Why are my Brake Still Soft as a Sponge? *NOVEL*
 

Hey Guys,

My Rex is coming along pretty nicely compared to where she was when I bought her. Anyhow, I've been trying to get the brakes back up to snuff and I'm having some difficulty. This is an 85 GS, so I've got the discs up front and the drums in back.

I had a bad wheel cylinder in the back right, so I went ahead and changed bothe the back wheel cylinders. Brake shoes were ok, so I cleaned everything off, greased the appropriate places, and resassembled. Then I started bleeding the brakes......

I swear I was bleeding those things for over an hour! I was getting air and dirty brown brake fluid out of the line every single time (This is at the back right drum.) I had a piece of rubber hose that didn't fit on the bleeder nipple very tight, could this be causing my problems? I wouldn't think so since I was shutting the bleeder back off before it could take in any air.

I didn't do anything to the front discs because they looked pretty good overall. I went ahead and bled them though and ran into the same thing. I was getting lots of air and nasty fluid. This car was driven for quite a while with the bad wheel cylinder, but should it be this difficult to bleed the brakes?

Could there be air getting in somewhere else to the system that is making it like and endless cycle whem I"m trying to bleed them? Or am I just being to impatient when trying to take care of a car that has been neglected for quite some time by its other owners. I'd be more than happy to try and bleed the things again but I'm just not sure I"m getting anywhere.

I drove it last night and the brakes do'nt really feel any better than they did before. The pedal still travels almost to the floor before doing anything, although it does stop a little better. Any suggestions on what might be causing so much air to be in the brake lines, even when I keep bleeding and bleeding and bleeding???

I may be wrong, but I think you need to bleed all the brakes.

Front and rear, because it is a closed system designed to work under pressure. If some air got into the system and got traped you may take a very long time for it to work it's way out of the system from the front to the rear where you are bleeding it.

Just a thought

I flushed mine out. Opened the bleader and pumped until the MC was almost empty and then filled it with new and then blead until the fresh fluid is running out. That will let you know that you have cleaned out the lines. Make sure you adjusted the rears correclty, Or pull the ebreak several times to adjust them.

Was the car running while you were doing it?

Keep bleeding until the fluid is clear. If the fluid will not clear after a few bottles worth, change your master cylinder.

It sounds like you need to get a new hose. If it doesn't fit tightly at all, air will get back into the system and since air doesn't compress well, you get a sloppy pedal.

You can get the hose at any hardware store. I got my hose from OSH. They're really cheap because it's just clear plastic tubing. You should also get different diameters to make sure the hose fits TIGHTLY.

Likewise, keep bleeding until only clear brake fluid comes out. If it is still dirty, somethings wrong! I had a sloppy brake problem and it ended up being the master cylinder.

If this doesn'tn work, look around for any signs of leakage. Otherwise, gl hf.