zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

So I just got the 383 fired up a few days ago, everything in the car had been taken apart, I painted the engine bay and then put everything back in place including the unit the brake lines plug into.

I bled the front brakes, couple times on the passenger side, couple on the driver.

I decided to take the car for a spin down the street, got halfway down my block when I realized I could not brake at all. I had ZERO brake power, so I pretty much ended up pulling off to the side of the road and getting the car towed back into my garage about .2 miles overall, LOL. I have a few more feet of tow on this new motor setup than I do of actual driving, sucks.

So the tow truck driver might think it has to do with not bleeding the rear brakes and there is a ton of air in the lines, does this sound right, does having air in the lines cause ZERO brake power, non existent brakes?

Just trying to get some ideas on what I should try and look at when I get home tomorrow so I can get this on the road.

First thing I will do when I get home is bleed all the brakes, but I wanted to know if air in the brake lines would do that, and any other ideas are appreciated.

thanks

airfix

iTrader: (30)

Ya, if you have air in your brake lines depending how much you will have a "spongy" pedal and little to no braking power (depending on how much air is in the system). Bleed all 4corners.

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

thanks man, just trying to get ideas since I am in nor cal and car is in so cal.

I am pretty sure I have a ton of air in the rear brake lines, they were all disconnected for almost a year just sitting there and then I just hooked them back up to the brake line unit and didn't bleed the rears, didn't cross my mind since I just cared about the front brakes at the moment.

airfix

iTrader: (30)

Thats the problem then. Bleed em all and you should be good to go. when you bleed them start from the corner farthest away from the master. (pass rear, then Drivers rear, then pass front, then drivers front).

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

for sure, I am going to do them all several times, hopefully that fixed the issue, just that it was weird that I had "no" brakes at all.

airfix

iTrader: (30)

haha ya musta been kinda scarry. tow truck though? Couldn't of limped it home slowly and used the e-brake? lol Either way good luck dude.

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

seriously man, I thought about it, but it would have been going down hill, and that heavy of a car picks up speed pretty quickly, so it would have been a big risk, not worth it since i have 4 free tows to use up until january, good old AAA roadside.

airfix

iTrader: (30)

Ya good call on the tow then.

luckyou03

iTrader: (8)

It you are still having brake issues after the bleed you could have an intake vacuum leak.

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

I checked and replaced most of the vacuum lines, pretty sure they are all good to go.

I did bleed every brake about 4 times, didn't seem like much fluid was needed, I went and bought 3 32 ounce bottles of brake fluid thinking I would need at least 2, but I only used 1. Hopefully I got all of the air out of the lines.

I can't test it out until thursday when I get off work though, car is way too loud with just open headers so I need to take a sound clip with open headers, then get my exhaust welded up and get another after sound clip.

can't wait for thursday to drive this thing around town, it has been over 3 years since I have had the chance.

moehorsepower

iTrader: (3)

First thing, what do you mean by zero brake power? Pedal went to the floor? Spongy pedal? Did you pump it and get back pressure? Could be a lot more than just air in the lines, Frozen Calipers, stuck brake cylinders, air in the master cylinder, air in the proportioning valve..........

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

It was spongy, pedal straight to floor without any brake power at all. I had an extra vacuum canister installed between the brake booster and intake manifold but disconnected it yesterday, going to try the brakes without it. Not sure if those vacuum reservoirs are one way or not, maybe I had the hoses backwards on it.

So I will try it out tomorrow but a part of me is thinking they will still not work. I recall getting any back pressure through the pedal.

moehorsepower

iTrader: (3)

I would bleed the entire system, Probably start with the master cylinder, proportioning valve then the wheel farthest from the master cylinder, Pass rear, driver rear, ect..

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

so i bled the system pretty well, but I still have really spongy brakes, I think I might have some fluid leaking out of the master, I am considering just replacing that and the brake booster all together and see if that fixes my brake issues.

do you guys think that is a good idea or is there something else I should check out first?

I tried to just go a little bit in first gear very slowly but the brake pedal just goes straight to the floor and is very soft, does not get hard at all if I keep pumping it.

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

one more thing, when I let off the brake pedal I hear a sound like air rushing into something. like air trying to squeeze into an area (suctioning sound).

zbomb5610

iTrader: (2)

so if i press on the pedal with the car off, I can hear a sucking noise as I release the brake pedal around the brake booster area, and if I press the pedal a few times it stiffens and you hear less of the sucking noise, but if I wait a bit and then press the brake pedal again after not doing it for a while the pedal is really soft and you can hear the sucking noise again during a few presses of the brake pedal.

just letting people know what I am finding in my situation, I am definitely leaning towards changing out the brake booster and the master cylinder, hopefully that fixes my problem.

also seems like some brake fluid is leaking somewhere back there as it is dripping underneath the driver side area onto the floor.

moehorsepower

iTrader: (3)

The master cylinder can be leaking within itself and not leak to the outside, With the engine on and the pedal depressed, If the brake booster had a damaged diaphram then you would hear like a vacum leak, but just pumping on the pedal, yes you hear like the whoosing sound you describe..