Mushy Brakes After Much Bleeding...

[Dirty J]

Well, my '03 protege 5 is having a little bit of a brake problem. I just replaced both rear calipers and bled both rear wheels many times - maybe 20 pedal depressions each - but the pedal still feels spongy and the brakes are barely grabbing. There wasn't as much brake fluid coming out on the passenger's side. It seemed to be flowing better on the driver's side.

I watched for leaks the whole time and didn't see any. I also made sure to refill the fluid reservoir pretty frequently, so I'm wondering why it still feels like I have air in the lines. Is it possible that air could be getting in through the lines somewhere without fluid leaking. Or perhaps air has somehow gotten into the master cylinder and it's just sitting on top of the brake fluid? I'm stumped... any suggestions would be appreciated.

[deadly_sleeper]

How much fluid have you gone through? If the rear calipers where completely empty it will take awhile to get them filled up and bleed all the air out of them. Also, you said the passenger side didn't have hardly anything coming out, correct? On the rear or front? I would bleed the whole system and try to flush out all the old fluid.

[Dirty J]

I went through a 32oz bottle of fluid on the back brakes. I don't mind going through another, though, if there's a chance it'll fix my problem. I'm just trying to avoid bleeding the front brakes because the bleeder valves are so rusted they'll snap right off.

It was the passenger side rear where brake fluid was flowing slowly. Before I replaced the calipers, the pedal felt fine, but that one wheel didn't have much stopping power.

[323 mazda]

verify ur brake lines sometimes they go bad! the ones from the strut to the caliper.

[yunvmyegt]

if you think its air. open them up , let them drip til they start a steady stream and close them , then get someone inside the car open the bleeder, press down, close, repeat.... thats how i do them all day at work, also sometimes if it feels mushy it might just be it actually working....otherwise check the master or brake hoses....

[Mazda_Powered]

yea i'd bleed all 4 corners, i'm pretty sure you're supposed to lol....