brakes Squishy After Bleeding

[devotion]

Just swapped out a leaking master cylinder and clutch cylinder in the 76 2002.  Bled the brakes as the FAQ describes, same with clutch. Clutch feels great, it is now starting to function more than a fraction of an inch off the floor...but the brakes are super squishy, and the brake light is on. Any suggestions?

[mike472]

You still have air in the lines. Try to get some sort of vacuum bleeder that sucks fluid and air out of the bleeders or get a pressure bleeder that pressurizes the brake fluid reservoir. You just open the bleeder in this case and the air pressure pushes the brake fluid out. If you used the pump the pedal method you may not have gotten all the air out.

[DaveBMX]

I can say that i just encountered the same issues as you and buying a good power bleeder sorted it in 5 minutes! i used the gunson one that attaches to a tire for the air pressure. 

 

I had been chasing the problem for weeks and thought i had the air out.

 

The bleeder showed me that i hadnt at all and it sorted it!

 

Also it took a great deal more fluid than i expected to ditch the air and using the pedal pump method just isnt good enough when bleeding from the cylinder. Its really ok for just replacing a caliper or something

 

 

 

regards

 

Dave

Edited January 6, 2014 by DaveBMX

[Hans]

AS I read it, you bled the clutch but now the brakes are squishy? Should be no connection between the two unless you did something to the feed lines -  which I think you'd notice. I'm not sure if that  brake light shows imbalance between circuits or low level - I think the former. That  may mean fluid loss. How is the fluid level? I'd check all the parts of the system and then bleed.

[Dev02]

In mine if I have the brake light on it means low fluid. My expierience has been this is normally because I didn't put the cap back on, didn't hook the wires back up, or left the float out of the bowl.

 

As others said, if it's squishy then it probably still needs to be bled. My clutch bleeds faster than my brakes, probably because there's so much more line and volume in my brakes.

[Mike Self]

Re the "brake" warning light on the dash:  depending on the car's year, it can have from one to three functions on US spec cars...

 

68-73--warns of low fluid level in the reservoir only

 

74-75--above function plus "emergency/parking brake on" warning

 

76 only--above two functions plus warns of an imbalance in pressure between the two halves of your brake system.  

 

So if your car is a '76 and neither the e-brake is on or the fluid level is low, one side of your system is showing lower pressure than the other, which would indicate residual air (among other things) in one side.  

 

cheers

mike

[Hans]

So I'd say more bleeding is in order. Better lay in more fluid.

[mike472]

So I'd say more bleeding is in order. Better lay in more fluid.

If I didn't know better I'd say Hans is into some medieval blood letting ritual followed by laying down in some brake fluid.

Edited January 8, 2014 by mike472

[02fanatic]

Don't forget to bleed the nipple on the back side of the front calipers...I sure did when I installed ss lines on my '76 last summer.  Absolutely drove me bonkers until I realized I'd missed those two....as soon as I bled them the brakes got real solid!

Edited January 8, 2014 by 02fanatic

[eurotrash]

That subject line basically describes my hands after any major project on my car.  

[M3M3M3]

[Hans]

Nothing like a good bleeding to get the system in order. Along with fermented hops.

[Buckeye]

+1 air in hydraulic braking system

On brake light staying on, have you tried to rest brake pressure swith to see if light will go out?

on later model year cars (for sure on 76 model year) there is imblance brake pressure device that is mounted to the inside fender wall and it is underneath the brake reservoir. there are two leads going to it and at center of it there is switch that should be able to reset it. I think everytime work performed on brake fluid system that swith must reset.

 

[devotion]

Ok, just finished bleeding the brakes for the 3rd time. No improvement. Pedal goes almost all the way to the floor

[devotion]

Sorry, not sure why that posted so fast. Anyways, bled for the third time. Still squishy. Car stops, I can lock up the brakes if I try hard enough on a damp road...but I feel like they could be way stiffer like they were before new brake and clutch  master were installed. If I had a leak somewhere letting air in, wouldnt I be losing fluid at the same time? My fluid is not leaking anywhere. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!