Youmna

I can't manage to get a firm pedal feel in my car after bleeding the brakes. So far, I've bled the brakes with a partner and gravity bled the lines. Twice each. Order was LF, RF, RR, LR. Then LF, RF, LR, RR.

This is the third time I've had to go through this process (put on track brakes, put back stock brakes, put on track brakes again), and this is the WORST pedal feel I've gotten by far.

The pedal gets firm during the process of bleeding the lines, then gets mushy and goes down to the floor once we run the car/take it for a test drive. No air came through the lines, and we're not sucking in any while we're bleeding them.

What could be the problem? Am I missing anything?

Does anyone in or near SJ have a pressure bleeder they'd be willing to lend out for a few hours? Thanks!

TougeHorseman

Joey.

Youmna

Unless he does house calls, Joey (and any mechanic) is out of the question. I'm not taking my car anywhere - especially not ~40 miles away - when the brake pedal goes to the floor and the car has minimal stopping power.

S_DosMil

Have you tried bleeding from the farthest pad then towards the front? That's how I do it. What was the purpose of bleeding in the first place? Just fluid change?

Youmna

Yep. Tried that, too. We basically went in circles, since we just went from corner to corner to corner, ad nauseum.

Bleeding was to switch to more aggressive pads: we were supposed to be at American Autocross Series at Crows Landing today.

S_DosMil

Does the fluid level change at all when the pedal goes to mush?

tkeyyy

from what billman stated, it shouldn't matter which corner you start/finish with. i gravity bleed mine while i check out everything else below the car in the mean time.

what i usually do is bleed it once, drive around and brake hard, then bleed again. during the 2nd bleed, i hit the caliper to make sure any possible air is out of the system.

it's not required to do what i do, but that's just my reassurance.

Youmna

I'm not exaggerating when I say we bled the brakes for 4 hours last night, and have been working on them since 11:00 AM today.

Tried bleeding the regular way, all four corners, two-person job. The pedal felt really good before turning on the car. I turned it on to take it for a test drive, my foot went to the floor and the pedal was all mush.
Gravity bled it for a little over an hour. Boyfriend took it out; same result.
Went back to bleeding it the regular way. Spent forEVER just going around and around; ended up recycling (new) fluid because it was 2:30 AM and not even Wal-Mart was open. The pedal never stayed firm after turning on the car.
Today, we moved on to vacuum-bleeding the lines using a hand-pump (a tool I didn't know exists). Same results.

Boyfriend is now at a friend's house, working some kind of voodoo on the damned thing to try to make it work.

Would knocking on the calipers be necessary after using a vacuum bleeder? I'd imagine it would suck out anything in there, including air.

tkeyyy

if the fluid is moving fast enough, probably not.

from what you're describing and what i've experienced (unfortunately you have as well), it does sound like you still have air in the system somewhere

TougeHorseman

Legend has it...Tkeyyy is running some sort of insane JDM brake set up with a shelf full of trophies in the garage! #justsayin

How about a house call to help out a fellow community member deputy? Don't be shy! This is your time to shine!