and still have air in my brakes. I removed all 4 calipers cleaned & painted them. While they were off (about 24 hours) I just let the lines drain into a pie pan. Put them back on filled the master cylinder and started bleeding them. I started with the old pump hold and bleed method I have always used. After several hours I had a solid 1/2 petal but the top half was still mush. Finally gave up on that and tried the gravity method on the fronts. That didn't seem to make any difference at all.

Went to bed and thought about it. Decided I must have got some air in the master cylinder so I tried to find one of those little bleeder kits that have two fittings and hoses that loop back into the reservoir. No luck so I tried bleeding it by cracking the lines while my wife pressed the petal. Didn't seem to get any air or make any improvement. While at the parts store I bought a bleeding jar to use with my mityvac. It seemed to be getting air out until the lid cracked. I then made one out of some fittings, epoxy and a pickle jar. I used it until I didn't seem to be getting anything but fluid. Still had a mushy petal so I tried a combination of pulling a vacuum and slowly depressing the petal. Still no joy. Went back to pump and bleed but got no air.

I decieded to put the wheels back on and drive it. I can pump once have great brakes but the first time the petal goes half way down and if I push hard enough it feels like one wheel starts to lock up and the ABS kicks in.
What should I try next?

 

Letting the master go dry was your mistake. You can either vacuum bleed, or pressure bleed. If you introduced air into the master, you can pump those brakes till your leg goes numb, and you'll never get the air out of the system. Motive makes a great pressure bleeder, and mity vac makes a good vacuum bleeder. Follow the service manual for sequence, and don't let the master go dry in the process.

 

I guess I should have plugged the lines but I wanted a complete fluid change so I just let them drip. I used the mity vac and was getting air for a while. Since starting the bleeding the master has never been very low, probably not even 1/3. It seems strange that the bleeders on the fronts are on the bottom. I always thought they were at the highest point. Should I try the mity vac some more or try to find a pressure bleeder? I used the RR LF LR RF sequence that I found here on the forum.

 

Perfect time to do a flush with a Motive power bleeder.

 

any chance your calipers are reversed? especially the rear?

 

Maybe switched side to side? Always thought the bleeder was on top for disc brakes, but not sure on the C5, never noticed.

 

This is your problem. If you swap calipers to the other side of the car the bleeder will be at the top and you will be able to bleed properly. Best of luck!

 

They have a L&R marked on them I am going to feel really silly if I put them on the wrong side. I am going to jack it back up in the morning and you can bet that is the first thing I am going to look at! The rear have the bleeders on the top so if I did it will only be the front.

 

OK now I don't feel quite so stupid. I went out and pulled the left caliper and expected to see a R stamped on it. Nope it had L. Really disappointed I pulled the right one off and guess what? It has a L stamped on it too. When I took them off the first time I pulled the left off first and saw the L on it. I never paid any attention to the other one. When I put them back on the first one I picked up said L (of course since they both do) so I put it on the left side and didn't look at the other one. I switched them but am going to wait till morning to bleed them.

Thanks guys for paying attention to my posts and helping me figure this out. I have been working on cars for 40 years but still second guess myself on this late model stuff. I see things all the time that are so different than the way things used to be that I ignore things I learned years ago.

 

don't feel bad and you probably just saved someone else with this thread

 

when i first started reading your post and saw removed brakes to paint i already new what your problem was, but looks like you guys already got him some help

 

Put the calipers on the correct side, made one pull with my homemade pickle jar brake bleeder and viola brakes harder than Chinese algebra. Thanks again guys! I hope this keeps someone else from making this mistake.

 

That's great!
Glad you got things all taken care of.
Sometimes it can be the simpliest of things.

 

Wow, I would say there are some really good people here and very helpful. That is what these forums are for!

 

Just one added item that I didn't see in the other postings; per the service manual (which IMHO you should have no matter how simple a job you might think it is) the line to caliper copper gaskets should be replaced with new.

Glad to hear you got things bled.

 

How exactly did you put the correct caliper on the right side with 2 left calipers???

 

That't for sure. I spend most of the time yesterday that I wasn't messing with my car reading the 40+ page nightmare of Rich's 427 install. It looks like he is getting better tuning from forum members than he got from paying pros.

There is a wide spectrum of help here from simple stuff that just has someone stumped to stuff that is way advanced. And the electrical help from Bill and others is outstanding! You can't even buy that kind of help!

 

The calipers were opposite but they were both marked with a L. Maybe it doesn't even mean left but I thought it did. Of course I had to pick up the right one first, see the L and put it on the wrong side. If I had picked up the other one this thread would have never happened.

 

just an FYI

OReilly Auto parts carries the master bleeder kits in case you need one in the future

one for metric and another for SAE threaded

cheap, $5 or $6 if I remember right