Replaced caliper, bled brakes, no leaks, still no pressure!

Kushballz · Post by **Kushballz** » 06 Aug 2005, 21:12

Hey Everyone! (Car details at bottom) I was changing my brake pads and found out that my the pistons were shot in my calipers (one in each) so I replaced the calipers with rebuilt ones, hooked them up, bled the brakes in order suggested by the repair manual many times (FL, FR, RL, RR), and still had almost no pressure in the brake lines. There is obviously air in the brake lines, but we (me and my father) emptied about a quart of fluid through the bleeder screws. Also, about 2 weeks ago, when we replaced the front shock absorbers we had to disconnect the rubber brake hoses where they attached to the strut assembly. The brakes were bled and were working correctly. The pressure distributor (or "the octopus thing" as I have heard

) is not leaking anywhere, and the brake failure light turned on after 30 minutes (of about 40 total) worth of brake bleeding. So I believe that there is probably air stuck in the pressure distributor, because the master cylinder has always been topped after bleeding each wheel. Does anyone have a brake line diagram, or know where to get one? What do you think the problem is? Thanks in advance for your help!

1985 Volvo 240 DL
2.3L B230F 4-CYL
5 Door Wagon RWD
4 Wheel Disc Brakes

bdunham · Post by **bdunham** » 31 Oct 2005, 19:21

just found this site so i'm really new, get yourself a hayes manual it will show you the sequence for bleeding the 8 bleeder screws (three for each of the front and the ones at the back) the brake light will go out only after you reset the switch simply take the switch out of it's socket and reinsert

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 31 Oct 2005, 20:43

I do not know if this is possible with a volvo but I have seen on other cars where the calipers were installed on the wrong side with the bleeder screws on the bottom. Because of this it was impossible to bleed. We switched the calipers and we were then able to bleed them. Are your bleeder screws on the top side of the caliper?

Kushballz_ · Post by **Kushballz_** » 08 Nov 2005, 09:07

What the problem was is that the two metal brake lines going to and from the caliper were switched backwards. In my own personal theory, I believe that the lines were both forcing brake fluids in opposing directions, and defeating the functionality of the caliper and causing a force which depleated the brake system.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 09 Nov 2005, 16:39

thanks for letting us all know--- I could see how that could happen easily.

cvincent · Post by **cvincent** » 11 May 2006, 06:54

I was helping (?) a friend a day or two ago who had very worn rotors, pads and poor condition calipers. We replaced the rotors along with calipers and pads. My friend bought all the parts and I installed. The problem was that I did not look at the box the caliper came out of and got the left caliper on the right hand side and vice-versa. No problem with the caliper fitting, brake lines fit ok, just could not bleed and get anything on the pedal, would sink to the floor. My keen powers of observation did not see that the zerk was on top when I took the old caliper off, and then on the bottom when I put the new caliper on. He ended up having a Volvo shop fix the problem, and I'm sure they had a good laugh when they saw the calipers on the wrong side. They switched the calipers, bled the system and charged my friend (yes, he's still my friend) 345.00. I am going to pay him back, but I can't help but to think he may be hesitant to let me work on his car again..... (Regarding the calipers, I won't make that mistake again)