I switched to SS brake lines and, like an idiot, let the reservoir get too low when bleeding the air out of the lines. So it sucked air into the system. Bled, bled, and bled some more, but it didn't help the pedal feel at all. Air was stuck somewhere in the ABS or master cylinder.

I read all the threads I could find here and tried gravity bleeding and activating ABS several times before bleeding. Nothing worked.

So if I can't get the air out the brake lines, how about shoving it back up into the reservoir? My pads were pretty low so the pistons were well extended to start. I removed the excess fluid from the reservoir, unbolted all 4 calipers and retracted the pistons as far as they would go. Then bolted up the calipers and pumped the brake until the pistons were back in contact with the pads, being careful to keep the reservoir from going empty again.

Problem solved! Air gone! Pedal firm!

Hope this helps the next poor bastard that screws up his bleed.

 

Good work. But a caution. Generally its a bad idea to force fluid backwards through abs modules (can damage them). Normally for a brake job you'd want to loosen bleeder when you push the caliper piston in, to allow the fluid to escape there instead of forcing backwards through abs.

In your case you had little other choice. But just be careful doing something like this next guy that has to resort to this.

 

Thanks for the warning. Good to know. I tested the ABS over about 65 track laps on Sat. All good.

 

I've heard the same about pushing fluid back through the ABS for years, and for the past decade, I have yet to have an issue doing it.

With that said, after upgrading my front and rear brakes, I can't seem to get my pedal back to being stiff. I ordered a reverse brake bleeder and am planning on giving that a try.

 

I can tell you that on Hondas it is ok to push fluid back through modulator. It's a great idea to take the cap off the reservoir though.

 

Any time you push the calipers back in for new brake pads you're pushing fluid through the system and I don't recall the Honda service manual saying anything about loosening the bleeders prior to doing that. What they say is remove excess fluid from the reservoir so it doesn't spill when you push in the calipers, so they clearly INTEND you to push the fluid backwards through the system.