Today I replaced my front brake pads....everything went very well...although i did make the mistake of taking off the cap to the brake fluid resevoir when i couldnt get the brake cylinder to reset back into the caliper....now my brake pedal is somewhat soft. But the pedal will tighten up after pumping it 2 or 3 times. My question is....does anyone know a way to pump out the air in the system just by removing and replacing the resevoir cap!
So far, ive been able to slightly reduce the softness of the pedal by pumping the brakes, removing the cap while holding in the pedal when it starts to press back! Is there a different way of doing this? Should the car be off or running? I would hate to have to get back under there and bleed the system and get my hands all dirty and greesy now that I have them somewhat clean.
Oh and another note... the level of brake fluid is just above the min line....would topping it off help

thanks for your time.

 

I think I would just bleed the brake calipers. I don't think taking the cover off the reservoir will let air into the system.

 

Top it off and see if that helps.

 

when you first change your brakes they do this, see if it continues after about 25+ miles on the new pads

 

You have to bleed your brakes, one by one.

If you don't know how to do it, don't touch it.

You were fine on removing the resevoir cap to press back in the pistons, but usually if you don't take pressure off the line, there should be no bubbles that entered the system.

 

Break the pads in first. Give them 25-100 miles then check it.

If need be, bleed the lines.
I can scan a page from the Helms if you need to know how...
It's very simple.

 

Soft brake pedal has nothing to do with seating the pads. It's a brake fluid issue within the lines.

BTW, the car should be off while you are bleeding the brakes.

 

Ok heres what happened.... during the install, i crimped the brake line and removed it from the caliper, which allowed me to have easy access to do the pad switch...while doing this, a good amount of fluid came pouring out of the caliper....i didnt think much of it.... i thought that once i reconnected the brake line it would refill the caliper on its own.... NOT SO..... so to make a long story short I had to get back under there, and bleed just the front brakes....although my hands did get dirty again, it sure was satisfying to fix the problem without much trouble! Its been a week since the switch out and everything is in proper working order!
take care and thx for the help

 

Yeah, cool.
BTW, Hua -- I wasn't saying that was his problem, he mentioned railing on his brakes right away and I was telling him to let them break in before he does that.

In any case, a pad that isnt broken can prevent the pad from biting as well as expected, and give you the illusion that the pedal is soft (since you now have to push harder to get the same stopping power out of it).

 

Crimped the brake line,why? I would inspect the line(I presume you mean the rubber line, not the hard one) for damage, be a pity if your brake hose failed at an inopportune moment.