Brakes were fine on the car. Replaced the hoses with braided stainless, and flushed the system out with ATE blue. It only took about half of the can. Brake pedal went almost to the floor. But when the brakes started to engage, it acted normal. The pedal isn't spongy, and I'm getting plenty of vacuum assist. So I reflush with the rest of the can of ATE blue. No change. The clutch (also flushed) is fine. It almost acts as if the rod from the pedal to the booster is too short.

Anyone ever experience anything like this?

On edit. Should have mentioned I've been using a Motive Power Bleeder (positive pressure applied on the master cylinder) to do the bleeding.

 

Hope you don't have to replace the booster - big pain in the neck!

You ready for the DE yet? Got a shiny new helmet yesterday

 

If you only flushed w/ half a can, you probably still have some air in the lines or calipers. I've found that the slow bleeding of the Motive is fine for exchanging fluid but doesn't always get the air pockets out.

I'd recommend doing a full bleed at each caliper the old fashion way using the brake pedal. This does require a helper, though. While bleeding, use a soft-faced hammer to tap on the caliper to loosen any air bubbles that may be clinging inside the caliper. Do the outer bleed screw first, then the inner. The faster you can pump the pedal the better to keep air from moving back upward if there are any pockets in the new lines.

I have done a combo Motive/pedal bleed to keep some positive pressure on the system. Since you have the Motive already, I'd recommend you use it while doing the pedal bleed.

 

Yes, I read about your issues with when I did a search prior to posting. You said something about having a helper with little hands. Not sure my girls (5 years old) are up for that, yet!

Otherwise, I'm trying to get there. I still have to mount my anti-sub belts, and get this sorted out. The car decided to leave me stranded a few days ago. Tried to crank, but stumbled and died. Took the DME out of the S, put it in, it ran fine. Swapped the other DME back in, and it ran fine. Then the power steering quit working on the way home.......plenty of fluid there, the belt is still on and turning the pump. Strange stuff......Colin sold me a haunted car!!!!

But yeah, a week ago, and I still have a bug. Not a good sign, but we think we got Hal's car sorted out, so I'll be able to drive it if mine continues to be a PITA.

 

I've been wondering about that. I did go back and flush with the other half of the can, but still only half a can at a time. I can probably get some help tomorrow.

 

Pedal feel problems after swapping brake system parts (e.g brake lines) = air in the system.

Keep flushing/bleeding until you get the pedal back.

 

I've found that nothing works for bleeding brakes like the old-fashioned way
If you go through a few rounds with no improvement, you might need to bleed the master.

 

Does your car have ABS? If so, go out and do several hard stops invoking the ABS, then rebleed. Getting air out of the ABS system is a total PITA.

 

Ugh, well this is not encouraging, the Motive Bleeder saved my A$$ on my 85.5 ! I couldn't get the air out without it!I have to change the Clutch slave and I was gonna do the SS brake lines also.
I'm looking forward to see how this turns out!

 

I had a helper for a few minutes, and was able to get a big improvement. Still have some work to do. if I can't get it with another bleed, I'll pull the front calipers and hang them high enough to straighten out the hose. I'm guessing that might be a suspect part (of course, the rears with the hose so far from the caliper would be suspect as well).

The wierd thing about this one, to me anyway, is that the pedal has never felt spongy, and it wouldn't pump up. My past experiences with air in the lines have had very different symptoms than this one.

 

Are you losing any fluid? Any damage to any of the lines? Are you sure all the lines are tight and theres no gunk in the fittings that might be letting fluid seep out under pressure?

I would try bleeding again. Use the power bleeder, but also pump the pedal a few times, making sure that fluid keeps coming out before you close the bleeder (dont let the air pressure run out). I have found that the increased flow of pumping the pedal can help get bubbles out that otherwise didnt seem to want to come out.

 

No, everything looks good. I think I just need to bleed them again by actuating the pedal. I didn't have time to run a lot of fluid through there today, but even with the real quick bleed, I got a bit improvement. Hopefully tomorrow I'll button it up.

 

I have a Motive power bleeder and have never had trouble getting air out of the lines. I keep it pumped up to the maximum amount as I'm bleeding though, and I tap the calipers pretty hard.

Also, it seems like it helps a little if you bleed the brakes AFTER heating them up a lot, because the fluid in the caliper is less viscous and theoretically should allow the air to come up faster. It may not be practical for you to go out and do a lot of hard braking with the brakes in their current condition. I was only able to do this because I've had to purge the fluid a few times at the track.

 

I recently had a similar “pedal feel” (long travel, non-spongy), which turned to to be air in the (non-ABS) proportioning valve.

The “trick” in getting air out of the system is getting significant forward fluid velocity that pushes the trapped air out. This translates into a hard/fast push on the pedal and slow release.

I did the brake bleeding with this cheap 1-man tool bought from the local auto parts store for $4. Just follow the instructions for the tool, but only loosen the bleed screw by maybe 45 degrees (to minimize risk of air getting back through the thread of the bleed screw).

The brakes work perfect now actuating at maybe 15% travel.