Do I have to re-bleed, or what?

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MopaR&D

MopaR&D

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I was testing my brake light switch today because I thought it was broken (turned out to be a fuse) and I unknowingly lifted the brake pedal up past its normal resting position. After I pushed it back down I noticed immediately that there was now 2-3" of dead spot before the pedal would get hard whereas before there was less than an inch. Did I somehow get air in the system when I lifted the pedal, and if so do I have to bleed all four wheels? BTW this is a 1970 Duster with the original Kelsey-Hayes manual front disc brakes. The brakes still work and I can drive it just fine but it makes me uneasy having that much play in the brake pedal.
 
MOPEkidD-3 said:
I was testing my brake light switch today because I thought it was broken (turned out to be a fuse) and I unknowingly lifted the brake pedal up past its normal resting position. After I pushed it back down I noticed immediately that there was now 2-3" of dead spot before the pedal would get hard whereas before there was less than an inch. Did I somehow get air in the system when I lifted the pedal, and if so do I have to bleed all four wheels? BTW this is a 1970 Duster with the original Kelsey-Hayes manual front disc brakes. The brakes still work and I can drive it just fine but it makes me uneasy having that much play in the brake pedal.
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Not sure of the brake pedal question but did you check the level of brake fluid? If it was real low at the time you pulled the pedal back you could have sucked air I guess. Is it possible the pedal shaft backed out of the master cylinder a little? I would go ahead and check fluid level, put lid back on master cylinder. Get in car and depress pedal all the way down to floor + a little force to see if the shaft slides in further and pops back in. If that doesn't correct, you might have to bleed the master cylinder at its lines. Sorry 70 is too new for me.

I was wondering however, how many fuses did you blow? did this one go the same time as your dash light in the other thread? If so, heres what happened to me. Bad voltage regulator took out my dash lights (both bulbs and dimmer switch), dome light, turn signal bulbs front & back, indicator lights on fender, alternator, headlight switch, flashers, all before I could shut down! (every lamp on car while trouble shooting) After replacing everything else first I finally got to the headlight switch & replaced too, now everything OK.
Good Luck!8)
 
No, I just happened to screw 2 things up at once :toothy10: . The brake switch actually wasn't bad at all and it worked fine once I realized it got power through the dome light circuit (previously didn't have a fuse because dome light doesn't work in my car).
 
OK I think I fixed it. Problem was when I pulled on the pedal it bent the metal tab that keeps the piston from coming out of the cylinder bore, thus letting the pedal travel further back than it's supposed to. I think when that happened it let a little air into the cylinder, thus giving me the soggy pedal. Re-bled and straightened out the tab, now it's working fine.
 
That little tab is a temporary thing during shipping. The real one bolts into both back holes of the m/c. I mis-placed mine, and tried using the shipping tab, while trying to tighten that pain of the bolt that bolts the pushrod to the pedal, I pulled the piston out of the m/c. Fabbed up a correct one.
 
green1 said:
That little tab is a temporary thing during shipping. The real one bolts into both back holes of the m/c. I mis-placed mine, and tried using the shipping tab, while trying to tighten that pain of the bolt that bolts the pushrod to the pedal, I pulled the piston out of the m/c. Fabbed up a correct one.
Click to expand...

Really.... I was wondering why it was so easy to bend. Guess I'll have to make another one, as the previous master cylinder had the small tab also.
 
I took some 18 gauge sheet metal, and welded a big washer on it; the original is a round stepped piece, that the rubber dust protector slides on. I found the rubber, but the important piece got buried in that mess of a shop...
I found out it was real important.
 
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