No brake pressure

I have installed a new master cylinder and one new wheel cylinder on a 67 bug. I have no more air bubbles when bleeding the system, but I can't build any pressure. The shoes are adjusted out. What am I missing?

did you bleed the master before installing it?

vinayak wrote:did you bleed the master before installing it?

No I didn't, but I have read a couple of techniques on the Samba on bleeding it while it is on the car. Thanks.

Also make sure your break pads are adjusted.

Adjust all shoes all the way out until the wheels lock down. Then bleed the brakes. Make sure you start with the right rear then left rear, right front and then left front. Make sure your brake fluid does not run out while doing the bleeding. Once you get the bleeding complete readjust your brakes until the just scrub.

votwing wrote:Adjust all shoes all the way out until the wheels lock down. Then bleed the brakes. Make sure you start with the right rear then left rear, right front and then left front. Make sure your brake fluid does not run out while doing the bleeding. Once you get the bleeding complete readjust your brakes until the just scrub.

I have done all of this and still no pressure. I'll try bleeding the MC tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks for the help.

I bled mine in car. I used alot of clear tubing to do the job. A little fuzzy on it now but It worked like a charm. The clear tubing i used came from WalMart. It is for aquariums. It is not real cheap for how much you use but you get alot. I have done alot of brakes jobs and i think the price was worth it. OH I am a cheap b#@*ard.

You can get the clear "tygon tubing from home depot and just stick it in a coke bvottle so it can push fluid in and suck it out so you can do it by yourself. Oreilys sells a small bottle. It takes a while to get the air out of everything, It took me forever i changed the rear wheel cylinders and all the rubber hoses it took forever.

Anytime I do anything with the brakes I always do the same for both sides. I.E. if you replace a wheel cylinder for the right rear you should go ahead and do the same for th left rear that way it balances it out.

i have never been able to bleed the brakes on my VW the normal bleeding way. I NEVER got pressure. i decided to ghetto rig a pressure bleeding system, and the brakes are perfect, and the pedal is nice and firm. and i did NOT bleed the master cylinder.

All i did was take an extra MC cap, screw in an air hose fitting, emptied my air compressor, and turned it on for about 10 seconds (to have low pressure, or else the cap would pop off), screw the cap on. and when i'm ready, i'd connect the air hose, quickly go to the wheel, and open the screw, and wit till all the bubbles came out. and it worked perfectly for me.

i had tried to bleed it the normal way (the normal way works for all my other NON-VW cars), and all the bubbles will stop. but whan i pressure bleed it, more bubbles come out. Like for some reason bleeding it normally, won't get all the bubbles, but pressure bleeding gets them all. i don't know why, but it works.

You could possibly have a bad "New" mastercylinder I've bought one that was bad in the box.

i went through 4 master cylinders from auto zone before i went to napa and paid $80 for a new one. first was the cheapo $18 rebuilt one. then the new cheapo. then the supposedly "good" brand rebuilt one. then the "good" brand new one. Then the real fifth one was a bus master cylinder, but i don't count that (tho i bet id wouldn't have worked either ). then i just returned that shit, went to napa and bougt one for $80. and no problems. I figured out the pressure bleeding thing with the first master cylinder the car came with. and the only reason i replaced it was cause it was starting to leak.

Jake Raby and Shane in our club both told me to let it gravity bleed. I just opened the bleeders for a few minutes and let it drip. Then I closed the bleeders and bled as usual. I now have good pedal, but still don't have fluid shooting out like I think it should. I'm going to adjust one more time and try them out.

Thanks for all the help.
Jon