I spent half a day on this with no working brakes still, so I'm pretty frustrated, but I'm going to keep at it. Now I guess I have to drill it.? How do I keep metal shavings out of the brake system? Probably I'll just buy a caliper and take it back if I don't end up needing it. Vise grips finished rounding it off, and the screw extractor I tried just snapped.
But the front-driver screw was already stripped.
The front-passenger bleeder screw came loose easily, and it bled very easily. I eventually got a fairly clear color of brake fluid coming out the tube, with no bubbles, but it seemed like it was more effort than it should have just didn't want to come out despite repeated brake pedal pumping (with no resistance). I kept adding fluid and pumping the pedal. The brake fluid came out a horrible color, somewhere between iced tea and coffee. I got a "one man" bleeder kit and tried it on the rear wheels. I put the master cylinder in the car and hooked up the brake lines. This time I got some firmness, but still over 1/4-inch of travel, more than the bench bleed instructions indicated (1/8-inch). I don't have a vise so I just braced it and held it level as best I could while I pumped the piston about 3/4-inch per instructions. I think it worked but I'm not positive.this is where I really need some specific rookie help. I tried putting it in the car.no brakes.took it out and put the correct caps in and re-bench-bled it. So, I never did get any firmness from the piston, because I had mistaken the little plastic caps for the actual plugs I was supposed to put in before bench bleeding. On this one, it doesn't come with any tubing, it comes with bolt-style plastic plugs which plug up the outlets instead of redirecting the fluid back into the reservoir. I got a rebuilt master cylinder, and (incorrectly) attempted the bench bleed process, which is a little different than what I have read. I cleaned out the reservoir, added some brake fluid, still soft pedal and virtually no braking power. I checked for leaking fluid and could find none, although I still don't know exactly where the proportioning valve is located. I'll skip the silly details and rookie mistakes and get to the point.
1979 el camino how to#
So then I did some too-hasty reading on how to diagnose the brake system. The previous owner said "new brakes," I'm assuming that was just pads and shoes. I thought I remembered checking the brake fluid before I bought the car, but now I'm not sure. The brake fluid reservoir was empty in front, nearly empty in back, with gunky residue on the bottom. OK, so I got back to my driveway safely, with very limited stopping power, brake pedal very very soft/spongy.
I damn near rear-ended a police patrol car, but thankfully I stopped about an inch from his/her bumper. I am reasonably mechanically inclined but have very little experience working on cars.īrief timeline: my brake pedal went to the floor while trying to stop down a hill. My car: 1979 El Camino, 307 cid, Turbo 350, power brakes disc/drum, just bought it a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully this will help others with their brake problems.
Hi folks, this will be my first request for help so please be patient.I am learning as I go.Īlso, by the time some of you read this (tomorrow or after), I will have already have figured some of this out, because I am going to keep working on the brakes early tomorrow, but I will appreciate all responses.
0 kommentar(er)
