Ok guys, I looked at a couple threads on how to bleed the brakes and did exactly what it said. So, I changed out my brake master cylinder. So then I knew I had to bleed all four corners. I had my girlfriend help me. I started with the front driver side, then front passenger side, then passenger rear, and last driver rear. At every corner, my girl pumped the pedal about 7 times and held it until I loosened the nipple. The brake pedal got hard every time. So I did the whole procedure and then started the car to realize that the brake pedal goes all the way to the floor. I tried it a couple times and it just goes to the floor. So my question is, did I do something wrong? Is the car supposed to be on while bleeding the brakes? Can someone please give me some advise

 

when bleeding, make sure the master cylinder reservoir is full at all times.
is your car an automatic?

 

 

 

I made sure the brake reservoir was full at all times. Before bleeding the brakes, I bled the clutch system because I put a new clutch cylinder and slave cylinder and it came out great. My car is a 6 speed

 

I looked at those pics and followed them exactly. So I really don't know what's going on. I'm gonna attempt to do another bleed tomorrow and see what happens

 

Does the cap on the reservoir have to be closed completely or left open?

 

on the brembo calipers, did you do outside first then inside?

I leave the cap open, so that I can fill the reservoir when I see it getting low.

 

Now you got me thinking, maybe I did the inside first then outside. If so, would that explain it?. The reason I ask for the cap is because for the clutch bleed, the cap has to be completely closed when you top it of and before the helper releases the clutch pedal

 

^+1 i was gonna mention that theres a bleeder in the back of the brembos, a lot of ppl miss that one.

and you're tightening the valve BEFORE letting go of the brake pedal right?

 

Yes, I made sure my girl held the pedal down until I tightened up the valve

 

This is how my car has been sitting the past two days....

 

dont worry, the acurazine houston crew calls me "JustonJacks"

because I always fuck up and leave the car on jacks...

 

Lmao, when working on cars, something always happens..lol but thanks again for helping out. I'm gonna try it again tomorrow and ill let you know how it goes

 

Bench bleed the MC before installation? If not, with the MC on the car, the MC needs to be level before bleeding and if the MC is not bled first, there will be a lot of pumping to hopefully remove all the air.

 

To make this a simple one person operation, do the following. Get a clear container, such as a juice bottle. Put a little fresh fluid in the bottom of the bottle and punch a hole in the cap big enough to slide your bleeder tubing through. Place the tubing in the fluid and the other end on the bleeder fitting. Now crack the bleeder and pump the brakes. The fluid in the bottle will act as a valve and prevent air from entering the system. I can do my entire care by myself in about 15 minutes (6mt).
For visual reference: (might want to leave the sound off)

 

No, I did not bench bleed it. What exactly do you mean by needs to be level?

 

Thank you very much. I will indeed try this tomorrow. Do you recommend leaving the cap off the reservoir the entire time?

 

Let's back up a little....Why were you having to replace the MC?

You got fluid with no bubbles at each nipple?

 

the youtube video showed on top is called gravity bleeding. i think its a better way since it doesnt require pushing the brake pedal to the floor multiple times. I do it, but it does take awhile, I let it go for like an hour for a flush and top off every couple min

 

Agreed!

Sometimes you can never get the air out without bench bleeding.

To the OP, in a pinch I've "bench bled" the brakes on the car. It's not recommended but it can be done. With one brake line disconnected, I used my thumb as a one way valve over the port and had a friend pump the pedal slowly. The fluid pressure easily overcomes your thumb pressure but the thumb prevents air from getting back into the system. This is not the right way to do this but you can try it in a pinch.

 

I replaced it because the sensor on it went bad. Yes I got fluid no bubbles at each nipple but it didn't come out with a force like it should. It kinda just creeped out

 

Thank you very much for your input. I am gonna try bleeding one more try at each corner. If that does not work, I will do what you stated to do. Does it matter which brake line you disconnect out of the two?

 

You mean the brake fluid level sensor? What were the indications/symptoms you had before replacing the MC?

 

If that's the sensor that is built on the mc, then yes the brake fluid sensor. The abs and vsa lights were on. If I unplugged it, the lights went away. So that is why I changed the mc

 

I'm pretty sure you gotta bleed the MC before installing it and bleeding the lines. I remember reading that if you run the MC dry while bleeding the lines, you have to pull it out, bench bleed it, and then do the lines again. I would imagine that installing a dry one wouldn't work either.

 

You definitely should. The method I talked about above is wrong in many ways such as being messy and getting brake fluid on your skin but it will usually work if you really don't feel like pulling the MC back off the car. I don't know if it's the sheer volume of fluid it will pump or just the fact that the air goes out to atmosphere instead of trying to be pumped downhill into the lines. Not recommended but it usually works.

 

both times that I installed an MC because of my own fuck ups, i never bench bled.



took a lot of pumping!

 

Ok, so I went to auto zone and bought the self brake bleed kit for $35. It's pretty nice and worked good. So I went at it again and bled the car 3 times again. Everything worked ut great and I got my brakes back but to me it seems like the pedal still travels down lower than it should. I compared it to my girls TL and hers doesn't go down as much as mine does before it starts braking. But my brakes def work and stop. I'm gonna drive the car around for a couple of days and see if anything changes. I really don't wanna take out the mc again and bench bleed but if that's what it takes then I will. But when I was bleeding the brakes , the fluid was going down in the reservoir . So thank you all for your help and I will let you know how it turns out

 

When at stop, hold pressure on the brake pedal to see if it drops, indicating air in the lines. I've bled MC's after they've been on the car by holding pressure on the pedal, slightly loosening the brake line, then tighten and do again. Extra work, but will correct the problem.

 

Don't forget to do the 2 low speed ABS stops on a dirt or wet road (Step 7)...

 

I think you're talking about basically the same thing I mentioned with my thumbs but yours is probably the less toxic way of doing it lol.

 

Just out of curiosity, what if I have a bad brake booster?. Would a light pop up on our cars?. I have never heard of one failing on a 3G.

 

A bad booster would not give a soft pedal. It would give a hard pedal. You can still stop the car but you will probably be using two feet to do it. There's usually a hissing noise when you hit the brakes. It's kind of a bad combo, you hit the brakes but the booster is not helping. On top of that you create a huge vacuum leak when you hit the brakes which causes the engine to slightly rev up making it even harder to stop the car.

 

its not a bad booster, you did need to change the mc, i had the same problem in my 04" tl im august 2012. after a new mc, everything worked great for a couple months.