I recently swapped out my front calipers and allowed a bit of air to get into my brake lines. I then began bleeding the brake lines and noticed that there was a ridiculous amount of air in my line. Its as if its not going away…
I basically kept bleeding and pouring in new brake fluid whenever the reservoir got about 5 or 6 cm above the minimum line. After about 45 minutes of doing that, I inspected my last 2 bottles of bled fluid… Its CLEAN brake fluid! My whole brake lines have been flushed and there’s new fluid in there, but the air just WON’T go away! I have absolutely NO brake pressure! I haven’t been able to drive my 240 in 2 days due to this… I’ve got no brakes!
What’s the deal? I need this sorted, ASAP!
If it helps, I’m using the buddy system. My dad’s doing the bleeding, while I’m pumping the pedal (after 10-15 minutes, we switch).
My dad’s taken a course @ Centennial College on brake systems, so he knows what he’s doing (he’s got the certificate of completion and an average of 97% in his course.
I’d like to know, what is it that we’re doing wrong? All of my bleeder screws are tight, there’s no air getting in, so why won’t the air just get out of my brake lines?
my bet is what S13counterpart said. sounds like it’s probably a slightly broken line at the caliper that you don’t notice due to the brake fluid everywhere from bleeding the lines.
did you put new copper washers on both sides of the line where it bolts to the caliper? it’s not uncommon for them to leak if you reuse the old ones.
just as a precaution, i would bench bleed the master cylinder too. you can make your own kit for about $10 bucks in supplies. I’m sure your dad knows howto.
Well, I thoroughly cleaned up the brake lines after I finished a day of unsuccessful bleeding. What I did this morning before I went to school was take 10 minutes to pump the brake pedal repeatedly. I then checked the brake lines as well as where the lines go into the caliper (yes, I did use the new copper washers that came with the new calipers). Not a leak. I just came home 20 minutes ago and did the same thing. No leaks or grease build up…
I did notice that whenever I pumped the brake pedal, there would be air pockets/bubbles coming up to the top of the reservoir… I’ll let my dad know about bleeding the master cylinder…
This thing is only a hair away from being safetied and being driven on the road
Any how-to’s on bleeding the MC while its in the car? I can loosen 2 of the flange screws (closest to firewall and the middle), but the one furthest away from the firewall has a hard time… I feel that my wrench is trying to round it off if I put enough effort trying to loosen it… I really don’t want to fsck it up
u cant torch it either… theres seals you will fuck up…
good luck with gettin it out… kinda important to bleed them all… but pretty much its just like bleeding the lines.
1.Fill with fluid
2. hold ur fingers over the holes.
3. when they pump let your fingers off
4. put you fingers back on and let them let go the brake
repeat till your bleed.
they have to hold the pedel when ur reattaching the lines i think… not 100% sure
help to have 3 guys, so they can keep refilling the BMC for you
VERY IMPORTANT U COVER THE HOLES WHEN THEY RELEASE SO AIR DOSENT GO BACK IN!!!. should be suction marks on your fingers when your done.
Take 2 lines (shortest you can buy from CT, with fittings on both ends), cut them in half, you only need 3 of these pieces.
Take 3 pieces and attach rubber hoses to the cut end of them. *These hoses need to be long enough to reach into the fluid reservoir of the MC completely.
Take off your 3 lines from your MC, then attach the little do-hickies you just made.
Now, tighten them up good and make sure the ends of the hoses are completely submerged in the fluid in the reservoir. Get someone to pump the brakes over and over until air bubbles stop coming out.
Then put your regular lines back on, tighten them, then bleed the brakes as normal.
There’s my problem! My dad already has everything we need to bleed the MC, but one of the three lines can’t be removed (the furthest one from the firewall)…
I don’t want to risk torching it in the event that I melt/deform any of the seals…
If anyone’s got a method of removing seized brake line fittings, that would be greatly appreciated!
i almost rounded off my fittings, so i used some big locking vicegrips to get mine out just recently a few days ago. my brake fittings did have some teeth marks from the vicegrips but at least they’re not rounded and can still use a wrench to turn/tighten them. ill show you a pic of mine once i upload it
Mine are about 1/2 rounded… I had locking vice grips and was going to give it a shot yesterday, but I thought about the possibility of the head breaking from the threads and getting stuck inside the MC so I backed out…
pic r up.
i was being careful enough not to overtighten, and i guess…with experience, you can get a feel if the the head is about to break off or not.
good luck.
I got it out and started bleeding it. I found out the problem… My secondary piston is leaking from its seals… I couldn’t find a brake MC rebuild kit, so I had to settle for a new (aka remanufactured MC). I’ll be picking it up at Partsource tomorrow. I also picked up new rear shoes and bulbs for my fogs (aka DRLs).
I wanted to ask another question though, specifically for those with pignose S13s, or those who know anything about the foglight looking DRLs on our cars…
Do the safety guys actually inspect to see if those are working, or can we just take 'em off? I really wanted some foglight there instead…
u can take them off… i got rid of my DRL on my chuki for vents… didnt say anything to me… shouldn’t to you… like i got rid of the lights, your changing them out for diffrent lights, they shouldnt care…
I finished off the install for the new MC today, so got to test out the new front brakes. Will do the rears next week, since the weather doesn’t look too promising this week.
I also checked the DRLs, they actually look pretty cool, not being bright and all…
I did notice that they turn off after you turn on your headlights (full-on on the lighting knob).
Is there a way to keep the DRLs on even after the headlights are flipped up and lit? I really like the “4 light” look.
