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I bleed the brakes on a friends 05 Peugeot 206 yesterday, and it took me about three hours. I did it manually by myself, pumping the brakes, refilling, over and over for each tire. I did everything with hand tools.

Is that a reasonable amount of time, could I make that method go faster, and would something like a Mityvac and vacuum bottle make it go significantly faster next time?

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It can definitely be done faster, but that's a matter of experience. A vacuum cannister doesn't help me much, i always use this constuction and it has worked perfectly for me: bleeding construction
It's the most inexpensive and simple construction. As long as there's air in the braking system, a small pocket of air will be present in the top of the construction, as you can see in the image. Because the restriction(bending the hose 180 degrees usually suffices for this) the brake fluid won't drain from the construction. You have to pump the brakes until the air pocket disappears. Of course, the connection to the caliper's nipple has to be good, or false air can be drawn in. As with other bleeding methods, it really helps if one person pumps the brakes, while the other works on the calipers.

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  • So how long does it take you to manually bleed brakes start to finish using your construction, by yourself.
    – Robert S. Barnes
    Jan 30, 2017 at 8:18
  • @RobertS.Barnes Only the first couple times i have done it alone. Took about an hour then. With two persons, the job can be done in 15 minutes if you hurry up a bit. You can ask your friend or girlfriend/wife or anyone to operate the braking pedal. Remember to start with the caliper that's the last in the system (one or both rear calipers), then work your way up to the caliper that's closest to the master cylinder.
    – Bart
    Jan 30, 2017 at 8:40
  • Peugeot 206 bleed order is as follows; the front left-hand wheel, the front right-hand wheel, the left hand rear wheel, the right hand rear wheel
    – Steve Matthews
    Jan 30, 2017 at 9:43
  • @SteveMatthews Oh, in the cars i've bled (all +25yo cars though) the manuals recommended to start with the caliper the farthest from the master cylinder, and then work your way up. Otherwise you have to bleed the rear brakes again after. I've tried both, and starting with the rear brakes always worked best for me.
    – Bart
    Jan 30, 2017 at 9:56
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    This is an ABS car though so there are four individual brake lines from the ABS module to the calipers. You can't get air trapped in one line by opening another.
    – Steve Matthews
    Jan 30, 2017 at 9:57
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I presume a 2005 206 will have ABS brakes. If it's anything like the Volkswagen system for the same period, you need to plug a diagnostic computer into the car to put the ABS pump into it's bleed mode.

From this link it appears that there is an automatic bleed procedure for the ABS module...

bleed the ABS unit using TEP 92, DIAG 2000 diagnostic equipment

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  • Important to read the whole sentence: If the bleeding of the circuit is not satisfactory, it is possible to bleed the ABS unit using TEP 92, DIAG 2000 diagnostic equipment, following the directions given by it .
    – Robert S. Barnes
    Jan 30, 2017 at 10:18
  • I would have thought after the first two hours of trying, you'd reach the conclusion that manually bleeding was not satisfactory?
    – Steve Matthews
    Jan 30, 2017 at 10:19
  • I just chalked it up to my inexperience...
    – Robert S. Barnes
    Jan 30, 2017 at 10:21
  • So basically, for any car with ABS you'll need to go to a dealer who has access to a scan tool which can put your car in "bleed mode"?
    – Robert S. Barnes
    Jan 30, 2017 at 10:24
  • I have a cable which plugs into my laptop and fits the OBDII port. I run a bit of freeware (but that's VW specific) and can access all the fault codes and diagnostic modules on the car. I bought the cable very inexpensively on eBay and it's already paid for itself several times over.
    – Steve Matthews
    Jan 30, 2017 at 10:31

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