[Rapson]

I have a 1984 SJ40 Hard Top with an issue with the brakes.

When applying the brakes the peddle nearly goes to the floor before braking. With a couple of pumps the peddle goes firm and holds.

I have bled the system and continously get air coming through. Starting at the rear right, front left then front right which constantly has air bubbles coming through. There are no leaks in the system and I am not loosing brake fluid.

Would this be the master cylinder? If so can any one advise if/where I can get a kit or where to get a master cylinder.
Cheers,
Rapson

[royce]

are you using a one way valve on the bleeder tube or have the bleed hose going into a jar of fluid? you could be sucking air back in when you bleed.

is the adjustment right on all brakes? 1 litres dont have self adjusting brakes

or just pump some more, seen some cars take a litre of fluid to get rid of a bubble

[Nev08]

I know you said its not losing fluid now but has all the fluid ever left the reservoir? If so you may want to try bleeding the master cylinder itself, otherwise try adjustment or just keep bleeding. The fact that the pedal keeps pumping up I would say its air in the lines but adjustment can play some funny tricks at times.

[Rapson]

I have the hose going into a jar of fluid so I dont suck air back in.

The rear drum brakes I have adjusted and the front are disk.

I have always made sure that there is eneough fluid in the master cylinder when bleeding.

I suppose I shall give the bleeding another try. Thanks Fellas

[royce]

do the master cyl too

also try clamping the little flex hoses under the mastercyl to see if you get a good pedal, that will give an idea of where the air is

[royce]

somethin else I jsut thought of, if you pump the pedal up and then hold it and slowly release your foot can you get to a point where the pedal starts to sink?

[Rapson]

royce wrote:

somethin else I jsut thought of, if you pump the pedal up and then hold it and slowly release your foot can you get to a point where the pedal starts to sink?

No

How do I bleed the master cylinder?

[royce]

easy way is to get lots of water ready and jsut slightly crack the lines and pump the pedal slowly till you get a goof fluid flow

then spray the water everywhere to clean up the brake fluid

[Bruce]

royce wrote:

easy way is to get lots of water ready and jsut slightly crack the lines and pump the pedal slowly till you get a goof fluid flow

then spray the water everywhere to clean up the brake fluid

Remind me never to let you do that in my shed

[TZAR]

Bruce wrote:

royce wrote:

easy way is to get lots of water ready and jsut slightly crack the lines and pump the pedal slowly till you get a goof fluid flow

then spray the water everywhere to clean up the brake fluid

Remind me never to let you do that in my shed

Yeah go round the front and do it right in the middle of his driveway

[Rapson]

Sucess! I bled the crap out of the brakes and finally they came good. You would not believe how much air came out, I am suprised that the brakes worked at all!!

Went through about 1.5lt of brake fluid.

Thanks Guys

[steve]

i have a brake issue too

When i clamp the flexy hose at the rear diff the pedal is excellent, but when i take the clamp off the flexy hose, the pedal goes to the floor and needs to be pumped to get it good.

Maybe i just need to put 1.5L of fluid through it to get the air out?

The brake pads are maybe half worn, ya think that shouldn't cause the pedal to drop so much?

[royce]

bad adjustment

[ZukChiK]

bad driver

[steve]

shouldn't they adjust themselves out?

[royce]

they should, but if the drums are pretty oversize the adjusters run out of travel before the shoes wear out.

ive also found that if the hole in the shoe that the little adjuster actuater arm pokes through is too lose a fit it wont adjust properly

has it always done it or just happened or slowly just got worse?

[steve]

just put it together from bits i found in my yard ... ( so, always done it since new - a couple months )

[steve]

I found one set of near new brake pads, so that seemed to help a bit. I moved the adjuster as far out as it would go, but didn't help. I just have to find some better brake pads for the other side now