. Make sure the hose is pushed on securely.

Now top up the brake fluid reservoir with fluid, get in the driver's seat and start pumping the pedal slowly as you count strokes. The fluid will be collected in the bottle and the fact that the hose is immersed keeps it from pulling air back in. This works quite well to bleed or flush brake fluid. I usually do about 8 to 10 strokes then check fluid level and add more as needed.

When you've flushed out the fluid and or air, close the bleeder valve and remove the hose. Discard the fluid properly. Repeat for all other wheels.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!