I’ve got the syringe and that little bucket thing that screws on the reservoir.
I can understand forcing fluid into the caliper to purge air at the reservoir , I don’t get why you then have to bleed it from top to bottom.
Surely all the air has gone first time?
There is a possibility I’ve misunderstood as I’ve only got instructions in foreignese.

Here you go.Destruction’s in englishese.
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Deore-XT/SI_0116A/SI-0116A-001-00-Eng_v1_m56577569830746864.pdf

Did my SLX today as the banjo bolt came loose.Took of reservoir cap and other Gubbins and bled it top to bottom as you would any other brake. Seemed fine but will check for spongey lever in am.

A one-way bleed can be sufficient, but small air bubbles can get trapped in the convoluted passages inside the calliper, which is why a two way bleed, and tapping the calliper with the handle of a screwdriver while you do it, is the more thorough solution.

Did my xt brakes the other day. Best results I’ve ever had with them. Bled one way from caliper upwards to funnel on the lever making sure lever was much higher than caliper.

Removed the caliper from frame mount and pumped the worn pads out until nearly touching. Then bled them.

Old oil was like mud. After bleed, I prised the pads apart a little, refitted caliper, job done.

Work great. I’ve tried bleeding with a syringe both ends, but always felt like there was a huge amount of pressure to push for some reason and had a syringe pop off several times covering everything. Funnel method works fine if pads are out.

OT, but has anyone had this problem?

I bled my 785’s after shortening the hoses. The front is great has a nice lever feel, but the rear although it works fine, has a slow lever return with a sort of “step” at the end of the travel. Never got round to doing another bleed since i fitted them nigh on 6 months ago, but should really fix it. Any tips?

Kayak23, the difficulty pushing when using a syringe at eh lever is down to the mineral oil reacting with the syringe plunger seal causing it to swell. We’ve had to change our bleed method because of this, which you can find here:

http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/how-to-bleed-new-shimano-brakes/

Slight Hijack, sorry OP.

Epicbleed, is that the same method/kit for Saint M820?