Hey guys,

I went to replace the rear brake pad on our 2005 Ford f 350 6.0L diesel.

I had a piston crack and started leaking when I was pushing them back in. I went and got a new one this morning. I have bled all for brakes numerous times with no air.

I went and borrowed a scanner to bleed the HCU and I have also bleed the master cylinder.

I have hard brakes untill the truck is started them I have really loose and spongy brakes. Can you guys please give me any help and or advice? i appreciate it I have done everything I can imagine Checked all components, brakes, calipers and bled the hell out of everything. If you can steer me where to start checking things I appreciate it.. Thanks in advance hopefully I have some responce by the morning. Stay warm guys!!!.

 

The rubber brake lines can expand causing the spongyness (is that even a word?) that you are talking about. That's about all I can think of. I had it happen on an old Jeep once.

 

did you bleed them with the truck running?? always seems to help when doing it with it running, it might have something to do with the ABS.

 

Ya I have done both running and not running... all the brake lines are steel wrapped and they worked fine before I did the brakes.

 

I think some people do a flush on the master cylinder if I recall right. My brakes have never been the same either, always feel spongy to me, at least after the first time brakes were done. I need to look into that.

 

Ive neem bleeding for hours, Ill get them to where I think they would be ok and then once I start driving it I can put the pedal to the floor and they barley grab..

 

Definitely have air trapped somewhere. Might be worth getting a power bleeder...

I'll see if I can find the link on the flush for the master cylinder too, supposed to help that spongy feeling, though it sounds like you're not quite there yet, sounds like you barely even have brakes!

 

I'm with Mdub... My brakes have had just a little extra sponge since changing them out the first time. The chevy brake tech I used to work with told me that he has some kind of power operated bleeder that pushes the fluid backwards up to the resevoir. I don't know if this is something we should all be doing or just made life eiser for the brake dude??? He also told me that over time brake fluid breaks down and should be changed out with new brakes. I haven't done this on any of my vehicle but, could be plausable. BTW, if your pedal goes to the floor and barely grabs, you have a problem! Seen a guy use dot 4 one time, it killed the entire system!

 

Good points c-tane. Brake fluid just absorbs water like crazy. The cap should never be left off the bottle for any amount of time really. Over time it will absorb water and won't work as well. The power bleeders just makes it so much easier to do.

 

One of the biggest mistakes I see people do is they loosen the bleeder to collapse the caliper back in, this can cause a wierd pedal to. also a brake pad that is not lined up right or a caliper that is not lined up right can definately cause the pedal to the floor syndrome. If you are still having the problem then pull the caliper again then compress it /with brake pad on and with a C-clamp/ then reinstall and pump the brakes up and inspect how the pads are on the rotor.