Spongey brake pedal after replacing hoses and calipers
- Thread starter Golden Helmet
- Start date
Golden Helmet
Full Access Member
Your post was very helpful, but no amount of instructions can keep a stupid person from screwing up.I feel like I wasted all that time typing in post #7.
I'm going back to my Guitar practice now.
I got a little excited and bled the last caliper too many times. Not gonna make that mistake twice... hopefully
I went by the part numbers, so unless RockAuto switched things on me they should be on the right sides.Stupid question, but did you install the new calipers on the right side? There is a left and right. Don't ask me why I would think to ask this question...
mispackaging can happen.
irregardless of what comes out of the box, the hose hookups and bleed nipples are at the topmost part of the caliper on either side. I've seen plenty of trucks get towed in with the bleed nipples pointing towards the pavement.
The motorcraft calipers I installed had an R or L cast into appropriate the calipers...and I still screwed it up first time. Same symptoms as you. Bled and bled and bled and got a little air each time but pedal never firmed up. Swapped them side for side and done in an hour.
Golden Helmet
Full Access Member
Both of my bleeders are up on top, so it looks like everything's in its right place.
I worked on the brakes some more today. I'm so damn close to having these things dialed. My brake pedal doesn't feel right yet, but it's much better than yesterday and almost back to where it should be. My braking power is actually better right now than it was with the old parts, even with the brakes being soft I can get the fronts to near-lockup, with the old parts they never got close to locking.
Now, here's the interesting part. The rear brakes bled perfectly, I think the RABS seemed to bleed well (but who knows with that thing), and the front right caliper bled perfectly. The drivers side caliper though, I ran over a quart through that caliper alone and the fluid is still coming out looking like fizzy water, I don't know if I'm doing something wrong here or what. I did notice that the caliper seemed wetter than it should be, but I only noticed that when I stopped during the test drive so it might just be residual mess leftover from bleeding, I'm gonna hose it down with brake cleaner tomorrow and re-check it.
I also tried driving it with the ABS fuse removed. It seemed to help the pedal feel a little bit, but the tradeoff is my rear brakes are very lock-happy and the truck gets sideways pretty quick. With the fuse back in, the RABS works like it should. The pedal only sinks a little bit before it stops, so I'm wondering if there might still be some air hiding in there. Could really use that fancy bleeding tool right about now ;p
MTKirk
Full Access Member
This is not right, all other attempts at trouble shooting this issue are pointless until you get clear, air free brake fluid flowing from all bleed screws.
If I were you I would power bleed the system. I'd get a motive type unit or fab one from a weed sprayer. Bleed every screw til I had clean clear, bubble free fluid flowing and then push at least another pint through. This will take a gallon (or two), gallons of house brand at Autozone or O'reilly's are cheap & work fine.
Golden Helmet
Full Access Member
Just to verify before I order, this is the correct power bleeder for these trucks, right? http://www.motiveproducts.com/colle...roducts/ford-asian-import-three-prong-bleeder
I haven't messed with bleeding the brakes since the last time I did it. I've driven the truck about 600 miles and the brakes feel like they're back to normal, even the parking brake has loosened up and gone back to where it was before (which I assume is the classic 10.25 rear brakes doing their thing). Unless the last bits of air somehow magically worked themselves out of the lines, 2 + 2 does not equal 4; I'll be able to sleep better once I get the power bleeder hooked up and find out for sure what's going on.
Almost there, almost there... just gotta make sure the brakes are bled, make sure my calipers aren't sticking (I've been smelling my brakes a lot after a good drive, hopefully that's just bad driver and not bad hardware), and then the hydroboost fun can begin. Soon™!
I haven't messed with bleeding the brakes since the last time I did it. I've driven the truck about 600 miles and the brakes feel like they're back to normal, even the parking brake has loosened up and gone back to where it was before (which I assume is the classic 10.25 rear brakes doing their thing). Unless the last bits of air somehow magically worked themselves out of the lines, 2 + 2 does not equal 4; I'll be able to sleep better once I get the power bleeder hooked up and find out for sure what's going on.
Almost there, almost there... just gotta make sure the brakes are bled, make sure my calipers aren't sticking (I've been smelling my brakes a lot after a good drive, hopefully that's just bad driver and not bad hardware), and then the hydroboost fun can begin. Soon™!
Some people tend to drive with there foot on the brake peddle. Is that you? Very little pressure on the peddle will actuate the front brakes, won't stop you, but makes the brakes drag a little.
MTKirk
Full Access Member
Just to verify before I order, this is the correct power bleeder for these trucks, right? http://www.motiveproducts.com/colle...roducts/ford-asian-import-three-prong-bleeder
I haven't messed with bleeding the brakes since the last time I did it. I've driven the truck about 600 miles and the brakes feel like they're back to normal, even the parking brake has loosened up and gone back to where it was before (which I assume is the classic 10.25 rear brakes doing their thing). Unless the last bits of air somehow magically worked themselves out of the lines, 2 + 2 does not equal 4; I'll be able to sleep better once I get the power bleeder hooked up and find out for sure what's going on.
Almost there, almost there... just gotta make sure the brakes are bled, make sure my calipers aren't sticking (I've been smelling my brakes a lot after a good drive, hopefully that's just bad driver and not bad hardware), and then the hydroboost fun can begin. Soon™!
I have the 1107 adapter for my '87 it's a very tight fit, but it does work. I'm not sure if your truck has the same master. I've only bought two adapters, most applications I just get a junkyard cap, drill a hole, and fit it with a tubing adapter. (I've got about ten I've made this way & they work fine).
79jasper
Chickenhawk
I like speed bleeders.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
jhenegh
Truck Still Earns its Keep
MTKirk
Full Access Member
They are great if you have a clean, well maintained system. On old dirty systems, they can let air back into the system when you let the pedal back up. Besides; if you have more than one vehicle to bleed the Motive units end up being cheaper, and for a total system flush (something that should be done every couple of years); power bleeding is much faster.
Pros & cons to both though.
Golden Helmet
Full Access Member
I never thought about that 'till you mentioned it. I do sometimes put my foot on the brake pedal when I'm coasting towards a stop, maybe I am putting just a little bit of pressure on it without knowing. I'll have to pay more attention to that in the future and see if I still smell anything, thanks!
I checked O'Reilly's website and it looks like '87 and '92 use the same master, so I should have the right bleeder picked out then. Thanks! I'm looking forward to doing it the right way this time
In regards to the brake smell, my new pads did that for the first 1,000 miles until everything seated properly.
Have you gravity bled the system for a gew hours?
I like to open all the bleeders and run 1/2 a gallon of dot3 through before I start pumping. I have a solid pedal after doing 3 pump cycles at each bleeder.
Have you gravity bled the system for a gew hours?
I like to open all the bleeders and run 1/2 a gallon of dot3 through before I start pumping. I have a solid pedal after doing 3 pump cycles at each bleeder.
