Brake Problems

A while back I was having problems with my brakes because the pads were worn down. I grinded a good ways into the front right rotar and the caliper line popped.

Ever since changing the caliper line and everything else, my brakes had been real soft. If I have to stop hard enough you can actually smell the brake material on the front left side burning up. I'm getting practically no pressure on the front right side, even after bleeding the master cylinder and all four lines.

My brakes seem to be working better than they did, but they're still soft. Any ideas?

Do you have ABS or no?

Do you have ABS or no?

It's ABS.

According to the Heinz Manual; if the ABS light doesn't shut off after 3 seconds you need a Tech 1 Tool to open some valve or something like that. It says to repeat the process twice.

Turned the car on for 10 seconds and the ABS light shut off after 3 seconds both times.

(Just saying that we've done that much.)

Well, thats what I was thinking about. I know sometimes if the MC gets completely drained back into the ABS unit, there are bleeder screws in which the system needs to be bleed through the the screws on the abs unit, and then bleed through the rest of the car. I've read this over the years in the forums, that is has to be hooked up to the tech 2, and bleed with a vacuum pump.

Thats the best answer i've got for ya, other than completely ditching the ABS system, which is what I have done for both my J's.

Well, thats what I was thinking about. I know sometimes if the MC gets completely drained back into the ABS unit, there are bleeder screws in which the system needs to be bleed through the the screws on the abs unit, and then bleed through the rest of the car. I've read this over the years in the forums, that is has to be hooked up to the tech 2, and bleed with a vacuum pump.

Thats the best answer i've got for ya, other than completely ditching the ABS system, which is what I have done for both my J's.

Yeah, I started my driving on an 87 Caprice Classin (no ABS). So, I wouldn't miss the ABS if I got rid of it.

I've been told I might have a bad master cylinder as well.

I doubt the M/C is bad if you had good brakes before the bleed.
I think you are still pushing air is the soft part.
You can sit in the car all dead engine and just keep pumping the brake is hit it down hard. Let it rest. You take a sip of brew; since you are going no wear but wear out your shoe.
You then tap the pedal is just hardly tap it. This sends the bubbles back up the M/C's return hole(s)

You can have someone in the car; hold the pedal down; you snap (not bust, but you get the idea); the bleed nipple open to hear air; watch fluid, etc.

Sounds to me more like air and you working to get it out of the pedal is keep pumping manually all clean in the car or start tag teaming the banjo bolt at the M/C is initially your first break the banjo bolt and bleed the bubbles out of the M/C.
See if that alone brought back the pedal?

Again, are we in that dual safety line where the hard side is the over worked smelly brake pad? Where you have no brake to push the pad up against is it sounds like your bubble side is the not so smelly side? Just guessing things out.

I doubt the M/C is bad if you had good brakes before the bleed.
I think you are still pushing air is the soft part.
You can sit in the car all dead engine and just keep pumping the brake is hit it down hard. Let it rest. You take a sip of brew; since you are going no wear but wear out your shoe.
You then tap the pedal is just hardly tap it. This sends the bubbles back up the M/C's return hole(s)

You can have someone in the car; hold the pedal down; you snap (not bust, but you get the idea); the bleed nipple open to hear air; watch fluid, etc.

Sounds to me more like air and you working to get it out of the pedal is keep pumping manually all clean in the car or start tag teaming the banjo bolt at the M/C is initially your first break the banjo bolt and bleed the bubbles out of the M/C.
See if that alone brought back the pedal?

Again, are we in that dual safety line where the hard side is the over worked smelly brake pad? Where you have no brake to push the pad up against is it sounds like your bubble side is the not so smelly side? Just guessing things out.

The 'smelly side' is the side that seems to be getting normal brake pressure (from the pads getting pushed hard against the rotar while the other side doesn't apply much at all). When I have to hit the brakes hard, it causes the car to jerk to the left slightly (because the right tire isn't braking properly).

We bled all four tires to the point they weren't pushing any more air, right after making sure all the air was out of the MC.

Then, pop off the softer caliper and see if the barrel moves?

Here is the deal. You have this quad-ring. It looks like 4 sides are square like you cut a tube of pvc pipe and now have a ring around your finger.
This quad-ring sits in a groove so it butts up against the caliper barrel and the caliper groove it sits in.

Now, you press the brake, the barrel moves forward. What the quad ring does is move with the piston. Then the rubber goes back to memory and pulls the pad away via, the barrel moves back and the pad floats off the disc.

Through time, the oil boils and that bubble is vapor. So this air is water. It is heavier than water and settles to the lowest spot of the caliper. It now forms a crystal white substance and that grows under the rubber ring.

Once this forms, your barrel can no longer retract. This then lets the pad cook on the disc is the barrel can no longer return back into the caliper. The crystal keeps the memory locked and that just pushes the rubber against the barrel and generally locks it where it sits... Sans a slight retraction.

So, again, your M/C is working holding that left pad and you move or shift left being that caliper bites on the left only. You have a problem on the right caliper still. Something is not biting as well as the left and the M/C as I see it can still do the job, soft pedal and all.