Brake bleeding??

[johnny_adidas]

finally got around to fitting the front strut and then set about completing the brake install. New pads, discs, SS hoses and god damn fluid.

ok, got one of those one way valve thingys for bleeding yourself. so off i set. lucky i can reach the nipples with the wheels on so save jacking up etc. started furthest from the driver and bled each nipple until i got new clear fluid filling the hose. as i was doing it i got an extremely solid feel to each pedal and thought to myself , jesus this is handy enough to do........

.....until i went to drive the car....... turned on the ignition and nothing, pedal travels all the way to the floor. surely if it was the master cylinder i wudnt get solid feel while bleeding so is it just air trapped somewhere in the system?

[dj_smurph]

did you bleed the fluid through to you got fresh fluid/did you let the tank run dry while bleeding/when you finished bleeding did you pump the pedal before turning on the engine

[Stupink]

bleed the shortest first.

[dicky]

erm no, bleed the longest first.

It's a diagonal split circuit so you need to do in an order which i can't remeber. Should be in a Haynes manual.

[Stupink]

ABS.
Front ie shortest first.

[johnny_adidas]

just been told this also. thanks will try it that way later and see if it makes a diff.

didnt bleed the tank dry so dont think i sucked any air in that way. cant remember if i pumped pedal before i turned ignition.

recon it is a lot of air though as ive only used about 500ml of brake fluid.

[Stupink]

Theres barely any fluid in the system. the main header tank is pretty much it.

[johnny_adidas]

ah rite. thought i read somewhere that there was nearly 1lt or more to fill it completely. just hoping its not the master cylinder cos money is extremely tight at the moment.

[Stupink]

na, you could probably flush the system nicely with a litre. I don't know what the capacity is though, I havnt swapped the cally out for ages, maybe i'm wrong, but i do a lot of other vehicles on a regular basis.

[johnny_adidas]

cheers, thanks for the advice. been a month since ive driven the car. cant wait to get this sorted and go for a spin.

(bloody strut i got sits differently than my previous one so when i put the wheels back on i noticed the wheel was way off on that side. had to lift her again and couldnt get the tie rod out so split it and get another. its loosened out almost completely now just to get her to run straight!)

[johnny_adidas]

thanks guys all sorted now. bled as suggested, front to back. (used just under 1lt to do it in case anyone else is doing it) also the calipers were on the wrong way around so the bleed nipple was at the bottom. (DOH) anyway seems fine, just waiting for to collect the tie rod end in the morning as they gave me the wrong one earlier today. cant wait!!!

[chief]

what kit did you use mate, i got the ezzie bleed kit that uses tire pressure, didnt know to do closest first though need to try that. mine are still spongey as hell did you bleed though to fresh fluid on all the calipers??

[centaurandrew]

why do you bleed fron to back then? i thought you always started with the one furthest away????

[dj_smurph]

ABS to put it simply

[johnny_adidas]

i used one of the tubes with a one way vavle in the end. got it for a fiver from ebay was grand.