Ok, title is rather self explanatory. Today my brother and I flushed the brakes on my '93 (LHD, US Spec, 4.0). I had him turn the ignition on and hold the pedal and used the pump to push the fluid through. That seemed to work, though don't know if it was working properly. As soon as he turned the key on the motor would start running for about 20 seconds then stop. Then as soon as he pushed the pedal it would start running again. I don't know if that's how the pump should work or not, but it got good fresh fluid to the rear brakes.

On to the front brakes and theres an issue. We lift the front right wheel and we cannot turn it to save our lives. Get the wheel off and take the caliper off. I opened the bleeder and tried to push the piston in. It does go in. Put the caliper back together. We try bleeding it 2 different ways. We try the standard pump and hold method (both with key on and key off), and we try pulling fluid through with a vacuum pump... No matter what we try, we cannot bleed the front right.

So we move on to the left. That wheel spins freely. We do pump and hold and I get a big squirt from the bleeder... then nothing else. Again we even try pulling fluid through with the vacuum pump and there is NO fluid coming through.

At this point in time I've figured the calipers are probably bad, so I just put the wheels on and decide to CAREFULLY back it into it's spot.... The brake pedal goes straight to the floor. It's like the rear brakes aren't doing anything. I throw it in neutral and it gently rolls to a stop in its spot.

So does this sound like the calipers are bad, or the abs module, or the accumulator bulb. The car is so close to being road ready, but the lack of brakes is extremely alarming. And I don't want to just throw parts at it.

 

Bleeding problem. These cars (at least mine) are not easy to bleed. I think that's all that's probably wrong, you've still got air in the lines.

Check the archive, I may be off on this but AFAIK some members have run into this before.

Larry

 

Yep - ran into this on my 94 XJ40 as well. Ignition needs to be on, and you'll need to work together. 4-5 pumps ( pressing down ) hold , then your brother opening the bleed screw, then close. Rinse and Repeat.

Just make sure you keep an eye on the level in the reservoir, if it gets too low, it will suck air in.

 

Guys, we did that. Had my brother give it 5-6 good slow pumps and then hold but got nothing. And like I said, even when we tried using vacuum to trying pulling the fluid through we got nothing. The rear brakes bled exactly as they should. I'm going to look to see if the rubber hoses have ever been replaced, but I'm wondering if the abs valves are stuck, as the brake fluid that came out looked like and had the consistency of black water.