Hi, I have a 95 Volkswagen Jetta and am having a lot of trouble with the brakes.
First it started as a simple replacement of the rear right wheel cylinder for rear drum brakes. I have replaced that and blead the brake but when i moved to the other rear wheel to continue bleeding the bleed valve broke off.
So i decided to replace the enire wheel cylinder. But the bake line would not twist free of the wheel cylinder, i tried everything to get it free but ended up having to cut the line and replace the end with new brake line and add a compression fitting to connect the two lines. The second wheel cylinder is on now and when i went to bleed that brake when i pressed down on the brake there was no resistence. The pedal just went to the floor.
I thought that now the master cylinder was going bad so i made another trip to the part store and bought that. But when i went to disconnect the brake lines from th old master cylinder one of the lines would not twist free. Once again i had to cut the line and add a compression fitting. But when i went to connect that the fitting was too small.
I tried a 3/16 which was too small and a 1/4 inch which was too big. I ended up having to dremel off the outer edge of the line and put the 3/16 on. I bench blead the master cylinder and attached it to the car. Keep in mind that this master cylinder is brand new and not a rebuild. When i blead the brakes the fitting did not leak that i saw but i was getting a lot of air out of the front two bleed valves.
By now i have gone through two entire bottles of brake fluid and am still getting a lot of air out of the front two bleed valves. I NEED YOUR HELP, PLEASE LET ME KNOW OF ANYTHING I CAN DO TO FIX THIS CAR.
DO NOT DRIVE THAT CAR UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - IT’S A DEATH TRAP.
Compression fittings are not designed for use in braking systems. You will have to replace the broken brake lines and bleed the system.
Note, if you continue to drive that car and you are involved in an accident due to brake failure, you will be 100% liable and your insurance company will not cover you.
Scudder is 100% correct. Brakes are the place to mess around wit jury-rigging. Double flare fittings are the only acceptable way to join brake lines.
You are probably having air enter the system through the improperly sized fittings you added at the wheel and master cylinders.
Does he have double flare or bubble/ISO fittings? It does sound like he’s using generic non-brake compression fittings. If he knew if it was ISO or double flare, he could buy a flaring kit fairly cheap- but mtefend- if you’re not 100% sure what you’re doing you could kill yourself. Even with a dual-circuit brake system it seems like there could be enough leaks to lose all braking. Scrape some money up and have the car towed to a professional to finish this particular job, no offense to you. Then, tomorrow’s another day and you can save $ doing other less safety-related work on your car.
P.S: Did you know that the front brakes can develope hydraulic pressure in the thousands of PSI?