Recently replaced LF brake caliper, had recurring problem with that brake smoking and uneven wear, RF is ok but LF would wear down after 8k miles. Also replaced pads, rotors were ok. I bled both front brakes and brake pedal had normal resistance after bleeding. However, when I start van, brake pedal will go to floor, pumping up has no effect as pedal will go slowly to floor. I am not driving van for this reason. What could be the problem? When I removed line from caliper, master cylinder did empty but I bled both front brakes thoroughly , there were no air bubbles. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

Uh boy. Emptying the MC is a no no. You'll have to bleed it with a kit to get the air out and it's best to bench bleed it. Check youtube for how to videos.

 

If the master cylinder was empty you probably got air in the rear lines too.

 

I removed the master cylinder and bench bled for about 50 pumps. No bubbles. Bled all the brakes 3 times according to the sequence in the manual, but still not right. Brake pedal feels ok, till I turn the van on then it goes to the floor and can't pump up. All this started when I replaced the the caliper. Worked ok with old caliper, unfortunately , returned core to dealer so can't put it back on. Is it possible air is trapped in the caliper?. There is no leak anywhere. This has me stumped. Is there anything else I should be looking for or something I might be missing? Thanks again for your help.
Steve

 

Did he gave u the right caliper? If he gave u the opposite side instead, the bleeder screw will be at the bottom intead of top. Is the bleeding screw in the same location as the old caliper?

 

yes, the caliper is an exact match

 

All I can say is bleeding brakes is a bitch. I have an f150 that had very little pedal and I bled and bled and bled and bled-probably 10 rounds at each wheel. Had my buddy over and we tried bleeding again and after about the third round on the rear we got air out and now it has great pedal.

 

Pinch the Brake Hose one at a time, see which hose you pinch give u back a Solid pedal you are looking for.
If none work, try pinch both front, and both rear.

 

Update on solution.....took van to garage, they used an automatic bleeder and got air out. Yeah and Mechanic said I was very close and should have bled it a few more times and would have gotten air out. I've bled brakes many times in past and usually got it right the first time. This was a good learning experience and hopefully this will help others in this forum who might have same problem. Thanks to everyone for your help, I appreciate all the advice

 

Thank you for posting the fix.