What you are going to "bleed" out of the lines and cylinders is air and maybe water. But you probably knew that. First line up a helper, two is better, then locate your master cylinder, and determine the brake system fluid capacity- check your owners manual for that or call the dealers repair shop or possibly a real auto parts store. The cylinder is usually on the fire wall under the hood on the driver's side, sometimes the capacity is marked on it or a sticker under the hood. Locate the bleeding valves on each brake, depending on the age of your car they may still have plastic or rubber caps on them , they are small nipples with a hexagonal nut like base, on disc brakes usually on outer side of the caliper towards the top,close to the center line. On drums usually towards the bottom center of the inner face . You'll need an open end wrench that fits the nut, a few feet of hose that fits snugly over that nipple ( I use clear vinyl cause I can see the fluid and bubbles in it), and a container to catch the fluid that comes out, ( Again I like to use a clear glass jar, just don't break it.) Buy enough fluid of the proper type to completely fill the system and then some, it seems I always pump out all the old stuff anyway struggling to just bleed it so why not flush it anyway. You can buy some hose kits that claim to be "One Person", I've had little success with them, I like to be down there at the hose anyway so I can see what's going on. There is a specific order in which each brake should be bled, usually you start with the one that is farthest from the master cylinder and work towards the closest, that used to be Rt rear, Lft Rear, Rt front, Lft front. Today we got the dual brake system and the order is USUALLY RtRear, LftFront, Lftrear,Rtfrnt. ( Your owners manual won't usually have that info, while your at the parts house buy a Chilton's repair manual for your car, about $20, that will tell you that info and how to bleed, and every thing from changing a light bulb to rebuilding the engine.) Open the master cyl. and fill with fresh fluid to the max line, put the cap back on, if you got two helpers station one there to monitor the fluid level, you don't want it to go below the minimum line. Start the car, Pump the brake pedal slowly a few times, this is where you station your other helper, check the fluid level and retop if needed. If there are only two of you the pedal pumper has to be the monitor too and is gonna be getting in and out a lot, after every one or two pumps. Turn off the car. Pour a couple of inches of new fluid into your jar slide yourself, the jar, hose, and wrench under the car at brake number one. brush away any dirt and gunk from around the bleeding valve. Slide back out, try to get the pieces of gunk out of your eyes, go get some of those eye shields with the elastic band and that seal up against your face, slide back under. If you have to jack the car up, be SURE it is on jack stands, not just a jack, the pedal pumper is gonna be causing some movement especially if the pumper is also gonna be climbing in and out. Once you've slud back under there, put the end of the hose under the fluid in the jar and slide the other end over the nipple, loosen, counter clockwise, the valve with the wrench, 1/4 to 1/2 turn. In a loud voice say "DOWN," pumper pushes the pedal down slowly steadily and holds it there, monitor watches the level; depending on length and/or transparency of your hose, you should see dirty fluid coming out. Keep the other end of the hose under the fluid in the jar. Officially you can keep the hose covered as the pumper lets the pedal up, if you've driven all the air out of the hose, or are using a One Man kit with a check valve. In real life there is still air in the hose and the check valve doesn't really work and it is air you are trying to bleed out. SO, close the valve and say, "UP." Pumper lets the pedal up steadily, monitor monitors. If, when, the level in the master cylinder drops close to min level, the monitor says "STOP", you close the valve, regardless of what else is going on, say "UP", pumper releases brake, monitor adds fluid carefully avoiding air bubbles, and anything else getting in there and closes it back up. Always add fluid with the valve closed and pedal up, never let the level drop below minimum. If the pedal ever comes up when the valve is open you may suck in air. Continue this Open-DOWN-close-UP till no more bubbles come out of the hose, better yet until clean new fluid comes out, you've flushed the old stuff out and, if you've been careful with the monitoring and refilling, the air with it, it won't hurt to do a couple more pumps just to make sure. Close the valve good and replace the cap. The first brake will take the longest cause you have flushed the whole cylinder through that line, but you don't HAVE to flush it. ( The pros actually open and flush all four at once, then refill and bleed, but they got all kinds of attachments, pumps, and stuff.) Then move to the next wheel and do the whole thing again, until you've done all four in the right order. Empty the container as you need to, keeping a couple of inches of fluid in it. Start the car and pump the brakes slowly, the pedal should go down steady, no jerks, no hard spots, no soft spots; if any of that, start all over, it won't take as long, a couple of pumps at each wheel should get out any trapped air. Discard the old fluid however you discard hazardous wastes, seal up any leftover new fluid real good, just a little water condensing in there will ruin it all. Take a short test drive, pay attention to your brakes. Avoid any hard stops for a couple of days, pay attention to the brake feel, and check the master cylinder to make sure the level doesn't drop because you forgot to tighten one of the valves. Reading all that, definitely writing it, makes it look like more work than it really is, it can be tedious and take some time with all the climbing and sliding in, under, and out, but it is easy, especially with 2 helpers, just follow the steps and never let the pedal UP while open or the fluid drop too low in the master cylinder. Oh and while your driving look way down the block, if you see sumbudy that might be me crossing the street, ease off the accelerator way down there, don't come roaring up and then slam on the brakes inches away to show me how good a job you did while brake bleeding. I don't wanta be the one with a break bleeding. [5-18-05] Sorry, juvi, now, " I break for paragraphs." (nmj)

If installing a new master cylinder, be sure to bench bleed it prior to installation.