Urgent: Brake Pedal sinking in with ign. on after new calipers etc

[bumblebee123]

Hi there,

my name is Bastian, I come from Germany.
I own a 2010 V6 Explorer, Eddie Bauer.

I am a trained car mechatronic. I do mostly everything on the explorer on my own.
So far I did basic maintenance, overhauled the tranny, changed the suspension to Rancho etc.
That said, I usually know what I'm doing. But right now I'm stuck.

I ordered brand new front calipers. Installed them. New rotors, etc. as well. I first gravity bled them and later bled the system.
I get a hard brake pedal an NO air coming out of the bleeder.
After turning the ignition, the brake pedal travels to the metal... Nearly no braking possible.
After realizing the rear ones need replacement too, I've done them as well.

Bled the system... Same situation.

So I went to a FORD Dealer in Germany, and took the car with me.
Asked him to do the bleeding with a diagnostic tool. Same situation. Brake pedal hard, no air coming. After starting the engine/ignition... Brake pedal sinking in.

His best guess is the master brake cylinder. Sounds possible to me but I'm not fully convinced, since I have a hard brake pedal ALL THE TIME ignition is off!
Could I have a faulty ABS pump? Sure I could but it all worked before...

Is there something I am missing? Did someone have that before?
I don't want to order a master cylinder and stuff , pay (a lot) for shipping, taxes etc. and the installment and have the same s**t again.

Best
Bastian

 

[Explorer_PL]

Make sure you installed the calipers the right way, bleeder screw on the top. If you mix L and R, the bleeder is on the bottom and you'll never bleed the system.

 

[thebrakeman]

Good tip above.
I've also heard that it can be difficult if air gets into the ABS valve system, and needs to be bled.

 

[Explorer_PL]

I just replaced the brake booster and master cylinder on my 06 2 weeks ago. To bleed the MC I bought a special kit for $10 where you run 2 little hoses from the side ports of the MC back to the reservoir and then you pump the piston, worth every penny. Of course one of the bleeders, on my rear driver side caliper snapped and I could not extract it so I ended up buying rebuilt caliper. But otherwise all worked well, and the brakes are functioning as they should.

 

[Bobmbx]

Sounds like a vacuum leak in the booster. Make sure all your vacuum lines are installed correctly.

What caused you to replace the calipers in the first place? Did you have any brake issues before?