Why does nobody talk about how much air matters in hydraulic brakes?

Spent 2 years chasing a soft lever on my F-150, replacing calipers and master cylinders, until a buddy at a shop told me to bench bleed the ABS module separately. Has anyone else discovered a basic step they skipped for way too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

vera_sanchez19d ago

You ever have that one friend who's a DIY god but also a total knucklehead? My buddy Mike spent three months rebuilding the brake system on his old Chevy truck, bleeding it like a dozen times, and the pedal still went to the floor. He was about to torch the thing. Then he remembered he'd installed one of those cheap Chinese master cylinders that didn't even come with the little plastic plugs for the ports. He'd been bleeding it with the lines open to the air the whole time, just sucking air back in on every stroke. Swapped it for a name brand one and it was perfect on the first go. He still won't talk about it at family dinners.

cora_jenkins19d ago

Oh man, I guess he was really committed to stopping air before he even started.