Looking for Brake Bleeding Trick

[lckykn1]

Looking for Brake Bleeding Trick

So revhead347 and I bleed the brakes on the Cobra. No big deal pump pump press, hold pump pump hold. We actually bleed the brakes two different times to trying and get all of the air out of the brake system.

The problem is that even after we bleed the brakes twice they still felt kind of soft compared to when we started.

Is there some kind of trick that resets the brake system or gives your brakes a better feel?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[RatStang]

Is it a new master cylinder? If so, did you bench bleed it?

 

[lckykn1]

No its the same system. We just removed teh front calipers to paint them.

 

[Last5.0]

which brake are you starting with? You need to start with the one furthest the master cylinder, which would be the passenger side, then drivers side.

 

[nmcgrawj]

Kurt seems to be on top of his stuff....not sure if we can suggest anything else that he doesnt already kno w to try.


Couple things off the top of my head:

1.) Russell makes a speed bleeder replacement screw thats a 1 way valve. just pump pump pump...no worry about fluid/air going back into the line.

2.) Are you keeping the reservoir full? (stupid question i know)

3.) How are the brake lines? One benefit of stainless steel lines is they dont expand like rubber lines. Maybe your rubber lines are shot, thus giving a soft pedal feel?

 

[revhead347]

which brake are you starting with? You need to start with the one furthest the master cylinder, which would be the passenger side, then drivers side.

On ABS cars, you start with the line farthest from the ABS unit, which is either back one, because they are on the same line. I'm stumped by this, because I've been having this problem with a few cars lately. My brakes always feel rock solid, but I've had trouble bleeding other cars. I tried standard bleeding, and bleeding it with an immersed bottle, which is what you have to do for hydraulic clutches. My friends 03' GT was really soft when we finished bleeding it, but after driving it for awhile, it got hard again.

Kurt

 

[Chythar]

+1 on the Russell speed bleeders, they make brake bleeding easy. You may be feeling a "soft" pedal 'cause the pistons in the front calipers weren't pushed out quite far enough. Though that should eventually go away. I also had a soft pedal on my Cobra clone (back when it was a V6), but that went away after installing a new brake booster and the Cobra-specific master cylinder. I couldn't tell you which one was the issue in my case.

 

[HISSIN50]

Miti vac

 

[Last5.0]

On ABS cars, you start with the line farthest from the ABS unit, which is either back one, because they are on the same line. I'm stumped by this, because I've been having this problem with a few cars lately. My brakes always feel rock solid, but I've had trouble bleeding other cars. I tried standard bleeding, and bleeding it with an immersed bottle, which is what you have to do for hydraulic clutches. My friends 03' GT was really soft when we finished bleeding it, but after driving it for awhile, it got hard again.

Kurt

I don't think it makes a difference which front wheel is first on ABS cars. I've done mine (with a miti-vac hand vac pump) when changing over to 99+ dual piston PBR calipers and did the passenger first and all was fine. Also when I installed a line-lock (after the ABS unit) about 7 or 8 years ago. Now there may be a different proceedure if you let the ABS unit go dry though.

 

[revhead347]

I've never let an ABS unit go dry. One of my friends in FL had a pressure bleeder that worked awesome. I think I'm about to drop the coin on one, because it's such a great tool.

Kurt

 

[Last5.0]

yeah a pressure bleeder is the best and easiest way to go, especially if changing out the fluid. I've seen them for about $60-80, depending on what cap adapters you want.

 

[revhead347]

Yeah, the one I used had a basically universal one. It had a flat rubber piece on it that sealed to the reservoir.

Kurt