Help!!!! 1995 Chevy Tahoe 1500 Unable to bleed the brakes

[east302]

Good luck with it, the soft pedal can be aggravating on these. I edited my post above to ask how the drums looked. It sounds like you’re working on someone else’s vehicle and may not have the history of it, so if they’re out of adjustment then that won’t help the pedal.

 

[Ahleebaba]

Yes I am working on it and it is for my cousin. Stupid me thought it would be a simple brake job on a 95 Tahoe which has proven just the opposite. When I picked it up there were actually no breaks and had to use the ebrake to stop (3 mile distance to my house) which I attributed to a bad booster but it wrong. There is a good chance that someone worked on it and ran the fluid dry or my worker did not fully bench bleed the master correctly. I purchased a lot of new tools on amazon just to be down with this thing but no success so far.

As for the drums I have seen on you tube that air can be sucked in thru the slaves so I replace them and adjusted the brakes accordingly. Every time I do a new bleed I get air bubbles coming out and I have gone thru over a gallon of fluid.

Thank you for your input and hopefully you never experience an annoying project like this.

 

[wjburken]

Yes I am working on it and it is for my cousin. Stupid me thought it would be a simple brake job on a 95 Tahoe which has proven just the opposite. When I picked it up there were actually no breaks and had to use the ebrake to stop (3 mile distance to my house) which I attributed to a bad booster but it wrong. There is a good chance that someone worked on it and ran the fluid dry or my worker did not fully bench bleed the master correctly. I purchased a lot of new tools on amazon just to be down with this thing but no success so far.

As for the drums I have seen on you tube that air can be sucked in thru the slaves so I replace them and adjusted the brakes accordingly. Every time I do a new bleed I get air bubbles coming out and I have gone thru over a gallon of fluid.

Thank you for your input and hopefully you never experience an annoying project like this.

Have you checked to make sure you don’t have a leak somewhere?

 

[Ahleebaba]

I have not really checked but with that said I would be leaking break fluid if there were a leak and I am not. Per the internet it stated that the slaves could suck air so I changed them but I am not really buying that. Everything I am honing in on points to the abs which I do not have the scan too to activate. There is a bleeder on the side which I believe is really used when one changes a master cylinder to purge the air. It has crossed my mind that the ABS in some way is sucking air into the system yet it does not seem possible as it should leak when pressure is applied.

I am convinced if there were no abs I would have solid breaks and supported by guys who have removed them.

 

[east302]

Not sure that it would matter since its going to drop anyway, but GM specs a 20-25 psi startup when using the Kent Moore pressure bleeder. Also, here’s their diagram showing that clip on the combination valve during bleeding.

My 98 truck had a lousy pedal about ten years ago and I damn near put a “for sale” sign on it. It, too, was supposed to be a one hour effort. What a pain in the ass.

I accidentally fixed it when replacing the booster a few months later. I left the MC connected and tilted it down for clearance while I did the swap. I guess some elusive bubble found its way to the sky when it was jostled.

 

[Eman85]

First simple test. Buy 2 plugs that thread into the master cylinder then step on the pedal. If you don't have a rock hard brake pedal you have something wrong at the MC, most likely it's got air. You can pump and bleed all you want if the MC has air you're not going to accomplish anything. Just me but I always bleed the MC with 2 lines looped back into the reservoir. If I do it that way I never have air and never have a problem. Don't get caught up in all of the ABS magic, it's just a brake hydraulic system. Diagnose and save yourself a lot of wasted time and brake fluid.

 

[Hoesgottaeat2]

…I accidentally fixed it…

 

[Hoesgottaeat2]

Are the rear shoes adjusted properly?

 

[extra330]

newbie here. I have a 97 tahoe with an issue that began as a soft or spongy brake petal. When removing the rear hubs, it appeared both rear cylinders were leaking although not too bad. I replaced and bled both cylinders. Note that these were difficult to bleed as there was a very weak trickle of fluid. The soft petal got worse. I was able to resolve the issue finally by bleeding the cylinders again, bleeding the ABS check valve and replacing the master cylinder. In reading the forums, the brake issue appears to be widespread but not a lot of folks offering the solution that finally solved the problem. Hopefully this will help someone and I really appreciate this forum very much

 

[Bag4440]

I have a 98 Tahoe 4x4. I gravity bled my brakes. Make sure all visible leaks are fixed. Park on level ground. I took a clear tube to fit bleed screw then using a clear water bottle(clean n dry inside) add brake fluid to bottle. Enough where u can keep tube end submerged in fluid. Back up a moment and depress pedal several times and take off cap at booster and be sure it is full of brake fluid. Leave cap off. Go to wheel fartherest from booster. Should be right rear. Put tube on bleed screw. Also put a box end wrench on bleed screw first then clear tube to bottle. With end of tube always submerged in fluid bottle, simply crack open bleed screw and watch air and fluid flow thru tube. When air has stopped then tighten screw. Then onto next fartherest wheel from booster. It may take several times each wheel but gravity will work. U would check fluid level along way if u have a lot of air coming so u don’t put air back in system. Little aggravating but works well. It can be done alone is the big plus. Otherwise someone else could help and it would be much faster. Worked for me. Good LUCK.