Brake Oddity

[MTUEngineer25]

Heyo Folks,

Have a 92 FJ80. Had my master cylinder crap out on me, did the "Push and drop" test, pedal would drop slowly to the floor in about 15 seconds. I never had great braking, figured it was the master cylinder...

So purchased a reman, bled on the bench, installed and began bleeding my brakes.

Started at the passenger rear, then driver rear, then LSPV, I moved to the PS front, had an assistant pump the brakes, hold, and I cracked the bleeder, good flow.

Now the odd part, the second time my assistant went to pump it up he couldn't get any pressure, he'd pump and pump and it just wouldnt build up. I cracked the bleeder while he was holding it and barely a trickle came out.

So I figured I screwed something up and started in the rear again. Everything pumps up fine until I move to the front brakes...

Anyone ever encounter anything like this before? I've made a few calls to some other folks I know and no one has any clue, was hoping the pro's here could help.

Thanks much!



--
1992 FJ80, 216,000. Mostly stock... for now!

 

[turbocruiser]

Possibly some debris stuck in the line somewhere. Prolly havta turn on the engine, pump the pedal with vacuum to boost the booster and see if something squirts out. That may or may not help. If not try taking the bleeder screw all the way out that might make the debris simply shoot out while yer pumping the pedal. Wear eye protection! Have water on hand to rinse off the old fluid if it squirts onto some paint. HTH.

 

[IdahoDoug]

I don't think this is relevant to your problem, but I believe you're bleeding in the wrong sequence if the 93+ models are an indicator. Generally, the brakes are bled by opening the nearest bleeder to the MC in order to run any crap out the shortest line before flushing the longer ones, right?

I like the "pull the bleeder all the way out and see if it flows then" suggestion. If it STILL won't flow I'll be very curious to hear from you.

DougM

 

[MTUEngineer25]

Checked all the bleeders, removed totally, got flow out of all of them. I'm wondering if I may have missed some little air bubbles in the forward half of the MC? Going to remove, and rebleed tommorow. Can't seem to make any progress, very frustrating!

 

[IdahoDoug]

Try swapping the bleeder from the wheel cylinder giving you grief to another wheel and then bleeding. Perhaps the little bleeder tip is problematic and it will do the same on the other wheel, or the problem wheel will now bleed properly? I've replaced a few of those over the years on other vehicles. Cheap fix.

DougM

 

[robjam]

You could also try replacing the bleeder.
I put on new "SpeedBleeders" today so I could flush my system and make it a one person job. (Girlfriend doesn't make a good mechanics helper)

www.speedbleeder.com

PS: The bleeder on the LSPV is a different size. I'm trying to figure which size it takes. ANYONE KNOW? (CDan???)

 

[turbocruiser]

You could also try replacing the bleeder.
I put on new "SpeedBleeders" today so I could flush my system and make it a one person job. (Girlfriend doesn't make a good mechanics helper)

www.speedbleeder.com

PS: The bleeder on the LSPV is a different size. I'm trying to figure which size it takes. ANYONE KNOW? (CDan???)

AFAIK, the LSPV is sold as an entire unit and the bleeder screw is simply not available as separate part.

Also, I tried the speedbleeders and immediately returned them; the ones sold for the cruiser would not work - on hard pushes of the pedal some fluid seeped out. I think they are sized wrong and I found this frustrating as well as super dangerous. Please take a super serious look at these. Not to burst the bubble, just lookin out for my fellow cruiserheads. HTH.

 

[landtank]

where did you get the reman?

 

[robjam]

AFAIK, the LSPV is sold as an entire unit and the bleeder screw is simply not available as separate part.

Also, I tried the speedbleeders and immediately returned them; the ones sold for the cruiser would not work - on hard pushes of the pedal some fluid seeped out. I think they are sized wrong and I found this frustrating as well as super dangerous. Please take a super serious look at these. Not to burst the bubble, just lookin out for my fellow cruiserheads. HTH.

HFS. Thanks for the tip. I will monitor this and update the post if I find this to also be true. That could really suck!

 

[MTUEngineer25]

Time for an update...

After all the headaches I decided to start from scratch, new pads and shoes, and go right from the beginning. So I assembled my team of professionals (sober) and we did the brakes, rotors and drums were all in spec, good surfaces.

We bled the rears, no problems. Went to the front, and still couldnt get good pressure out of it. We pulled the MC again, bled once more, bled till our hands were sore.

Same thing when we got to the fronts again. Ive got another MC coming on warranty and were going to try that. Also, bleeders were all replaced. About the only thing left to replace is the LSPV, but I dont think that would affect the back. Any thoughts?

 

[landtank]

where did you get the reman?

any chance of getting an answer to this?

 

[LCphil]

LANDTANK -

New ones aren't that expensive and then also buy the rebuild kit so you have a spare.

Just a thought. IIRC they aren't that expensive.