brake pedal too soft (have I bled right?)

[samg19882]

Finally, after however many weeks. I have a set of working calipers on the car. Tried bleeding the brakes today, but with no success. Well, bled 3 out of 4, the last one the nipple rounded even though I was REALLY gentle with it.

Did in the following order according to haynes:

Drivers rear
Passenger front
Passenger rear
Drivers front (although didnt bleed this one because the nipple rounded.)

As far as what we did...
we undid the bleed nipple, compressed the pedal a few times until the fluid came out in a strong stream. Then compressed it one more time, tightened the nipple, and let the brake pedal out slowly. Repeated for each wheel.

The pedal feels exactly the same. The car does stop, but barely. Have we done something wrong you think? Or just not bled the system enough?

Cheers guys!

[richy]

i would go over them again in the same order to check for air, use a clear pipe into a bottle so you can see when any air comes out untill thats gone, all you need is a mate to sit in the car, keep the res bottle topped up

with the bleed nipple closed pump the pedal a few times then get him to hold it down, while its being held down then open the bleed nipple and you should see if any air comes out, keep repeating untill no air on each corner then move to the next etc

as said remember to keep the res bottle topped up at all times.

hopefully if its just air that will sort it.

[16v_paddy]

Do it like richy said You need the clear pipe so you can see if there's any bubbles, just keep pumping till it's all fluid & no bubbles in the pipe & you'll be reet

[samg19882]

I've done it today with a brake bleed kit. But it's still just the same.

I might just take it to a garage round the corner, cause this is doing my nut in.

[Rich]

you've prob got all the air in that one side that you can't bleed. you can't do 3 of the 4 corners and expect to have a good braking system.

[queegan]

as said u need to bleed the hole system with the car on the floor as well so the bias opens on the back i got 5litres from halfruads for feck all then just kept bleeding till completely new fluid but i did mine rears to front not the haynes way

[samg19882]

ok cheers for the help guys. I'm out of fluid so will try again tomorrow!

[samg19882]

Man this is killing me..

went round all 4 today. taking my time. Must have bled about 3 litres worth from the car.

Did it until I couldnt see any more bubbles in the one man tube thing. The last wheel took forever. More and more air just kept coming out. I'm shattered!
Anyway, finally, with the engine off, I had a good firm pedal with everything tightened up. Start up the car, and the brake pedal goes straight to the floor. Gutted.

To make things worse, one of the wheel bolts snapped. I guess it was just over-used.

Can anyone advise what might be wrong before I spend money at a garage? Cheers

[Matty86]

might be a seal gone in the master cylinder :(

[queegan]

there is a method for checkin to see if the is a fault with the calipers or cylinder i think ask maxi as i am sure it was in one of his threads i read it!!