Just air in the system or a bad master cylinder?

[haygood at myway.com (Brian Haygood)]

I was wondering whether a power bleeder would help make sure the air gets out of the system.  I'm talking about the Motive one that looks like an exterminator tank and uses air pressure to push the brake fluid through.  The only reason this would help, other than being very convenient, is that they push the fluid out faster than using the pedal.  



I can't see how a problem with a caliper (other than a leak) could cause this, so it would have to either be air or a bad M/C.  Does the system apply any braking at all when the pedal falls to the floor?  Does the pedal feel dampened, like it is just leaking down to the floor?  



The other possibility is that something is wrong with your linkage between the pedal and the M/C.  Maybe you didn't get the thingy lined up right with the M/C?



Not terribly helpful, I know, but at least you got a response. :)



BH





 --- On Thu 11/16, brad boston < boston813roc@gmail.com > wrote:

From: brad boston [mailto: boston813roc@gmail.com]

To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org

Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:39:47 -0500

Subject: Just air in the system or a bad master cylinder?



The saga continues...<br><br>thus far in our story the shade tree mechanic (me) and his trusty side kick<br>(a friends that brings cold beer) have had no luck in getting the brake<br>system to work on my (now garage queen) '88 16v.<br><br>the Things that have changed or had done to it are as follows<br><br>Replaced the rear calipers with some sweet looking red powder coated ones<br>(thanks Peter)<br>  This got the E-Brake working and was the initial cause of this adventure<br><br>Replaced the front calipers with nice red ones so everything would match<br>(they look great on the car)<br>  Tried to bleed down the system but the pedal went right to the floor after<br>bleeding all four calipers :(<br><br>Though it was the master cylinder so I ordered a new one and some stainless<br>Steel lines just because I already had the system apart.<br><br>Tried to rebleed the system but again no luck<br><br>Asked for help and found that the master cylinder needed to be primed before<br>it 
is installed<br>  used a short piece of brake line and some tubing to bleed each outlet of<br>the master cylinder (This got a lot of air out)... But still the pedal goes<br>right to the floor<br><br>Tried to rebleed the system at all the calipers but still nothing<br><br>I am starting to think that I may not have gotten a good master cylinder or<br>that there is some air in the system that I was not able to get out even<br>with repeated bleedings<br><br>OK, so what do you all think?  Should I try rebleeding the master cylinder?<br>Try replacing the master cylinder with a known good one? (any one have one I<br>can borrow?)  Any other ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.<br><br>Tune in next week to find out if the shade tree mechanic will be ready to<br>take the scirocco out for the winter season of auto x.....<br><br>Brad<br>_______________________________________________<br>Scirocco-l mailing 
list<br>Scirocco-l@scirocco.org<br>http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l<br>

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