Brakes....WTF!!!!!!

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C

CO/6

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ARRRRGH! I'm pulling my hair out over my brakes. '74 Valiant, 318 2 bbl. Disc Front, Drum back, power brakes. I replaced the front rotors, calipers, hoses, pads and got speed bleeders on the front. Got new drums, shoes for rear and got new wheel cylinders. First the auto parts place sold me the 13/16 cylinders after I asked for the 15/16....They said the 13/16 is what the computer showed fit the car, I told them I removed 15/16 wheel cylinders and that's what I wanted. Got home and they, of course, didn't fit. Went back and got the correct 15/16. Put the 1st cylinder in and the mounting bolt brakes in the hole. Go back and get another one....apparently the last one, used the original bolts adn no problem. Stayed with the stock bolts on the other side, no problem. Put it all back together, adjusted the adjusters, bled the system twice and I have less pedal than when I started. Oh, the second time around the bleeder broke on the passenger side. Oh, and I was using a wrench, not a ratchet..... it's been one of those days.
The booster is fairly new(ish). What am I missing?
 
did you blow a brake line or cylinder, you may have to open front or rear bleeders and slam brake pedal down to the floor to push proportional valve back to center....it will be opposite the line you blew....
 
Bleeding in this order: Pass rear, Driver Rear, Pass front, Driver front. As far as I know I didn't blow a line or cylinder. The pass rear cylinder was gunked up and only one side was working, thus the replacement. I figured replace one, replace two....
 
Calipers on the wrong side of the car ?
Bleeders should be toward the top.
 
Bleeders up and forward. Bleweding by openning valve, let it drain slightly, pump to the floor until a steady stream appears, repeat 4-5 times, hold to the floor, close valve. Refill reservoir, repeat back passenger, then move to the fronts.
 
I've always pumped the peddle up held pressure on while someone opens the bleeder valve up, when the peddle hits the floor close the valve. Then do it again until a steady stream come out.
 
Keep the bleeder closed until after you pump it up, then open it and release the pressure and close....pump, open, close...etc..I always put a piece of rubber hose on the bleeder and dip the end in a jar of brake fluid. Serves two purposes, keep the floor and pars free of brake fluid and prevents the system from sucking air before you close the bleeder..
 
I had the same problem with my cuda, the calipers had air trapped in them! I had to unbolt them one at a time. Hold the piston in with a c clamp, make sure the bleeder is the highest point and pump and bleed. Replace caliper and do the other side the same way. My calipers bleeder wasn't at the highest point in the reservoir and had trapped air.
 
Have you tried gravity bleeding them at all? Works on my challenger. Just unscrew one bleeder at a time and leave it open until brake fluid runs out with no air bubbles, close it up and move to the next one. After I did that I only had to mess with pumping the peddle a couple times before the system was bled.
 
GTGrinly said:
Keep the bleeder closed until after you pump it up, then open it and release the pressure and close....pump, open, close...etc..I always put a piece of rubber hose on the bleeder and dip the end in a jar of brake fluid. Serves two purposes, keep the floor and pars free of brake fluid and prevents the system from sucking air before you close the bleeder..
Click to expand...

That's kind of how I do it. Although I don't hold the pedal down at the floor; I attach the piece of hose to the bleeder and put it in a jar of brake fluid, then I open the bleeder and just pump the brake pedal until I don't see little bubbles coming out of the hose any more. Then I close that bleeder and move on to the next one.
 
72bluNblu said:
Have you tried gravity bleeding them at all? Works on my challenger. Just unscrew one bleeder at a time and leave it open until brake fluid runs out with no air bubbles, close it up and move to the next one. After I did that I only had to mess with pumping the peddle a couple times before the system was bled.
Click to expand...

Usually always works for me....D
 
If you had the system open for a while, I would start by bleeding the master first.Then do the pump & hold method with a helper.
 
I took tomorrow off to work on them again. I'm going to try the pump, then open, close, pump, open, etc. Then I'll try re3moving the calipers. I bled them again on Sunday and got more pedal, but it's still "not right" if you know what I mean.
 
Did you adjust the brake shoes up on the drums arfter the rebuild, they may have to far to go in one push of the pedal
 
ramcharger said:
I plan on picking up one of these this coming month.

http://www.brakebleeder.com/product.php?pid=2
Click to expand...

Joe, my employee has tried those and doesnt' like them. He has worked with about 10-12 different brake bleeders over his years and those reverse ones ain't all that they are cracked up to be.

I do agree with making sure the drums are adjusted all the way FIRST. That will definitely give signs of a low pedal if adjusted improperly.
 
I guess bleeding for the umpteenth time did the trick. I gravity bled, then redid it one more time and it seems I'm back to normal. Took about three pumps all the way around to get the excess air out.

Thanks again for all the input, I appreciate everyone opinions and help.
 
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