Spongy brake pedal. Wtf?

[kenversusryu]

After I rebuilt my rear right caliper, I bled my lines. I also noticed that the rear lines are run along the passenger side and the split off point for the rear lines is actually in the rear passenger side.

I did this in this order,

rear pass
rear driver
front pass
front driver

I know in the FAQ its states rear driver, rear pass first. But the FSM states rear pass then rear driver. WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE CORRECT ORDER???????

I have a s14 with no ABS

Before the brake job, it had an immediately grab feel. i can heel toe with ease. Now i don't get any feedback until i depress about 3 inches making heel toe that much harder because of the brake pedal travel.

What the hell did i do wrong? I've bled my brakes at least 4 times before using the rear pass side first with no probs. This is the first time i completely removed the caliper and now i have sponginess. What the crap?



Also last question. When installing the bolt to tighten the brake hose to the caliper, does the little hole in the bolt have to line up to the hose?

[GSXRJJordan]

Technically you're supposed to bleed from the 'furthest' to the 'closest'. Since the fronts have their own lines, their order is not important (unless you have ABS, but anyway, you don't) - you should have done driver's side rear first. If you bled them correctly (that's the big if, from where I'm sitting), you should have no bubbles, and the same travel/feel (or better) that you had before.

Why did you rebuild that caliper? Also, check for leaks - did you loosen any other brake lines?

The "hole in the bolt" can point anywhere, that's not important. The only thing to "point" somewhere would be the brake line itself - there's a recess in the caliper for the banjo fitting so when you tighten it the banjo doesn't swing around.

Anyway, it sounds like you've got a leak, or didn't bleed properly. Sorry :/

[kenversusryu]

i only loosened the rear passenger line.

I rebuilt it because it was seized. After I rebuilt it, I couldn't screw the piston in all the way with pliers. Had to use a c-clamp to screw in the piston in all the way.

Thanks. I'll check for leaks and rebleed the driver side rear first and see what happens.

[FRpilot]

Originally Posted by kenversusryu

I also noticed that the rear lines are run along the passenger side and the split off point for the rear lines is actually in the rear passenger side.


I know in the FAQ its states rear driver, rear pass first. But the FSM states rear pass then rear driver. WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE CORRECT ORDER???????

you are right in that the lines split at the rear pass. one end extends to reach the rear driver, making that one the furthest from the bmc.

the correct order should be:

rear driver
rear pass
front pass
front driver

[SilviaSR20DET]

ever tried adjusting your brake booster?

[Addicted2Kouki]

yeah sounds like you got a leak.
if you notice your BMC reservoir has less brake fluid you have a leak.

check where your brake lines connect to the caliper.

thats where mine is leaking. hahaha

[95Kouki]

my first question to you is....

Did you manually bleed the brakes by pumping them and then crack the bleeder with the pedal pressure at it's peak? If so how many miles are on the chassis, assuming that you've never replaced the BMC. or did you vac. or pressure bleed the system?

to me it sounds like you manually bled the brakes and what happens is that debris does collect in the BMC piston stroke in areas that don't get used during normal pedal opperation. and what happens when u manually bleed them the pedal goes to the floor allowing that debris to possibly damage the seals on the BMC piston and causing the brake fluid to leak by the seals and gives you the spongy pedal feeling due to decreased pressure.


Best of luck

[just1pepsi]

If you diddnt use a vaccume pump to bleed them, goto harbor freight or your nearest chinese tool store and buy one, you wont regret it. If you did, I'd just bleed em' out again.. in fact I'd bleed them until I got mostly clean fluid out of them just to make sure most of the old stuff is out of there. Any air crap or moisture in the lines will translate into a spongy pedal.

[HS13KLS]

i dont think i heard anyone say

maybe you have the calipers upside down?...

is the bleeder valve up on top?..

i had the same problem..lol come to find out i had them upside down and on the wrong sides.. but check for leaks

just swap the front calipers and see what happens

[95Kouki]

why would you wanna swap the front calipers when he just replaced a rear one....apparently you have failed to read the entire post...what a jackass

[kenversusryu]

All suggestions and advice are welcome.

I'm going to chalk it up to bad bleeding for now. I had my wife help with the bleeding process so who knows what happened. Once I bleed it correctly and check for leaks, i'll come back and discuss it with yall.

[95Kouki]

hey ken...u figure anything out?