i cant figure out what the deal is with the brakes on my rx7. everything is new, except the hardlines... new master, new calipers, new flex lines.

the rear brakes bled excellent, took less than 5 minutes to do both. the front on the other hand, is where my problems lie. i cannot for the life of me get the passenger front caliper to bleed what so ever. not sure what the deal is. the driver side i can get to bleed, but it appears that air is getting back into that system. when i pump the pedal to build pressure, the rubber hose fills with fluid. but as soon as the pressure subsides, the rubber line fills back up with air.

could this have something to do with the perportioning valve?

 

Did you bench bleed the master?

 

squeeze me? like pre-bleed b4 install?

 

The new one should have come with some little plastic fittings and hoses that you hook up to the exit ports and point the hoses back into the reservoir.

Instructions here:

http://www.vw-resource.com/bench_bleed.html

 

make sure the front calipers are on the right side. bleeders should be on the top. if not you will never get the air out of them

 

hmm... interesting... no hoses or anything came with it... ill have to see if i can rig something up...


and yes... the calipers are on the correct sides

 

You don't necessarily have to bench-bleed. It just make bleeding easier in the car.

Here's an idea: try bleeding it from the line to caliper junction. Get someone to pump the brakes and hold them, them crack the line open where it goes into the caliper.

I've had calipers and slave cylinder bleeders clog up and have had to do this. I've taken the bleeders compeletely out and gotten no fluid from them.

If it bleeds from the line, I'd take the caliper apart and unclog the bleeder hole.

 

Exactly, pump up the brakes, hold the pressure, then crack the line going to the claliper. Do this several time, then bleed the caliper, you shold be good to go from there.


~Mike...........

 

bleed bleed bleed bleed bleed!!!!!

 

ill give that a try tomorrow... i also did what you did, took the bleeder screw completely out and still got no fluid...

tomorrow - bench bleed the master, back step to see if there is a clogged line, buy even more brake fluid and more rags...

one thing i noticed when bleeding the driver front, was there was a drop forming on the bottem of the caliper every few minutes... could it be that that caliper has a bad seal where the 2 halfs meet?


haha... i was damn close to screaming that this afternoon... "bleed god damn you bleeeeeeed!!!!"

 

If you have new lines, caliper needs work.


Not likely. Clean the caliper and place some powder on the caliper. You'll see where the leak is starting.

 

all calipers are brand new... well... remans anyways... and by powder... you mean anything? flour?

 

Anything that will adhere to the caliper eg talcum powder, or yes flour. You'll be able to see the path of the leak easily.

Must be a great rebuild job on the new calipers. If you open the line, or actually remove it you'll have fluid running out as it will be an open path, then if you have an air compressor, remove the bleeder and apply air to see if it escapes via the open line connection. In lieu of a compressor, open the bleeder and put a rubber hose over the bleeder and just blow into the hose to see if air escapes. Probably some of the cleaning agents dried inside the bleeder path.

 

well... decided not to go out there today... not in the mood...


but i did stop out there to check on a few things (and pick up my phone). one thing i did notice, was that where the reservoir meets the master cyl. there was a bit of fluid collecting around the seal... could that seal be bad? why would fluid be comming up through that seal? next time im out there i can take some pictures.

i love this car, but this is turning into a nightmare!

 

i just thought of something... could there be air trapped in the master pushing fluid up through that seal when the pedal is pressed?

 

I don't think that's possible. If that could happen, the fluid gets to a much higher pressure by itself (since it doesn't compress) and would ooze out worse.

Not a big deal, if it seeps from there just buy some new resevoir seals/grommets.

You seem to be overcomplicating it. Cracking the line at the caliper will tell you whether it is a clogged line or clogged bleeder hole.

I'd bet there's **** in the bleeder hole from the rebuild.

 

god i hope your right...

 

I had a similar problem while bleeding my cousin's brakes. it turned out that there was a chunk of rust lodged in the actual bleeder, and when I pried it out the bleeding process went along normally. I'd put money on some sort of clog in your caliper or the line.