Brake pedal goes nearly to the floor.

[pixelfixel]

Hi everyone.

After months of fixing many issues with my beetle-the last of which was a replacing the front brake components and bleeding my brakes, I was excited to be driving again. Unfortunately, my car would barely stop so I'm back in my driveway. Before all of this, I had to order new hardware for my front brakes, so I left the two brake lines open for a week. I installed the hardware and bled the brakes in the front first and then I did all four starting from passenger rear and ending at drivers front. Pedal still close to the floor. I watched many videos to see where I could have gone wrong. One thing people suggested was to pump brakes first before holding it down to bleed. (I had someone just hold down). I think I may try this, but do any of you have any other suggestions?
One other thing....I did upgrade the excellerator pedal. Could it be that I re-installed the brake pedal pushrod incorrectly? It looks right to me.

Thanks for any help=
Jim

[RLFD213]

Jim, make sure all The brakes are adjusted. Then fill the system and gravity bleed it first. Let it gravity bleed and then readjust the brake shoes again. Then manually bleed the brakes and after bleeding each wheel adjust the brakes again. Also make sure the pedal stop and brake rod is adjust properly. These cars seem to take time to get the brakes bled for some reason.

[Buggeee]

RLFD213 has mentioned some good advice.

Manual bleeding requires pumping up the brakes until they are hard, then holding, while you briefly cack open and close the bleed screw to let air bubbles pop out but not let air back in. Then pump up and hold, briefly open then close the bleed screw and repeat until only clear fluid comes out. Then move to the next wheel, then the next, then the next, then back to the first one, around you go repeating until the pedal is good and hard. Along the way, make sure you keep adding fluid in the brake reservoir, because if that goes empty and you suck air into the system it's like starting over at the beginning.

It is a time consuming, tedious way to bleed brakes. Be patient. There are other ways using pressure bleeders or compressed air vacuum bleeders that are much easier and faster, but manual bleeding just needs a wrench and a friend, and an afternoon.

You may find that next weekend you have to go around once more as little air bubbles work their way through, so don't be upset if the pedal gets a little soft, just bleed it again it won't take nearly as long. Of course if it keeps going soft on a regular basis there is a leak somewhere.

There is a sequence to which wheel is done first, second, third and fourth, repeat, that will help get the air out in an efficient way, but I forget and have to look that up each time so research that.

Be patient and persistent, eventually all things end and this will to. It does work.

What you described doing just holding the pedal down is not how you bleed brakes and would not have accomplished it, so that is definitely part of what is going on. Like RLFD said,start by seeing that your brake shoes are adjusted, then bleed the lines.
_________________
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Release the Krankenwagen! 1966 Sportsmobile Camper
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[Cusser]

[pixelfixel]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I appreciate you taking the time to help me. I've decided to replace the brake components in the rear as well and use your advice for bleeding the brakes when I have that done. Hopefully I'll be back on the road again with this car--It's been over a year! lol.

Oh, as for the pedal upgrade I got the Empi accelerator pedal with the roller. I think it seems to work quite well. is there something wrong with it? Seems better built than the original to me anyways..everything else on the pedal assembly is stock.

Here's a link to it..
https://www.jbugs.com/empi-vw-accelerator-pedal-kit-with-upgraded-roller-mechanism.html?gQT=1

[scrivyscriv]

[pixelfixel]

[Cusser]

[sambuc]

Sometimes a helper just isn't available when you need to bleed brakes. I have a power bleeder but have also bled brakes solo without the bleeder when I didn't have the proper adapter.

Attach a hose to the bleeder on the wheel farthest from the MC (right rear) and submerge the end of the hose in a bottle half full of fluid. Make sure the MC reservoir is full and crack open the bleeder. SLOWLY pump the brake pedal, SLOWLY releasing it and repeat several times. This is forcing air through the brake line and wheel cylinder and out the bleeder. The hose being submerged is preventing air from being pulled back into the wheel cylinder. Close the bleeder, refill the MC reservoir and move to the other rear wheel. Repeat the procedure on all wheels keeping the reservoir filled. In some cases all wheels will need another bleed to force out all the air.

This method takes a little more time than when using a helper but will result in solid brakes.

[Cusser]