I decided to bleed my brakes this weekend using my Motive Power Bleeder. My helper got distracted by the good looking neighbor and let the brake fluid reservoir go completely dry! The air was pushed all the way to the caliper bleed nipple creating and atomized type mist. I had 2 liters of Castrol SRF so thought it would not be a problem and I would simply flush all the air out and push a little extra fluid through to ensure no air was remaining.

Symptoms:
1. Brake pedal is very spongy…my Jetta diesel now has a stiffer pedal. Sigh.
2. If I pump the brake pedal ~5 times it gets stiffer and then goes down some amount, say 30% if I keep firm pressure on the pedal (car is running).
3. Maybe it’s all in my head but clutch engagement seems different?

Questions:
1. How do I get my brakes back??
2. Should I drive the car and get the ABS to engage and release potentially trapped air in its circuit?
3. Redo the complete bleed procedure?
4. Is bleeding the master cylinder required?

Thanks in advance.

 

I think your best and simplest solution is.

1.) get a new helper or do it yourself (since you have the bleeder)
2.) start over and follow the proper procedure (passenger rear first)...Outside and inside bleeders and flush until you have solid clear fluid at each bleeder. Should have a clear hose on the bleeder in to a container.

That should fix it! Good luck..

DC

 

I have all new fluid so it will be hard to tell when I flush again...

 

Since you ran the MC dry, I believe you need to bench bleed it. You will not get it back to normal otherwise.

 

I'm with Rock. Helper delete. Having the bleeder is why you have it :-)

 

I seem to recall reading somewhere that if it runs dry then you need a PWIS to "help" bleed them now. No idea what this means but would be curious to find out the real story.

When I did mine a month ago with the Motive I was super careful to not let it go dry for this reason..

You don't need a"helper" if you have the Motive..

 

I believe this is accurate. I was going to say it earlier. It goes for any ABS vehicle. Something to do with the ABS system itself which needs to engage to allow air voids to pass through.

 

Firstly, thank you to all for your input.

I'm going to try bleeding again and use the Durametric to cycle the ABS circuit. If this does not work I will try bench bleeding and I will update the thread once I try.

 

You can use the durametric to cycle the abs, you can also cycle the ignition a couple of times. It will still take at least 1 or 2 more bleed sessions , with some driving in between, to get rid of all the bubbles.