New calipers and bleeding not working

[KA3NXN]

I have a 2002 4.6L AWD Explorer that I just put all new calipers, brakes, and rotors on the front. When I go to bleed the brakes the pedal goes all the way to the floor. Now mind you I’ve bled many a brake system over the last 30 years and had never had this problem before. So I do know the proper process for bleeding brakes. I’ve only done the front brakes the rears are untouched. I have made sure that there is no air coming out when we depress the pedal and I have the valve open to bleed the brakes. But after I re-tighten the valve and pump the brakes the pedal still goes to the floor. The reservoir is full and it has never gotten below 3/4 while bleeding the brakes. I made sure that there are no leaks in the system, and the brakes were working fine before I replaced them. The reason for replacing them was the previous were the original rotors and calipers and brakes would not have passed inspection so I just decided to replace all the major components in the brake system. Any idea what could be causing this on this particular vehicle? If I open up to bleed one caliper do I have to bleed the entire system? I also bled the master cylinder to make sure there was no air in that, and there wasn’t.

 

[swshawaii]

Any chance the new left and right caliper sides were switched? Common mistake. Bleeders must be UP to bleed all air.

 

[KA3NXN]

That was it. Thank you!!!!

 

[Larryjb]

Ha ha! I just went through the same thing. In fact, I remember thinking "Why on earth would Ford put the bleeders below the hydraulic line? That doesn't make any sense...." Then I couldn't bleed them. Of course, Ford didn't put the bleeders below the line, I swapped L and R calipers as well.