Oh boy... another brake install problem

bryan0 said:

Ok, so I was changing my front brake lines.
Long story short, I'm sure a bunch of air got up in the line. I have ABS, the Hayne's manual says if you have ABS take special care in not letting air in. Well, due to "unforseen problems" some air got in. Hayne's just says that if it happens, you can't bleed it at home.
My question is: How likely is it that a lot of air got in?
Can I really fix this at home?
If no, can I drive it to the shop or it has to be towed?

Click to expand...

I had a 94 Ford Ranger that had ABS (weird my 98 GT doesn't), but I did the same thing and f'd up. I bled the brakes the best I could and they worked fine. The only problem is the ABS light stayed on. My understanding from the Ford mechanic is the brakes will work, but not correctly, meaning they will be sufficent, but the ABS will not work correctly and the sponginess will not go away till they use their "special" machine to correctly bleed the brakes.

I don't think you need to tow it, but you will want to take it in and have it bled correctly sometime in the near future.

Bleed the master cylinder after you bleed the brakes! The bleeder valve towards the REAR (firewall side) is for the front brakes, follow the same precedure as with the brakes. And you should be able to bleed your brakes at home...and get all the air out...what the Haynes manual means that is if you pop and ABS light then you will have to go to a dealer to get the code cleared, that's all!

EDIT: and if your ABS light is on, but you have enough brakes to drive the car after bleeding at calipers/MC drive it to a dealer and they'll vaccume the air out if theres any less.