[V6-12v] Weird pedal feeling after bleeding brakes.

[Tom Christiansen]

Folks,

I changed flex hoses on the rear and flushed, bled the brakes on all four 
last night. Now the pedal seems to travel about an inch further than it did 
before. There is still some brake modulation at or near the top of the 
pedal travel, but the brakes don't really become useful until the pedal is 
pushed about half the way down. The pedal is also not exactly what I would 
consider "rock hard". It doesn't sink but it feels a bit spongy. The brakes 
do work. I'm able to get the ABS going when stomping on the brakes doing 70 
MPH (and obviously at lower speeds as well).

Here's what I did: I applied vacuum to the bleed screw using a MityVac. 
Then I opened the bleed screw. To my surprise, no fluid was sucked out 
(even though there was plenty of vacuum). The vacuum did drop, so I wonder 
if I sucked air through the threads on the fitting or something... Anyway. 
I had a friend stomp on the brake pedal while I applied vacuum to the screw 
and that got the brake fluid flowing. I newer got a steady stream in the 
hose connected to the pump, but at least I made sure there was always 
vacuum so no air should have gotten trapped in the brake lines. I continued 
to remove fluid until it flowed clear (the new fluid is clear). I then 
repeated the procedure for the left rear, right front, and left front in 
that order. I didn't change hoses on the front as the parts pusher had sold 
me the wrong hoses for the front.

Should I be concerned about the weird pedal feeling or is this normal 
operation? Is a power flush where pressure is applied to the reservoir a 
better option than the stomp pedal method?

Someone sent out a link to a site where someone turned a garden sprayer 
into a power flush thingy. Could this someone please post the link once more?

Thanks,

	Tom