Is there a certain way to pump the pedal when bleeding the brake lines? how many times should i pump for each line? do i ever have to hold the brake pedal down?

anyway i flushed my entire system (using speed bleeders) starting with the right rear then LF, LR, RF. pumped the pedal at least 7 times for each line. had to fill the master cylinder at least 4 time.

im just curious because the pedal feels a little spongy, and I HATE SPONGY BRAKES!! i want to feel it grab when i barley put my foot to the pedal!

any one have any ideas? (my brake lines are ok) what else can cause the mild sponginess.

Even if the lines are fine they're still rubber (and therefore expand under pressure). If you want a REALLY firm pedal I'd say get some SS brakelines.

well what about other cars or trucks that use rubber lines and their pedals are very firm.

Why did you bleed them in that order? Do you have abs? You're supposed to pump 3 or 4 times then open the bleeder valve. Repeat that 4 or 5 times and move to the other wheel.

it takes 2 ppl to do this, 1st u need to start from the passanger rear wheel open the bleeder valve then go insid ur car push the pedal all the way down to the floor then let it go then the 2nd time push it to the floor again and have ur friend tight the bleeder valve good and make sure u dont let go till hes done then move on to the driver rear wheel do the same thing then fornt passenger side then driver front side, good luck

you guys... do you all know what speed bleeders are? http://www.speedbleeder.com/

In the Haynes manual for spongy brakes it says it's either air in the lines, master cylinder mounting bolts loose, or defective master cylinder.

If you have ABS then keep the ignition off and disconnect the battery ground cable before you bleed the brakes.

when bleeding abs brakes, your soppoused to start with the wheel furthest from the master brake cylinder, that is RP, RD, FP,FD.

You refilled 4 times? You didn't let the fluid in the master cylinder resevoir go all the way down to the vent/replenishing ports, did you? If so, you got air in your lines and need to reflush the brakes again.

Speed Bleeders are made for ONE person operation

-matt

First off fellas, i dont have ABS. Eric425, I refilled about 4-5 times correct, maybe 2 times my brake light came on (fluid is low) i dont know if that is bad as you say; but i did try to manage refilling before it got that low. When you say i got air in my lines and need to flush again. do you mean reflush all four again?!
thanks.

Was the car running when you bled the brakes? If your brake light came on - it means the key was at least turned to the ACC or ON position.. You want to bleed the brakes when the car is OFF... it definitely sounds like you have air in the brake lines..

Although unlikely, you might have a bad speedbleeder which is letting air back into the system when you release the brake pedal...

Yep. If you let the brake fluid go too far down, you will get air in through the master cylinder, just like when somebody uses regular bleeders and doesn't close the bleeder when releasing the pedal. It's usually worse with air in the master, since it can be pumped throughout the system, and the quantity can be greater. You would have to redo the whole thing. How far down was the fluid when you had to refill? Was the resevoir completely empty at any point? If so, you should redo the brakes. Does it feel worse than before you'd done the brakes? If it feels about the same, it's probably normal, and the best way to truly give a significant increase in the bite of the pads is to increase pad contact or the amount of fluid displaced in a stroke.

If you are going to bleed using the pedal pump method (instead of a pressure or vacuum bleeder) never never never.... did I mention NEVER!... "push the pedal ALL the way down to the floor". That is the fastest route to a master cylinder rebuild ever devised!
In normal operation, the pedal will never hit the floor, at least it shouldn't, and the danger is you may drive the master cylinder piston into a rougher unpolished area of the cylinder bore, which will tear up the seals pretty damn quick. Damaged piston seals will not allow the system to hold pressure and the fluid will back up into the resevoir when the brake pedal is pressed. In other words... 90mph and no brakes!


Cheers!

wtf? im confused now? i did have the car running when i bled my brakes, is this not correct? and do i not push the pedal all the way down?

I think you want the car OFF when you bleed the brakes - and as volkl77 said - don't push the pedal all the way to the floor. Also don't let the fluid get too low in the master cylinder - I usually refill each time it gets to the LOW mark...

All good comments above. Speedbleeders are a one man operation. You are using the correct pattern for bleeding. You need to bleed the brakes until the fluid is TOTALLY clear or else they will continue to be soft. If the fluid isn't clear, then you still have water in the lines and water doesn't compress like brake fluid, which means your brakes will continue to be soft. It took me several times and to get mine totally clear.

All good comments above. Speedbleeders are a one man operation. You are using the correct pattern for bleeding. You need to bleed the brakes until the fluid is TOTALLY clear or else they will continue to be soft. If the fluid isn't clear, then you still have water in the lines and water doesn't compress like brake fluid, which means your brakes will continue to be soft. It took me several times and to get mine totally clear.

So the car must be off when i bleed the brakes?! how come i dont remember this? and why does the car have to be off?

bump **** bump