Cret

Got my new black diamond discs & pads on the 4 pots, new standard rear discs & pagid fast road pads on the back, and braided hoses all round now.
Problem is I bled the brakes last night (diagonally as it says in the manual) and could not get any more air out of the system, just clear fluid from each corner (calipers are all on the right way up too, ie nipple at the top!).

Now at this point the pedal was very solid as if they had bled perfectly, but the moment I started the engine the pedal went straight to the floor when I pressed it, and repeated pedal pumping producing no improvement.

Does this mean there was still tons of air in there somehow that has been 'discovered' by the brake system only after the engine was started? The car has ABS so not sure if that makes a difference. I've read some comments in the past saying yes and some saying no, so not sure.

I need to get them done tonight so I can take the car to have the exhaust done tomorrow so any pointers would be appreciated.
Cheers!
Jim

GingerbreadMan

iTrader: (1)

You bled them diagonally ? What do you mean exactly ?

You should always bleed your brakes starting off with the caliper furthest away. The correct order is (IIRC) n/s rear, o/s rear, n/s front, o/s front.

There's loads of threads on here about how to bleed them properly.

Cret

Sorry but that isn't correct mate.

That's what I thought and for most cars you do it like that but not for scoobs. They have some sort of crossover/diagonal system apparently.

According to the subaru workshop manual the correct order is Front R, Rear L, Front L, Rear R - but I have seen a fair few threads on here saying it should be Front L, Rear R, Front R, Rear L.

I imagine subaru probably have it the right way round though so I did it how it says on their info.

GingerbreadMan

iTrader: (1)

Fair play m8, I stand corrected. I wasn't aware of a diagonal method and scoobies. I'll give that some investigation.

Thing is, I fully bled my brakes just last week using the method I described - my pedal's solid as a rock and the brakes have never been so pukka!!

Cret

Yeah I have to admit that I've done mine the normal method previously and they weren't brilliant but they weren't rubbish either.

As I say I've got a copy of the brake bleeding page though which says to do them in that order, but a few threads on here say to start from the opposite side.
Might just try going round it all again but with the engine running in case the ABS is somehow causing an issue....

andy97

iTrader: (1)

Did you pump the pedal to bleed the brakes or a bleeding kit with a suction pump?

Ive heard of people damaging the master cylinder if you're unlucky with the foot pedal method. Also you can cause the brake biasing valve to stick at one side causing your symptoms.

I once spent hours feeding litres of brake fluid through the reservior only to find out from my brother inlaw (mechanic) that I had probably jammed the bias valve. A quick tap of a hammer on the valve and all was cured after the final bleed.

I now use a kit instead of using the foot pedal- easy aswell


Andy

Cret

Hmmm, that's an interesting idea - cheers for the suggestion.

Where exactly is the bias valve?
I do have a kit that runs off tyre pressure and it works great but the caps with it are too small for the scoob's reservoir sadly.

Cret

I've just found the problem whilst going out to bleed them again.

I was pleased to see loads of air coming through again on the first corner, then I noticed something dripping.
Traced it back to fluid leaking out of the ABS unit. **** knows what to do about that - I know absolutely zip about them & how they work. Car was meant to be going to the garage tomorrow to get the exhaust done & I'd be back on the road again.

Gutted.