Did I fubar my brakes

[brainhulk]

When you push the piston in, is possible to mess it up if the master cylinder overflows?

 

[phucheneh]

When you push the piston in, is possible to mess it up if the master cylinder overflows?

No. The the fluid will just run out.

Frankly I have no idea what the OP did. If you got air in the lines while replacing pads...pay someone else to do your brakes.

 

[dabuddha]

So minor update.

Came home, and I pumped the brakes with the van off.
First pump, it made the wooshing noise and went all the way down.
Second pump, it went about halfway with the noise
Third pump, it wouldn't go down at all (tightened up).

When I started the van, the brake pedal was going down again with the wooshing noise. I then noticed that it only makes the wooshing noise if I hit the brakes hard.

I took it out in my court and while driving, it didn't make any wooshing noise with my normal braking (I slowly apply the brake whenever I drive) I then sped up and hit the brake my normal way and it didn't make the noise. Only when I would stomp on the brake pedal it'd make the wooshing noise.

 

[JCH13]

What happens if you apply steady brake pressure for 10-15s with the car off? Pump it up a few times so you have a firm pedal and see.

 

[dabuddha]

I'll give it a shot tomorrow evening when I get back from work. I did hold down on the brake pedal after it firmed up for a few seconds and it stayed firm ( did not try 10-15 seconds). I also held down the brake pedal down with the car on and I didn't hear any wooshing sounds (friend asked me to do that while I was on the phone with him earlier).

 

[dabuddha]

update in OP

 

[phucheneh]

There was air in the ABS's hydraulic unit. Unless you have a Chrysler-specific scan tool that can activate things, there's not much you can do except bleed again. It's possible that there is a bleeder on said hydraulic unit (the big aluminum slab under the hood with a bunch of lines coming in and out), but I doubt it.

I'd just do a regular bleed and then go find a patch of gravel and do a 'controlled' tripping of the ABS. It sounds like you didn't bleed enough the fist time, if the pedal felt 'loose' even before the ABS activation.

 

[dabuddha]

There was air in the ABS's hydraulic unit. Unless you have a Chrysler-specific scan tool that can activate things, there's not much you can do except bleed again. It's possible that there is a bleeder on said hydraulic unit (the big aluminum slab under the hood with a bunch of lines coming in and out), but I doubt it.

I'd just do a regular bleed and then go find a patch of gravel and do a 'controlled' tripping of the ABS. It sounds like you didn't bleed enough the fist time, if the pedal felt 'loose' even before the ABS activation.

That sounds like where I screwed up. Well I found a guy on craigslist that's gonna come by my house tomorrow. For $50, he's going to teach me how to change my brake shoes (rear brakes) and he'll also bleed the system for me. The main thing I wanted was the teaching me how to do shoes and for $20 more he'll bleed the system for me (too damn cold for me right now)

 

[SpatiallyAware]

That sounds like where I screwed up. Well I found a guy on craigslist that's gonna come by my house tomorrow. For $50, he's going to teach me how to change my brake shoes (rear brakes) and he'll also bleed the system for me. The main thing I wanted was the teaching me how to do shoes and for $20 more he'll bleed the system for me (too damn cold for me right now)

Am I the only one who sees the warning signs?

Good luck, be very careful to watch him, do not let him drive the car, <insert 100's of other relevant warnings in a situation such as this>

 

[phucheneh]

I get work off of craigslist sometimes, and have done the 'I started something but I need some help...' kind of work.

I've also worked after OTHER people found on craigslist and been friggin' mortified. Usually the person paid more to get a bad repair, then the guy disappeared.

Just gotta use common sense. Any good customer I got through CL 'vetted' me with thorough conversation. I think sometimes people get some good ol' boy and ignore warning signs such as 'this guy talks like a retard' because they think that's just how mechanics are...no. If he can't speak/write good English and otherwise display a decent amount of intelligence, you probably don't want him touching your car.

 

[wirednuts]

i think op should take it to a mechanic before he runs head on into something

 

[phucheneh]

i think op should take it to a mechanic before he runs head on into something

There are big shops with some pretty bad wrenches, too.

But at least they're (somewhat) supervised. This may not be bad advice. A half-decent Firestone or Pep Boys mechanics should be able to deal with this...just not that hard.

 

[dabuddha]

Well we're working on it right now. It wasn't too hard to change the shoes but one thing he noticed on the passenger side is that the wheel cylinder had a leak in it. I ran to the parts store and picked up both of them and we're changing those out right now

Apparently this guys a mechanic for a dealer and he picks up these side jobs on his days off

 

[phucheneh]

Well we're working on it right now. It wasn't too hard to change the shoes but one thing he noticed on the passenger side is that the wheel cylinder had a leak in it. I ran to the parts store and picked up both of them and we're changing those out right now

Apparently this guys a mechanic for a dealer and he picks up these side jobs on his days off

Often a good sign. He probably doesn't make enough at work because he gets screwed for being honest.

Ask me how I know about that...

The ones to avoid are people who work totally random jobs and just work on cars on the side because they're 'good at it' or whatever...they're not. =(

Was wheel cyl visibly leaking onto everything? 'Cause that might've been your issue the whole time. If it was just a little bit of fluid when you pulled the boot back, it was unlikely to be contributing (but changing it is the right thing to do).

 

[dabuddha]

Finished a few hours back but got stuck watching my little one. The cylinder on the passenger side was caked with brake dust while the driver side was clean. I went ahead and decided to change both since it's a quick change and they're cheap. Afterwards, he put it all together and bled the brake system. He did it solo which was new to me but he explained that gravity bleeding works as long as you keep the cap off the reservoir off. I could hear the air in the two rear brakes (expected because of the new cylinders) and there was air in the front two brakes as well. Once we did all that, I took it out for a test drive and I'm happy to report that it's working right as rain again. He charged me a total of $75 which to me is a steal especially considering he came to my house.

 

[DaTT]

The only thing I liked about my Thunderbird SC's ABS system (Teves II) was you could bleed them by yourself. But a new master cylinder cost around $2500.

 

[wirednuts]

Well we're working on it right now. It wasn't too hard to change the shoes but one thing he noticed on the passenger side is that the wheel cylinder had a leak in it. I ran to the parts store and picked up both of them and we're changing those out right now

Apparently this guys a mechanic for a dealer and he picks up these side jobs on his days off

well hopefully you guys are covering all the checkpoints. brakes can be very finicky unless everything is done just right. as far as bleeding the brakes... if youre by yourself just undo fluid cap, and crack the bleeder. let it drain until bubbles stop coming out of the bleeder. it should be pretty close then, and once you drive it a bit it will tighten up the rest of the way.

if you replaced the calipers, then you probably should get help and do a full bleed job. it can be tricky to get the calipers to fill up all the way otherwise...

 

[sontakke]

if you replaced the calipers, then you probably should get help and do a full bleed job. it can be tricky to get the calipers to fill up all the way otherwise...

Assuming the bleeder bolt is on the top of the caliper, why would caliper be empty?