I replaced a frozen front passenger caliber on my '89 XJ today, and I tried to flush/bleed the brake line. However, the reservoir level never went down, and now I have no brakes. Lots of fluid came out of the bleed valve. Any ideas?

The fluid in the reservoir is pretty dark and ugly if that helps diagnose anything.

Thanks in advance!

 

Well I would say completely flush your brakes first off, then, just cause you bled your brakes doesn't mean that the master cylinder will be dry. Only a small amour of fluid is actually expelled from the caliper during the process. Even with a new/empty caliper the amount of fluid inside is negligible to the master cylinder

 

Any chance of a leak in the hydraulic system that allowed air to be sucked back into the line when the brake pedal was released?

 

Radi: not sure about the leak. I'll do it again tomorrow in case I accidentally did get some air in it.

Colorado: how much fluid would it take coming out of the bleed valve before the reservoir level would go down? I pumped it a good 20-30 times and would say that about 8 to 12 fluid ounces came out before I bled and tightened it.

 

what procedure are you using to bleed the lines?

Pump pedal until firm, open bleeder until pedal hits the floor, close bleeder, repeat?

 

You really need two people to bleed the brakes. One to push the pedal and one to open and shut the bleeder. If you let the pedal back up while the bleeder is open it will suck air into the system.

 

I made an air lock by running a rubber hose off the bleed valve into a clean, dry water bottle with brake fluid in it. The air escapes and fluid is drawn back in.

 

Seems like you'd just be pushing the same fluid out over and over rather that actually bleeding the system. Try bleeding the whole system he right way.

 

Gravity bleeding is the easiest way to bleed brakes. And it works very well. Just sayin'

 

This way really does work! I had to bleed my entire brake system by myself when I had to change out all of my brake lines. Just keep an eye on the fluid level in the master cylinder. It will take a while for it to bleed but you have no one to help it is one of the better and easier ways to do it.

 

I ended up getting one of these years ago and have never regretted it. I had a fleet of trucks and sure enough whenever I did a brake repair, all of my employees were out on calls. So, the one man brake bleeder became my friend. Now, when I'm out in th egarage working on Jeeps I don't have to ask my wife to pump the pedal and listen to her whine. Worth the money just for that.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...ku=00947058000

 

That only works if there is a very small amount of air very close to the bleeder. If there is more than that the air bubble will just see-saw back and forth in the line.
You need to actually close the bleeder or rig up a checkvalve of some sort to suck replacement fluid from the MC reservoir to keep moving the air towards the end of the line.

 

Check on some one man bleeder bolts. They have a check valve built in. Chain parts stores have 'em.