break pedal going all the way!!

[gothguydante]

okay i just finished my rear aspire break swap and i bleed all the break lines but it's not pressurizing or something cause no matter what i do the break pedal goes all the way... what could i be missing or maybe i bleed wrong is there a special way to bleed breaks i always was told to unscrew bleeder screw push in break pedal then tighten back up the do the rest...

[MONSOON]

I always found bleeding the brakes was easier with 2 people. One to pump the peddle til its hard the other to crack the bleeder valve. Pump til hard hold to floor then the person cracking the bleeder watches for fluid to come out with no air in it. Repeat til no air in line. Then move on to next wheel.

[gothguydante]

yeah tried that the pedal never got hard thats the problem...

[Mike McKown]

I've never bled a Festiva master cylinder. Some master cylinders, you have to bench bleed them if you run them dry, then put them on the car and continue to bleed the whole system. To bleed the system, you have to pump the brake pedal 3-4 times, hold and crack the bleeder open while the pedal is DOWN. Close the bleeder. Pump 3-4 times, hold and crack the bleeder. Close the pedal before the pedal comes up. Repeat this 3-4 times and you should start to get a pedal. Go to the other wheel and do the same. You should have brakes. Go back to the first wheel if the pedal is still spongy. I'm assuming you didn't open the front system?

yeah tried that the pedal never got hard thats the problem...

[gothguydante]

yeah i bleed them all well tried to... but it was bone dry so i filled it up and strated on the back and went around just to get the fluid in the lines then started to bleed them the second time around it just didn't pressurize..

[rolla4me]

wheel cylinders ok?

[jasonpaulbauer]

Are you still getting bubbles?

One way to tell is get clear hose that just barely fits over the bleeder nipple. Put the wrench on the bleeder then the hose over it.... Watch for bubbles.... if your still getting bubbles... you have more work to do.

Get it to the point you are getting fewer bubbles, then go do the rest... then do them all again until the bubbles are gone.

It took about 45 mins of working at it to get the system all bleed after the aspire swap.

[Damkid]

i've had a few Master Cylinders go bad on me, and when they did, the pedal went pretty much to the floor

[WmWatt]

I assume the brakes were fine before the Aspire swap. I replaced my brake lines and did not have to bench bleed the master cylinder. I refilled the system by myself using gravity. Tighten the bleeder nipples, fill the reservoir, open a bleeder nipple and let the fluid flow down the line. Do the fronts first. Haynes recommends doing the fronts first. You might have to suck the end of the line or the nipple as I did to make a bit of a vacuum to get the fluid flowing. Takes a little more time than using the brake pedal to force the fluid down the line, but with your master cylinder empty that doesn't seem to be working.

[Mike McKown]

When the master cyliinder is higher in the front than back, like a Festiva, sometimes you trap an air bubble between the compensating port in the bottom well and the piston. This leaves a little air pocket that you can't get out just by stroking the pedal on the car. That's why you sometimes have to bench bleed.

If the master cylinder was bone dry, bench bleed it. To do this, remove the cylinder from the car and clamp it in a bench vise. Run stub lines from your cylinder ports back into the reservoir, under the fluid level. Then stroke the piston until it quits spitting air bubbles. Put the master cylinder back on the car and bleed brakes as normal.

[m715]

I have had 2 M/C do that like DAMKID stated. When the pedal was pumped, it turned out that there was rust scale in the bore of the M/C that cut the cup inside. Changed out the cylinder, and I now bleed mine only by the gravity method spoken of, and open the bleeder wide when pushing the piston back in the caliper while changing pads too.
HTH

Michael

[bravekozak]

silicone brake fluid

Silicone Dot 5 Brake Fluid does not absorb water and will not rust, pit or corrode your cylinder walls or lines. It costs a lot more but it is worth it. It is a pleasure to look into a sparkling clean fluid that looks the same as as the day you poured it in.
I bought the mil spec sticker off of the Bay and stuck it on the firewall beside my master cylinder.

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/mil_label.jpg