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So I was hoping someone could help me…. I got a friend that just replaced the master cylinder in his caddy and that there are now symptoms ,that I suspect, of air in the brake lines. So I break everything down and couldn’t get the piston compressed back into the caliper. I took the lid to the reservoir off, made sure the emergency brake was disabled, and tried to bleed the bleeder valves but they tried to strip on me!!!! So now I don’t know what to do to get the calipers into the bracket and onto the rotor when the piston is depressed to far and I cannot bleed them of the air…..WHADOOAYEDO?????? Any advice or if anyone knows of any videos or links to any info that would help would be infinitely appreciated!!!!!
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OK… I hope your friend thoroughly bench bled the master cylinder…. If not, there may be air in the lines…
If you cannot get the bleeder loose on the caliper, then slightly loosen the banjo bolt that attaches the brake line to the the caliper… Then push the pistons back… see how it goes…. this should piss fluid everywhere, so be careful and have rags ready…
-Karl
Yeah he didn’t bleed them I think this is the first time the brakes have been changed since he bought it….sadly. I mentioned the banjo nut thing but he didn’t want to, guess I should’ve just did it. The reason I didn’t do it was I was worried I would just get more air in the line as I was using Eric’s 20 oz. bottle with a vacuum line into the brake fluid inside of the bottle method…lol… Do you know how I would prevent air from getting in using the banjo nut method?? And thanks Carl I appreciate it mouy mucho hombre
Your going old school.
Have a buddy pump up the brakes. Hold decent pressure on the pedal. DO NOT RELEASE!! Crack open the banjo bolt. It will piss fluid out and the pedal should drop like a rock. Tighten the bolt. THEN release the pedal. Rinse and repeat several times. Depending on how much air is in the system, this may take a while.
Also DO NOT allow the master cylinder to run dry on fluid. Otherwise you’ll have to start allllll over again.
I noted “parking” brake as well. Rear caliper I take it? Most likely the caliper will have to be both pressed in and ROTATED using a special tool back into the bore. It’s also not really needed to push the piston back into the bore when bleeding brakes. Flushing brakes? That’s another story. As the fluid will tend to collect in the bores and then pushing them back–and then refilling with fresh fluid will get the most out.
If the master cylinder was not bench bleed as well–then you’ll be in for a struggle. You’re looking at a master installed and they are normally at a slight angle. It’s just enough of an angle to create pockets the air loves to hang out in.
Eric’s method is great for bleeding brakes–The pump, hold, bleed, etc.. Also works pretty well–but it’s messy. (might want a few ‘pig mats’ handy)
S-
[quote=”Tedybear315″ post=112451]Your going old school.
Have a buddy pump up the brakes. Hold decent pressure on the pedal. DO NOT RELEASE!! Crack open the banjo bolt. It will piss fluid out and the pedal should drop like a rock. Tighten the bolt. THEN release the pedal. Rinse and repeat several times. Depending on how much air is in the system, this may take a while.
Also DO NOT allow the master cylinder to run dry on fluid. Otherwise you’ll have to start allllll over again.
I noted “parking” brake as well. Rear caliper I take it? Most likely the caliper will have to be both pressed in and ROTATED using a special tool back into the bore. It’s also not really needed to push the piston back into the bore when bleeding brakes. Flushing brakes? That’s another story. As the fluid will tend to collect in the bores and then pushing them back–and then refilling with fresh fluid will get the most out.
If the master cylinder was not bench bleed as well–then you’ll be in for a struggle. You’re looking at a master installed and they are normally at a slight angle. It’s just enough of an angle to create pockets the air loves to hang out in.
Eric’s method is great for bleeding brakes–The pump, hold, bleed, etc.. Also works pretty well–but it’s messy. (might want a few ‘pig mats’ handy)
S-[/quote] Yes its the rear brakes, the reason I am trying to get the piston back in is because he wanted me to change the brake pads. So I got the pads out and now the piston has moved out 1/4 inch and I tried to compress them using a c clamp and they wont budge!!! this is the craziest brake job I have ever done lol. I even tried to get him to slowly push in on the brake pads to see if the piston would come out further so I could see if they were working and nothing happened when pushing the brake pedal in while the caliper was off. So as you can imagine I am at a loss in what to do to next lol. What do you mean by “pressed and rotated”? I think your right about the master needing done in the shop because its leaking on the booster and I suspect that’s what’s letting the air in the system. Thanks for your last reply btw!!! very helpful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yKtx576tsA
I’m sure Eric probably has a video of this, but this one kicked up first.
If the piston has groves or notches built into it? Safe bet it has to be rotated into the bore. Just c-clamping it will damage the parking brake internals.
As a side note: Some cars you have to actually twist the tool–and press in HARD at the same time. Our VW is like that. You can press in with hand pressure while rotating the tool–and it will sit and smile at you. We had to use a c-clamp and the rotational tool with a screw driver to spin it while clamping it. Darnedest thing I’ve worked on.
S-
[quote=”Tedybear315″ post=112487]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yKtx576tsA
I’m sure Eric probably has a video of this, but this one kicked up first.
If the piston has groves or notches built into it? Safe bet it has to be rotated into the bore. Just c-clamping it will damage the parking brake internals.
As a side note: Some cars you have to actually twist the tool–and press in HARD at the same time. Our VW is like that. You can press in with hand pressure while rotating the tool–and it will sit and smile at you. We had to use a c-clamp and the rotational tool with a screw driver to spin it while clamping it. Darnedest thing I’ve worked on.
S-[/quote] Cool! that answers about every question I have thanks Tedy!!!!!
Not a problem!!! You should have seen the first time I tried to retract one!! Almost looked like a drunk monkey trying to….ah well…ON second thought.
Let’s just say it was interesting 🙂
Good luck with it and best wishes!!
S-
I was going to suggest the same thing about checking for the parking brake as part of the caliper. I cover this in detail here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems
Good luck and keep us posted.
Okay so here is an update on this job. So, I have been super busy with school (super fun got a 4.0 for the term!!) and the owner of the Caddy left town for approx. 6 weeks. Back to now, so I go over to work on it after I bought a harbor freight knock-off of this little cool Lisle brake cube tool. Everything went smooth up to bleeding them. The bleeder valves stripped easily so I took a pipe wrench and replaced them, which was fun. Now All Data said to bleed the driver side first, passenger side second, etc. ,etc. So the rear driver side caliper doesn’t even pump fluid out when opened all the way. The front passenger side did a little better, but not much. Now the brake pedal is spongy and you have to put the pedal down all the way to the floor just to slow down. I read the link Eric gave me and I am wondering if the diaphragm in the booster is punctured or the braking system has been neglected so long that the two calipers are just shot and need rebuilt or replaced. There are no leaks now because I was able to pull a lid off of a Lincoln town car’s master cylinder and it was a perfect fit (which I thought was a score!). So the leak was fixed by a new lid. Hopefully I get a chance to stop by there tomorrow and bleed it once more but nevertheless, I WILL stay dirty and I WILL keep you guys posted. Thanks again for all your help!
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