Squishy brakes, bled all about 5 times
 

Just as the title says, I recently changed my brakepads and my rubber brake lines bled all of the wheels and the master cylinder. I went to take it out for a spin, and while it was off everything felt stiff and good to go, but when I turned it on I had to press the brakes 75% to the floor to do anything. I thought perhaps I did not bleed the brakes correctly and I did it again. The same problem and nothing was fixed. I have bled the brakes 5 times now and even changed a caliper to no avail. I looked for leaks but there was nothing. Any ideas? and thanks for any help.:Wconfused

Can you outline how you're bleeding the system?

Just by using two people. Having my friend pump and I was loosening and tightening the bleed valve.

I just did my brake pads yesterday and flushed all the brake fluid. You might want to flush your fluid. Not sure how you are doing yours but my process started with the passenger rear (farthest from the brake reservoir). I used a one-man bleeder kit. Loosened the bleeder valve and pumped the brake pedal several times, while checking and topping off the reservoir every few pumps, until I saw fresh brake fluid and no air bubbles in the clear hose to the bleeder kit. Make sure you don't let the reservoir get too low or you will suck in air. Repeated this on process on the drivers rear, then passenger front, then driver front (each one is one closer to the reservoir than the last). No problems with brake pressure after. Also, make sure to properly bed your pads. If you still have problems after it could be something faulty, like a leaky seal, but if it was fine previous it seems like you may may just have air somewhere. Also, check the rubber hoses you replaced and make sure you don't have any leaks. If you have a leak it may feel good at first but as it sucks air in it will get squishy.

Huh okay sounds like a one man bleeder kit is the way to go. Thanks ill try that when I get one. And yes the brakes were great before I got to them. Just can't get all of the stupid air out :mad:

The bleeder kit I use is actually from my Mityvac kit. I don't actually use the pump because I don't want to get it oily since I use it for other things, even though it is for brake bleeding :)

Mityvac MV8000

I just bought one of those and can't wait to use it!

Thanks to all that helped, it was defiantly just air in my system. The brakes work better than ever!

Awesome :)

Did you use a pump?

If you still have issues down the road, bleed it with the car running.

on an 04 rx8 is it MC, RR, LR, RF, LF, clutch slave cylinder, then MC again?

I am doing this today, any feedback would be appreciated.

As long as you don't let the reservoir get too low you shouldn't have to bleed the master unless you replaced it.

The sequence is right... but it will work in any order... just doing it that way makes it less likely that you will have to redo it. Some vehicles had valves that needed that order to keep the valves happy... but that doesn't apply to the ABS in this case