bleeding at proportional valve

[watermellon]

Hi, I've got a '93 festiva with a 1.3l engine. My brake master cylinder was leaking so bad that I ended up with no brakes at all. I could press the brake pedal to the floor with no resistance at all.

I installed a new m/c and bled it. I still have no brakes. I'm leary on bleeding my brakes at the bleeder screws because their so rusted looking. I was told that since I had no leaks at any of the wheels that the problem could be between the m/c and the brake proportional valve.

In order to bleed the brake at the valve would I loosen the two lines going into the valve from the m/c OR would I loosen the 4 lines leaving the valve?

Also, when doing the bleeding would I do one line at a time OR both together OR all 4 together?

 

[BrooklynBay]

You have to bleed the brakes starting from the wheel which is the furthest from the master cylinder.

 

[watermellon]

Sooo, is trying to bleed through the proportional valve not a viable method at all?

Another question...since I have no pedal pressure at all, do I just hold the pedal to the floor and turn the bleeder valve? Will I gain some pedal pressure after doing one line or will pressure start returning during the last line? Also how much fluid would each line roughly bleed out? 250ml?

I've never bled brakes before so some of my questions may sound pretty basic... but to me they're not.

 

[Rick]

Bleeding at the proportioning valve won't clear any air that is trapped in the calipers.

 

[watermellon]

thanks. I ended up bleeding the brakes at each wheel. All the bleeder screws finally released without any problem. Before loosening them, I sprayed each one with some liquid wrench and let them soak for about a day. I didn't have a helper so I wedged a wooden window scraper between the brake pedal and the seat. I did this at least 20+ times for each wheel. Brakes are good now.

 

[Rick]

Wow, that took awhile for an update

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update! They make bleeder screws with a built in check valve which helps if you have to bleed the brakes yourself.

 

[watermellon]

thanks for responding everyone. sorry for the long delay in posting the update. That built in check valve seems like a good idea. Next time I do bleeding I'll install them.
I drove the car all winter and the brakes performed very well.