2002 Ford Escape - no fluid comes out when bleeding brakes

Maintenance/Repairs
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2002 ford escape i changed front calipers went to bleed them an no fluid comes out bleeder and pedal goes to the floor

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Keep bleeding. Look up proper bleeding procedure. Make sure there are no leaks in the system. I problem persists, you may have a stuck master cylinder piston.

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Did you install the calipers with the bleed screws UP? If they are down, switch the sides as they should be up.

1 Like
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When opening a brake system that includes ABS, it usually requires a scan tool to position the solenoid valves in the ABS controller so the brake system can be bled.

Tester

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From what I see the ABS only has to be bled when the master cylinder is replaced or opening any of the line to the ABS unit (presumably this means the lines between the MC and the ABS unit). Since you are simply replacing the calipers and haven’t messed with the MC or ABS or let the MC go dry, hopefully you don’t need to bother with the ABS bleed procedure (which does require a scan tool). The manual bleed sequence is RH rear wheel, LH rear wheel, RH front wheel, LH front wheel. Suggest you do the whole sequence, even though you only replaced the front calipers. It may take quite a few pedal-pump-sequences to get the fluid starting to come out. Try opening the bleeder at the RH-rear, then pushing on the brake pedal, gently, with your hand, closing the bleeder, then letting the brake pedal up; repeat. Fluid should start coming out the bleeder, but it might take a dozen or so of the pumps before it does.

If fluid never comes out with the pumping method, what I’d try next is a gravity bleed. Again start at the RH rear. No pumping the pedal this time. Just open the bleeder and wait. Fluid should eventually start to come out. If it still doesn’t, try the same thing, but start at the LH front caliper this time.

Of course, make sure only one bleeder is open and all the others are closed, and that the MC is kept filled with fluid. Note that it is possible your new calipers are defective, and they are impossible to bleed. If you think that’s the case, try disconnecting the brake line to the caliper and see if you get fluid coming out of that. Double-check the calipers haven’t been installed right-left reversed, as mentioned above.

If all else fails you’re gonna have to follow the ABS bleed instructions using a scan tool.