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TR2/3/3A TR3A: Strange brake bleeding behaviour

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Bremer

Bremer

Jedi Hopeful
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Well, at least to me.
I'll make it short: Simply wanting to change my (conventional) brake fluid, I bled the brakes in the order LR, RR, LF, RF. My friend behind the wheel pumping the pedal, me opening the bleed screws. After each bleed it took about 20 attempts of pedal pushing to get a firm pedal. However, it wasn't that the pedal got progressively firmer with each stroke. It went to the floor 19 times and on the 20th attempt the pedal got firm and stayed that way. You can imagine that the bleeding process took a little longer than expected.
Any idea what this could be???
Thanks very much!
 
I'd guess that the piston in the MC wasn't returning all the way, and so didn't open the valve to let more fresh fluid into the cylinder. Could be broken return spring (inside the MC), or a sticky pedal pivot, or misadjusted pushrod.
 
Thanks Randall. The pedal did indeed not return all the way, however, most of the time my friend pulled up on the pedal, which didn't seem to make a difference.
Time for a new master cylinder? This one was a few years old when I bought it, but never used.
 
I guess so. I just replaced the spring inside the MC, but it seems they aren't available at the moment.

You might also want to replace the pedal return spring and/or free up the pivot. The pedal should return on it's own even if the MC is stuck.
 
Ok, thanks, appreciate it.
 
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