i tried all wheels on my 95 civic sedan
started with the rear right then rear left then pass front and then driver front
i had my girl friend pump the brakes 3 times and hold them
then i opened the bleed screw for a breif second and had a clear rubber tube branching from the bleed screw to a pan of brake fluid.
i also hit each caliper and repeated the steps above 5 times on each wheel

but the brakes are still mushy did i forget something
i had to replace the front caliper was i supposed to prep that cylinder before i put it back on

also i left the master cylinder cap off during the proceadures.
does this matter

please help

 

If there was a lot of pumping and you weren't continually adding break fluid to the master cylinder, you got air in your lines while trying to take air out of your lines. Do it again and make sure the brake fluid level never drops down too low or you'll ruin your efforts completely. Same goes for bleeding the clutch.

 

no i kept the master full the whole time
but when i am bleeding do i need to have the cap on the master cylinder.
or does it not matter

 

is it possible i blew the master cylinder and if i did what would it feel like

 

You need the cap off of the resovior so you can keep tabs on the level and make sure it never goes empty. You don't have to keep taking it off and putting it back on.

 

if you blew you MC you would know for sure, the pedal would go like straight to the floor with ease

 

Well, I had a friend who has the same problem of having it feel mushy. He over stressed the master cylinder. The got it replaced and it was working fine again. Look into that, I'm not sure if thats your problem but its a possibility. Check for leaks and stuff also.

 

Test the master cylinder by applying a little pressure on the pedal
if it slowly starts to drop to the floor then its no good

 

Make sure the hose was completely submerged in fluid...there cannot be any air in the lines AT ALL.

Also...civic stock brakes have a tendency to be mushy. OEM pads and DOT4 fluid won't do much. You need to get a bigger MC and upgrade to full discs if you want a stiff pedal.