Hey.. question for you mechanics, brake people. I took off all the calipers last weekend to paint them. I then put them on and was having problems getting any compression so I let the car sit all week. This afternoon, I went out, checked all the pistons in the calipers for any leaks, all is good. I unhooked and re-hooked the brake lines back on again super tight with all the washers, I don't see any brake fluid leaking, good.

BUT.. I can not for the life of me get any compression in the brake pedal. I have 2 self bleeders on, 2 regular bleeders. I tried doing the one man bleed jobs on the standard bleeders by taking a tube, running it into a water bottle filled with brake fluid and continuously pumping the brake and then closing the bleeder valve before removing the tube. Fluid definitely came out as the bottle was filling up and I kept refilling the brake fluid throughout. The pedal though... just will not get compression. It does if I build it up by pumping it 4 or 5 times but then loses all compression again after it sits for a minute. So question, do I need the bleed air out of the system anywhere else except on the bleeder valves on the calipers? Is there air caught up somewhere else that I can bleed out? I was home alone trying to do this today, I have someone stopping over in the morning and I am going to switch out the 2 self bleeders for tradition bleeders and open and close them with someone in the car on the pedal to see if that helps. But any other ideas, places to bleed air, things to check? I am going nuts....

Thanks guys..

Chris

 

Just an update on this... I actually ended up snapping a self bleeder in the left rear caliper... went to autozone, picked up a new caliper for $70 out the door, hooked it up, used the two person traditional way of bleeding and the brakes have never been tighter (you really should bleed your system at least every 2 years as they say). Moral of the story.. I will never use self bleeders again.. either I had a defective one somewhere or they just suck.