soft brakes

[cfisch]

my son has a '92 Camry and we just changed the two front brake hoses and pads on both sides. We bled the passenger side first then the drivers side and during a test drive they feel a bit soft but not mushy. We did not bleed the rear brakes could that be the problem? I think there was air in the passenger side at one time. Any advice is appreciated.

p.s. the master cyl was full all of the time we were changing the pads and bleeding.

[Mister_Perkins]

sounds like you still have air trapped in the system

I would try to bleed all 4 corners and see if any more air comes out. (Starting with the Passengers rear, then drivers rear, then passengers front, drivers front)

[BMR]

^+1 what Mister Perkins said.

Try bleeding it some more. I've found it's sometimes helps to get air out of the system by letting is sit for a long time, like overnight. Then push the air backwards up into the reservoir by pushing the caliper pistons in as far as they'll go.

Does the car have ABS brakes? That tends to make it more difficult.

[pmesfun]

I screwed up bleeding/flushing the brake system, pedal was going all the way to the floor. I didn't let the fluid get low, but still managed to get air in the system. Have ABS also, my teacher had it taken care of for me though.

[fenixus]

yeah, sounds like incorrect bleeding order.

those brakes should always be bled starting from caliper/drum furthest from MC and going to closest one like Perkins wrote: RR, RL, FR, FL.

also don't forget to release vacuum from brake booster before you start bleeding, by pressing on the brake pedal a few times (after shutting car off) until it goes down no more.

ABS doesn't matter much in brake bleeding, unless it was replaced recently and may contain air in unit (bleeding secondary ABS circuit is tricky).

[cfisch]

That was it! We bled starting from the passenger rear and worked our way around as stated and it's much better now. Gee, the RED brake light even went off now (D'uh). That was our first sign that something was still not right, but all is good now. Thanks for the help everyone.

[JohnGD]

You may still have some air in the system from running the master cylinder dry. You may want to try to push back the pistons and do a reverse flush that way, as long as the system is clean. See if you can keep the MC as level as possible when doing this.

Next time use up the booster vacuum, and then depress and hold the brake pedal partially to prevent the MC from emptying. Use a MityVac to pull new fluid through before releasing the pedal and performing a normal bleed.

Originally Posted by cfisch

That was it! We bled starting from the passenger rear and worked our way around as stated and it's much better now. Gee, the RED brake light even went off now (D'uh). That was our first sign that something was still not right, but all is good now. Thanks for the help everyone.