I have a 95 Saturn SC-2 with front disc/rear drum power brakes (no ABS)and can not manage to bleed them to the point where the pedal will not bottom out the master cylinder. There are no leaks in the brake system or master cylinder, the master cylinder was replaced, brakes rebled, and the condition remains.
I have replaced master cylinders, bled brakes, rebuilt calipers, etc, for over 40 years on various makes of cars and find this car to be a nagging problem with no obvious answer. I wonder if it is associated with the master cylinder and those two additional hydraulic items under the 15/16" hex covers.
Does anyone have tips for successfully bleeding brakes on a Saturn?
Did you first bench bleed the master cylinder prior to installing it?
Tester
Yes, the master cylinder was bench bleed before installation, as was the master cylinder unit I rebuilt before I replaced it to attempt to resolve this problem.
http://www.autozone.com/shopping/repairGuide.htm?pageId=0900c1528017ed2b
Follow these procedures and see if results in any improvement.
Tester
Are the rear drums properly adjusted? If the wheel cylinder has to travel too far, the master can bottom out.
PROBLEM RESOLVED. I replaced the store bought rebuilt master cylinder and pressure bled the brake system starting with the 4 tubing connections to the master cylinder. I did not disassemble the “old” master cylinder to determine fault, however before I replaced it with a second rebuilt unit, I did attempt to pressure/power bleed the brakes with no change in brake behavior. So based on the master cylinder replacement, in combination with the pressure/power bleeding, and no other significant work, this problem is attributed to a faulty rebuilt master cylinder.
Steveio