EDIT : SORRY I put this in the wrong forum!

I bled my brakes yesterday in which I wasn't paying attention and let the master cylinder go empty. So I kept the resevoir full after that and bled them all over again and even bled at the splitters. Did the clutch too.

Car seemed great for a little while and then I noticed the pedal kept getting softer and going futher towards the floor. I basically have no brakes now.

I got all the air out of the system as best as I could, didn't see anymore air. Made sure everything was tight, no leaks. Do you think there is still more air in there, a vacuum leak, or did I screw up the master cylinder.

Clutch feels fine and yes, I searched!

Thanks guys

 

it is not good to get air into the master cylinder. i had the same thing happen to me on my 300zx that i was trying to sell to repair the fd, and guess what....i had to replace the cylinder. also though, through the excess amount of air that got in the system, it could have dried out of fuct up a seal in the caliper....just a couple of thoughts....is there a leak anywhere????

 

You may have to bench bleed the master cylinder.

http://www.misterfixit.com/brakbld1.htm

 

Tada!
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~Tom

 

air in the ABS unit?

is hard to bleed if air gets there.

basically you have to turn the ABS motor on when you bleed..

 

There isn't a leak anywhere and I have bled them twice since then, same problem. How do I turn the ABS motor on? Just start the car?

 

I think you STILL have air in there if ur pedal is bottoming. And I hardly doubt you messed anythng up in ur master cylinder by letting it go dry. Bleeding brakes is a royal PITA!
From personal experience, Ive bled and rebled my lines on my bike for yrssss and have always had a spongy feel UNTIL my buddy walked me thru it the RIGHT WAY a few yrs ago.
IMO, bleeding brakes on cars or bikes makes NO difference.
So heres what I wld do:
1.Check ur fluid level.
2.Starting at any corner (I'd say the fronts first then the back)
3.If you dont have speedbleeders installed......have someone sit in the car and pump up the pedal (up & down like10-15x) and then HOLD IT DOWN.
4.Crack ur bleeder open.......and **VERY IMPORTANT HERE**tell ur partner when the pedal bottoms do NOT let it back up until you cracked the bleeder closed again. Once closed, have them pump the pedal again and REPEAT this process atleast 10 more times. The person pumping the pedal 'shld' notice a difference in feel by the time you get to the 10th time. **Maybe not so much on the 1st corner but getting progressivle tougher w/ each corner finished**
5.Move onto the other side and REPEAT. Then finish off doing the rest in the SAME manner as above.

Now, did you bleed ur brakes in a similiar manner?

I'm getting ready to spend a day installing SS lines, speedbleeders, HP+'s and epoxy painting my calipers so Ill let ya know how my install goes soon.

 

You should always bleed the longest line first and then go progressively down, so that works out to

first=> right rear
second=> left rear
third=> right front
fourth=> left front

If you let the master go dry, worst case is bleed the master first and then bleed the corners in the order above.

 

Thnx Damon now I know..I was unsure about where to start.

 

Yes I am bleeding them the right way. The pedal gets harder the more progress we make into bleeding them (as normal) and will be rock hard when we're done. Once I drive the car for a couple of hours afterwards, I have no pedal again, it slowly gets worse.

 

I don't think it matters much, but you should do left front before right front, because the ABS unit is on the right side. I think this is the preferred order from the Workshop Manual:

RR
LR
LF
RF

-Max

 

Sorry to tell you, but you may have to bleed them several times before you get all of the air out of your system. Ask me how I know the good news is you probably won't make that mistake again

 

Yeah, especially with no bleeder on the outside of the four pots in the front. It took three times with some driving in between for me to just bleed the wheels, I'm sure it will be worse if there is air in the master. Keep an eye for fluid on the bottom/front half of you booster though, it does sound a bit like a leaky master.

Probably not air in the ABS assuming everything is working properly. You would have needed to use the ABS actively in a panic stop while there was a bubble near the system to get air in it, not too common.

Alex

 

if the pedal is getting softer, that means you still have air. What you need to do is everytime you push the pedal while bleeding, you need to add brake fluid constantly to make sure minimum amount of air gets into the braking system

 

bleed the brakes by going from RR, LR, LF, RF. this is according th service manual. since the master cylinder went dry you are going to have to do this many times. the brake lines are very long and if air got into the abs unit it will take a lot longer. the first thing you should do though is bleed the master cylinder, then the rest of the system. good luck

 

Im gonna try bleeding them a few more times after I get new pads on. Bench bleed will be a least resort. Thanks for the replies guys.

BTW I bleed at the splitters first, then the wheels.