peavynation

If your mechanic has the Porsche scanner tool, he can cycle the ABS system while bleeding too.

A Rennlister also posted recently of a bad clutch pedal, and it turned out to be a very tiny leak at one of the line junctions, which was allowing air to get in. Could be something similar; it only takes a tiny bit of air to cause a really bad pedal feel. Just food for thought.

Keep us posted.

Yeah, it will be done at the Porsche dealership, so he has all the tools. If a line was leaking wouldn't I see fluid somewhere? I probably need to remove the underbody to make sure. Mine is custom and made from aluminum so many of the gaps of the factory plastic system are gone. But there are no leaks on the inside though.

Yeah, it would leak, but even a super small one could still give a soft pedal. Might be a small loss of fluid pooling somewhere? Hope the dealer fixes it up quick! Report back what it turns out to be.

2 updates:

Update 1 (about 7 days ago): I finally figured out that if I stab the brakes extra hard, I can get the ABS to kick in in the dry. I'm fairly strong and I'm talking about standing on the brakes muscles locked (lol). So I've been doing that a lot to try and cycle the ABS and see if I can push some air out of there. Pedal feels great when I get in the car and start it, and press it a few times, but as soon as I drive down the street, it's a second clutch feel again, with minimal stopping.

Update 2 (Today): While waiting for my mechanic to make time to see my car, I have been driving the car and stabbing the brakes constantly trying to get ABS active. Still practicing stops from 70-80 mph modulating the pedal to try and get some feel. Well yesterday it was raining and all of a sudden my pedal feel started to come back. It's not all the way back by any means, but it feels like a real brake pedal and not a clutch. It was wet so I wanted to see if it felt the same in the dry and sure enough it did.

If I drive stop and pump the pedal there still feels like air initially that eventually gets pumped out. But where the pedal used to go straight to floor there is resistance now when I drive down the street. Still can't get into the shop until next week so I will continue to push the brakes and might even bleed them real good again before even taking it to the shop. I'm more encouraged that my master cylinder may in fact be ok and there is some air in there somewhere that we haven't found.

I'm not back on track for a while so I'm going to give it some miles and patience to see how it shakes out.

Thanks for all of the helpful opinions.

HC

If your mechanic has the Porsche scanner tool, he can cycle the ABS system while bleeding too.

A Rennlister also posted recently of a bad clutch pedal, and it turned out to be a very tiny leak at one of the line junctions, which was allowing air to get in. Could be something similar; it only takes a tiny bit of air to cause a really bad pedal feel. Just food for thought.

Keep us posted.

Hmmm, my car (03'996 TT) does not have that feed going to the reservoir........... Is there a reason for that? Is it because the Turbos use pentosin? Not sure if the picture posted earlier was a Turbo or not.

As for the bleeding, I have a Motive power bleeder and am a track rat so I have lots of experience bleeding the brakes, Lauren's technique is the one I've always used. But it feels like my brakes are only clamping at a max of 25%. Brake pedal feels almost like the clutch pedal. I can literally here air escaping in the footwell when I depress the brake. Could it be something on the inside? Is my master cylinder bad? I'm positive this isn't related to the bleeding of the calipers.

Thanks for the help and quick response though.

I'm not familiar with TT cars, so don't know their. The picts of the resevoir are of my '01 C4.

Since you're a track guy with a lot of DIY experience, that somewhat eliminates a lot of newbi mistakes as possiblities. I thought at first that maybe there is blockage in one of the lines, but then you'd feel it pull to one side. Maybe it is with the ABS system having air in it, but I wouldn't think so. You should be able to cycle that by locking up the brakes, but that can be hard on tires. I prefer to do it on wet pavement. Hard acceleration on wet pavement will do it too, but I figure that's more shock-loading on the drivetrain/engine than a neutral-gear lockup.

Are you sure you're not loosing fluid? Maybe a leak that is also allowing air in as the brakes are cycled? I guess it could be a part going bad in coincidence with the new lines and bleeding, but I'd focus on what was changed first.

Can someone tell me what this is for, mentioned in a prior post?

I'm having some weird brake issues. My pedal goes to the floor every time, feels like there is no pressure to my front pistons. If I have to slam on brakes, I get nothing but a coast to a stop. I've bled my brakes 3 times now with no improvment. This is driving me nuts!!! My brake lines were recently changed, could it be air in the ABS or something?

That is the resevoir feed to the clutch master cylinder.

As long as you don't see your fluid disapearing thru a leak, you must still have air in your system, especially since you had your lines replaced. Was all the fluid allowed to drain out completely from the lines? I'm not sure how the ABS system holds fluid if the lines are drained, so I'll let someone else post a response to that. But use Loren's instructions and make sure the outcome to each step is correct, and you should be good to go. How did you try to bleed your system, using the foot-pump method, or the Motive power bleeder? Did you use Loren's technique posted here, using the Motive power bleeder? If not, I'd suggest that first. It works like a charm.

Just bled my brakes and clutch, and Loren's instructions worked like a charm. Thanks Loren, especially for the detailed clutch bleeding instructions (the wood worked great, and because of the comment you made about the possibility of the clutch pedal sticking in the down position, it didn't scare the crap out of me! :D )

I have three tips I'd like to add, and a question too.

Tip 1)

I couldn't find a turkey baster small enough (or a syringe) to get into the reservoir to suck out the old fluid. So, I removed the interior cover in the trunk so I could see the reservoir and its level. I then put the Motive bleeder on it with NO FLUID inside, and simply pushed the old fluid out thru the right rear caliper, but not so much as to introduce air in the system. Watch it carefully!

Question though: there is a small tube going from mid-reservoir into the cab (see attached). I was afraid of getting any air into this line (don't know what it's for, clutch?), so only pushed the fluid down to this point, not letting the level get lower than the tube. There was still a decent amount fluid left in the reservoir, so maybe it's best to suck it all out down past this tube using a syringe, thus allowing most of the fluid to be removed and for old fluid to stay in that tube instead of air getting forced into it. But, this pushing it out at least got rid of a bit of the old stuff first.

Tip 2)

So you don't round any of the bleed screws off with a line wrench or 12pointed end wrench, break them loose first with a 6point socket, and then close. If you do it with pressure applied, there's no fear of air feeding back into the system, just be sure to just crack them and close to minimize any spillage; I was able to do it with no leakage. Then you can put your tube and end wrench on the bleed screw and open it up easily . If you have 6pointed end wrenches, you've got more money for tools than I, and there's no need. ; )

Tip 3)

Follow Loren's directions to a T!!

My fluid was a bit dirty and only a tiny bit dark, but was green! Yikes!

Happy bleeding!