Thread: brake pedal goes down to floor...my error?

Ok changed my rear brake pads yesturday and made an attempt to so called bleed my brake lines of any air. So i unbolted the line and brake fluid poured out,a good amount and for some reason i also unbolted some valve next to it.I get everything back together and my brake fluid is ok bout halfway full and i pump the pedal a few times and now it goes almost to the floor.Test drove it and it still does it and even today,so it seems I may have did somethin this isnt safe cuz it takes me that much longer to stop or i need to brake early now.I took it to my mechanic yesturday and he said my master cylinder is shot and its a bit pricey to replace but how so when I didnt even touch it? any ideas on what to do?

Did you tell him you bled them totally wrong and put air into the rear calipers? If not.... let's remedy this w/o you having to tell him it was you.

Go to the parts store. Tell them the car you have and ask for a set of one man bleeders and a container of brake fluid.

Go home.. put the rear in the air and install both those bleeders. Snug them both. Then loosen the passengerside bleeder 1.5 turns and fill the master to the full line and put it's cap back on it. Now.. press the brake pedal to the floor and release it (allowing it to come all the way up) 20 times. Get out, snug the passenger side bleeder screw. Loosen the driverside the same 1.5 turns like the passenger and pump the pedal 20 times. Snug the bleeder closed. Refill the master cylinder. Start the car and see if the pedal still goes to the floor. It shouldn't.

The place where you went wrong was bleeding the brakes to do pads. By undoing the hoses, you allowed the calipers to drain the fluid out. The better way to do that is to get the tool that will compress the piston of the caliper. Loosen the master cylinder cap, compress the piston, put on new pads, do the other side...then tighten the master cylinder cap and start the car ....pump the brakes until they are good.

No I didnt tell him what I did.I see what i did though,I never should have touched those lines damn me lol.Thanks for the help Bill I will go about doing that later today.And as for the pistons i just used needle nose pliers and twisted it back into place.

I like to use a small C-clamp to push the piston back into the caliper; super simple and fairly quick.

The 04+ caliper pistons are different i believe.I tried my C-clamp too but it barely did a thing,needle nose pliers got the job done for me.

Originally Posted by dmahlikGT

The 04+ caliper pistons are different i believe.I tried my C-clamp too but it barely did a thing,needle nose pliers got the job done for me.

That is only on the rear calipers. Front can use the c-clamp method.

Crap...see I didn't look at your year... lol

Still though. You opened the lines. It's an easy thing to fix and with one man bleeders..you don't have to tell anyone but us.

Bill you are the man,gotta give you credit the one man bleeder worked. Bought myself a cheap $8 one man kit, undid wheel,loosened up bleeder,hooked it up and stepped on brakes bout 6 times and sure enough saw 3 air pockets. Did other side the same way and test drove. Car now stops the way it should and pedal is far from touchin the floor. Thanks again man

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Now.. press the brake pedal to the floor and release it (allowing it to come all the way up) 20 times. Get out, snug the passenger side bleeder screw. Loosen the driverside the same 1.5 turns like the passenger and pump the pedal 20 times.

Originally Posted by dmahlikGT

Bought myself a cheap $8 one man kit, undid wheel,loosened up bleeder,hooked it up and stepped on brakes bout 6 times and sure enough saw 3 air pockets. Did other side the same way and test drove.

was 20 overkill?

I guess it was but the Bottle that came with the kit was small anyway thats why i stopped at 6. Was nearly full at that point, but if anything ill do it again if need be.