: New wheel cylinder. Brakes wont hold press.


302Travis
08-22-2012, 11:32 PM
2000 focus SE 4dr. Drums in rear, pedal began to feel mushy about 2 weeks ago. Took drums off, leaking wheel cylinder. Replaced it just now. go to bleed brakes, pedal will NOT stiffen up. bled them a while till i couldn't hear anymore air and a decent amount of fluid would shoot out. But still the pedal will go all the way down. Asked my uncle and he believes the master cylinder has either gone bad, or got air in it. (Fluid level did get really low before i noticed brakes being mushy) CURSE THESE GOOD BRAKES! lol Anyways, I did try the front, and it shot out more fluid than the rear. Not sure if it's a sign of anything, but still bleeding it didn't seem to give any more pedal pressure at all. Please help. Anyone had this happen? Or know anything i overlooked? Or know something to check?

150mphzetec
08-23-2012, 12:02 AM
it does sound like there is air in the system still. When bleeding the brakes I have always started with the passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front and finish with the driver front. In this case it sounds as if you may have to first bleed out the master cylinder. Don't try to do this through the brake lines. Disconnect them and use a bleeder kit for the master cylinder (it is a couple hoses and fittings which connect to the line outlets and pump the fluid back into the reservoir)