Home › Forums › Stay Dirty Lounge › Service and Repair Questions Answered Here › spongy brakes
- This topic has 36 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by
EricTheCarGuy.
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- February 7, 2012 at 11:00 am #454565
What would cause air to get into the master cylinder. I just bled the front but noticed that the rear brake side of the master cylinder has a bunch of real small bubbles in the brake fluid when you push on the brakes. Thanks again everyone
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- February 7, 2012 at 11:00 am #454566
What vehicle are you working on and is it equipped with ABS?
Why did you need to bleed the hydraulic system?
If you do have ABS, you may need a scan tool to bleed the hydraulic system.
Most FWD vehicles that are diagonally split need to be bleed in this sequence –
RR, LF, LR and RF.
Systems that are split front to rear are bleed –
RR, LR,RF, LF.
February 7, 2012 at 11:00 am #454567Yes we will need that additional information so post that when you can as these days they don’t split the master into front and rear but rather LF/RR RF/LR, it’s called a ‘split diagonal’ system and it’s what most vehicles use these days. As for the spongy feel it could have nothing to do with air in the system it could be the pads themselves, the shims on the back of the pads, or rotors that were not machined. We’ll need to know what you’re working on to help you further however.
February 7, 2012 at 11:00 am #454568I’m sorry It’s the 1989 jeep Cherokee laredo and It’s the smaller of the 2 in the master cylinder and I just replaced the front pads and brake lines and the brake hoses on the front brakes and I don’t think it was bubbling before.
February 7, 2012 at 11:00 am #454569It sounds like you may have air still trapped in the system.
One of the best methods to bleed the brakes is to have a help. It makes it alot easier.
February 8, 2012 at 11:00 am #454570try to bleed all the brakes again. keep the master cylinder topped off while bleeding.
February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am #454576A swishing sound or mebbe a leaking air sound could be the brake booster diaghram leaking. It usually feels like a busted brake line when it fails. I’m not sure what you mean by this though.. “because I have brakes now the pedal doesn’t have much resistance”. The brake pedal is really easy to push now?
February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am #454571My update on this post. I re bled the front brakes and was moving back to the back brakes to bleed them and noticed that in the middle if the car on the drivers side there’s brake fluid leaking and its leaking around the brake lines that run thru there but all the brake lines are dry so I checked the lines from the front of the car as well as the back and for the life of me I do not see where its leaking from. I’m gonna double check in a little bit so I’ll keep you posted
February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am #454572Thanks for the update.
I would not recommend the use of compression fittings on brake lines either. You are best off replacing the whole line.
Each to there own though.
February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am #454573Yea for sure find the leak and repair it. After you know you have bled out all the air and you still feel your pedal is a little soft give this a try, believe it or not it does work.
February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am #454574I have another question about a spongy brake I noticed that there is a swishing sound coming from where the brake pedal is on the floor board going from the floor board going into the firewall I think where the push rod goes to the brake booster. What would cause this because I have brakes now the pedal doesn’t have much resistance
February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am #454575Does the brake pedal have more resistance when the engine is off?
And did you fix the leak you had found?
February 10, 2012 at 11:00 am #454577The pedal does have a lot more resistance when the engines is off and I bled all 4 brakes and the back brakes had air in them and it does stop a lot better now before I changed them the pedal went almost all the way down to the floor board and wouldn’t stop that good now it goes down close to the floor board but stops descent. Any suggestions on what I should do next. Thanks so much everyone without you all I would have to take meds for anxiety 🙂
February 10, 2012 at 11:00 am #454578Quoted From guitarranger11:
My update on this post. I re bled the front brakes and was moving back to the back brakes to bleed them and noticed that in the middle if the car on the drivers side there’s brake fluid leaking and its leaking around the brake lines that run thru there but all the brake lines are dry so I checked the lines from the front of the car as well as the back and for the life of me I do not see where its leaking from. I’m gonna double check in a little bit so I’ll keep you posted
If that is the case, you need to find this leak (if indeed there is one). I would have someone pump the brake pedal and see if you can notice where the fluid is leaking from.
February 10, 2012 at 11:00 am #454579I very rarely ever get discouraged at something frustrated yes but not discouraged, please someone help me make sense of this problem I have bled the brakes yet again and still air is getting in the brake system here’s what discouraging me as I mentioned earlier in this post I had brake fluid leaking on the drivers side in the middle of the vehicle but I have taken a clean towel and wiped it all up a few different times and I thought it was all done leaking well today after bleeding the brakes that leak is back. What I can not figure is where the brake fluid is coming from there are 4 lines that go by the area that has the fluid I know 1 is a fuel line but none of the lines have any leaks in fact they still have dry dirt around them and I’ve started from the master cylinder and followed the lines to where the fluid is and there’s nothing so I started from the back to where the fluid is and all the lines are dry as well also the master cylinders brake fluid doesn’t seem to be losing any fluid. I’m desperate has anyone ever seen this problem before.
February 10, 2012 at 11:00 am #454580Did you have someone pump the brake pedal while you searched for the leak?
And what vehicle are you working on?
Do you have an rear wheel cylinders that are leaking?
I am a little confused by your post with you stating you have a leak but not loosing any brake fluid from the master cylinder.
How much driving does it take for the brake pedal to feel spongy again? Does the vehicle creep forward at stop lights and signs when the brake pedal is fully depressed?
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