Brake Bleeding Woes

[CharlieB]

Well I just completed my third attempt at bleeding my brakes, but still no luck.
I just want to make sure I am going at this the right way.
1) I jack up the back of the car with a wood block under the dif.
2) Bleed the passenger's side rear.
3) Bleed the driver's side rear.
4) Lower rear, jack up front.
5) Bleed passenger's side front.
6) Bleed driver's side front. Done.
I have tried using a vaccum bleeder, with the reservoir caps off. I have also tried the clear tube and bottle method with the end of the tube submerged in fluid.
As I am bleeding I have air bubbles at first and then a continuous stream of fluid. When I get the stream, I tighten down the bleeder and move on to the next brake.
On all three attempts, the pedal is still spongy.
So, what am I missing?

[lglade]

It sounds like you're doing things correctly, although you don't really have to jack the car to bleed the calipers.

At the risk of asking a stupid question, you are tightening the bleed nipple *prior* to removing the bleeder hose, right? If you let air back in during the process, you're going to get a spongy pedal. So it's critical to tighten the nipple before breaking the vacuum.

Autoricambi sells 'speed bleeder' nipples that have an internal check valve that help prevent air from getting back into the caliper. These are especially handy when you try to do the process by yourself.

[So Cal Mark]

jacking the rear under the diff won't open the compensator completely. You really need to disconnect the link to the compensator and wire it so the valve is completely open. If the compensator is frozen, you won't be able to successfully bleed the rear

[CharlieB]

Thanks guys. Lloyd, yes I am tightening the bleeder prior to removing the tube (not a dumb question however).
Mark, thanks for the info on the compensator. I have to admit I am rather ignorant when it comes to that system. When you say 'wire it so it is completely open', can you elaborate on that? What exactly should I wire?
Thanks again

[124JOE]

there is a compensator on the rear end pass side
you can see the lines going to it
it has an arm connected to the rear end
when the rear lifts up it cut off fluid to the brakes
this wont let you bleed the rear completly
and you end up with soft pedal

[DieselSpider]

there is a compensator on the rear end pass side
you can see the lines going to it
it has an arm connected to the rear end
when the rear lifts up it cut off fluid to the brakes
this wont let you bleed the rear completly
and you end up with soft pedal

And if a previous owner disconnected the arm or the arm is bent you can also have a lot of trouble bleeding the rear brakes. Sometimes just putting a 100lb bag of whatever is handy in the trunk can further load the compensator and make bleeding easier.

If the compensator is open and the rubber brake lines are not plugged brake fluid should just start trickling out the bleeders on its own without the use of a vacuum bleeder. Once I replaced all the rubber hoses on mine I found it to be the best car so far that I have worked on for gravity bleeding.

[So Cal Mark]

disconnect the compensator link to the rear axle and wire it up as high as it will go. This should fully open the compensator allowing fluid and air to pass through it

[CharlieB]

Thanks Mark, I crawled under it last night and found what you described. I'll try to bleed again tonight.
thanks again

[CharlieB]

Just a quick update. I disconnected the compensator link, wired it open and was able to bleed the brakes.
They are still on the soft side, but seem to be functioning ok. I have not been on a long test ride yet.
One more question. The compensator looks to be the original, do these need to be replaced at a certain interval?
Thanks everyone for the help.

[joelittel]

Sorry if this was mentioned previously, but if your rubber hoses are original it's probably time to replace them. I've read that they can deteriorate from the inside and cause all sorts of issues.

[CharlieB]

Thanks Joe, yeah I replaced both front hoses. One of them was in really bad shape. I have not replaced the rear hoses yet.