i have a 2004 ford focus se. the problem is this: i changed the front brake pads and the rotors. when i went to put everything on, i just pushed the piston back in. took the car for a test drive and the pedal goes completely to the floor. pumped them and everything and still goes to the floor. went to autozone and bought a haynes manual and the guy that works there said that i should have loosened the bleed nipple when i pushed the piston back in and that since i didnt, i might have tripped the computer. looked in the haynes manual and it says to disconnect the negative battery cable. needless to say i didnt.everything worked fine up until i changed the pads and rotors. does it sound like i just need to bleed the lines or just disconnect the negative cable to reset the computer? any and all help would be appreciated.
audiojunkie wrote: Try disconnecting the cable....if no good then bleed.Yeah. That's about the only thing I can think of to do. Have you checked the master cylinder & fluid level? How do the brakes feel when the car is parked, engine off?
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
wierd, ive donr many brake jobs and use a c-clamp to push the piston back in. ive never loosened the bleeder to do this. never had a bit of trouble.
sonds like somehow they got air in them.
the fluid is full and when the car is off and i pump the brakes, they harden up. i got a one man bleeder kit so i hope that is all i need to do. i have another question. i will be doing all this tommorrow so would it be possible to get a picture of how the clips on the front pads are supposed to be? or if anyone knows where there is a clear picture of it. i have the haynes manual and it isnt very clear. thanks.
so the top and the bottom of the wire clip are supposed to be behind the metal thing the pads slide one? i probably have to do alittle bending to get it there than because the way it is now is it is on the ends of the metal slide. do you think that would have anything to do with my problem? thanks.
Every time I have done brakes on the focus I never unpluged the negative terminal and I always just use the old pad to push the piston back into place so instilation of new pads is easier. I just use my hands and pull the pads towards the caliper than I pull them out of the caliper.
After installing new pads I start the car and pump the brakes a couple times untill the brakes are tight.
I've done at least 5 brake jobes like this on the focus. One only took me 20 minutes to do both sides and that included taking off the tires. Danm mosquitoes tend to modivate you when they sworm around you.
I'm going to guess you got air into the lines somehow.
When you took the caliper off did you support them or just let them hang by the brake line. Ya I know but I have to ask.
i just wanted to say that i got them working!! bled them and moved the clips on the pads to where they belong. i had them on the ends of the piece of metal that the pads slide on. i also just wanted to say that you guys were extrmely helpful and very nice. the focus is actually my girlfriends car. i drive a honda del sol and the forums i get on for my car, all the people are really rude and always flame you for any question that you ask. dont get me wrong, they help you out but you always get the few bad apples. i will definatly recommend people to this site!!
silicon_ghost wrote: a few times they slipped off of the rotor when i had them sitting on top. do you think that air might have gotten in there somehow because of that?
Sence seing that bleading the brakes fixed it I would say that the inital drop some how allowed air to enter the system where the metal ends meet the rubber tubing. Probably one of those rare occurance things.
Glad to see you fixed it.
We try to be helpful and if we don't want to say how to do somthing fo the 50th itme we tend to put a link to a previous post. I hate using the search and when someone gives me a link I like it a lot better. I want it fixed now. Not search for a couple hours or days for the fix.
i also just wanted to say that you guys were extrmely helpful and very nice. the focus is actually my girlfriends car. i drive a honda del sol
and the forums i get on for my car, all the people are really rude and always flame you for any question that you ask. dont get me wrong, they help you out but you always get the few bad apples. i will definatly recommend people to this site!!
