Expert: Kevin - 10/25/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have just replaced the calipers, rotors and pads on my mother's Stratus.  Afterwards, I bled the brakes thoroughly.  The brake pedal would still sink to the floor.  With the car off, it sinks once, then becomes firm.  Once the car is on, it sinks to the floor again.  It will gain a little pressure if the pedal is pressed in succession, but upon waiting a bit, to the floor again (probably gives the booster time).  My friends and I carefully bled all 4 wheels.  I've tried gravity bleeding, pedal holding, etc...but same result.  I only slightly opened the bleeder screws, but we've cycled a lot of fluid through.  I can't understand why the pedal will not firm up.  I would suspect the master cylinder, but it seems strange since it was driven fine just prior to the job.

ANSWER: whats your procedure for bleeding the brakes step by step

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Originally, we had one person pump the pedals until the bleeder screw wasn't sputtering air, and I'd close the screw off in the middle of a stream if possible.  The gravity method, I'd read about and I just slightly opened all 4 bleeders and let it drain for an hour, watching that the reservoir would stay full enough.  Before that, we also tried one person pumping the brake about 4 times and holding, and then opening and closing the screw (the pedal was not let up until it was closed).  I read a bit about opening the bleeder screw a full turn, and I only did about 1/3 of a turn, but it seemed to me that would not be enough to have it still sink completely.  We tried with the car running and off.  We did get some air out, but it remains as I originally described.  We did not do any particular order with the wheels...but again, I don't see how that could have such a drastic effect...but do let me know if I'm wrong here :P.  Thanks for your time.  If you need any more details, just let me know.

Answer
yeah u did it wrong  u introduced air into the system.

2 people.   fill the master cyl up  pump the pedal 3x slow with car off.
hold the pedal to the floor with out letting go. U can just crack the screw  it will spit out the fluid until it goes to the floor. repeat this same steps 4 times in your case until the fluid is solid and no spitting. do one more wheel and fill master cyl back up repeat rest of wheels.