hi i changed my dad's front right brake pads but accidently unscrewed the cylinder all the way and got some air in there. So now i changed the front left pad also and tried to bleed the two front brakes. When the engine is off the brake padel is really hard but when u turn on the engine, there is alot of travel in the brake padel before the brakes actually work. So my question is since the car has ABS do i also have to bleed the rear brakes (they are drums and not disks) ?? Or did i have to bleed the brakes while the engine was on since its ABS? any help is appreaited thanks

By the way, before i changed the pads there was no travel in the brake padel, the brakes were applied almost instantly THANKS!!

 

Yeah, you should do all four calipers. THere is also a specific order but I forget - a search should reveal it.

 

right rear, left rear, right front, left front. you start at the caliper farthest from the master cylinder. as for the hard pedal when the car is off, this is because the brakes are vacuum assisted. when the motor is off and you pump the brakes, all you're doing is filling up the intake manifold with compressed air from the booster. if you unplug the brake booster vacuum hose, you should be able to pump the brakes with the car off. just don't forget to hook that back up before you drive the car!!!

 

what is vaccum pump procedure that can be done instead of pumping the brake padel?? so lets say i use a "vaccum cleaner" and stick the hose in the engine bay where u put the brake oil and that would suck out all the air bubbles and old oil...right? then i would just add the new oil and i would be good to go? where can i get this vaccum pump? thanks

 

a vacuum bleeder is a tool that you pump by hand and it will suck fluid out. just hook it up to the bleeder screw, crack the screw open, and use the tool to "suck" the fluid out. do this for each caliper. keep an eye on the fluid level in the master cylinder. this is easier because you don't have to expletive around with having a friend pump the brakes.

do a search for a more detailed explanation, i was just trying to explain what the thing is.