greetings all. my wife has a 99 sunfire that had the right front brake line develop a pinhole in it. when she finally said something about the soft pedal, there was zero fluid in the resevoir. i added some to track down the leak. i removed the brake line and ran a new one. now i cannot get fluid to travel from the resevoir to the LF wheel. i was bleeding the brakes in the typical manner of furthest to closest to master cylinder. i could not figure out what was wrong so i removed the line i replaced and had her pump the brake. zero fluid came out. i can hear it squishing/sloshing inside, but no luck coming out. the brake pedal feels solid even with zero fluid coming out, but once the car is turned on, it drops to the floor.

on the part connecting the four brake lines are two bleeder valves. i opened the closest to the front of the car and fluid immediately came out. i openned the second and nothing. i imagine i have either air inside somewhere or a bad master cylinder. duh, i know, but i am at a loss with this car. anyone that can offer some advice as to where i go from here, i would truly appreciate it!!

You have to cycle the solenoids in the EBCM, and the only way to do this is with a Tech2 (dealer) and selected high-end aftermarket ones, not your run of the mill $100 OBD code reader.





14.330 @ 96.37mph

thanks for the reply. i was reading the article on the DELCO ABS-VI system HERE and would this apply to my wife's 99 sunfire? it states they did not change to the DELPHI DBC-7 until 2000. otherwise a friend of mine purchased some scan tool for ~$3k if i recall. do you think something like this could be used? i will have to double check the model and other information on the tool. i just do not want to take this to a local garage. thanks for the help!!

It's not that on your car When the pedal went to the floor she damaged the plunger in the master cylinder it will need to be replaced and that should fix your problem. Wait the bleed screw isn't rusted shut is it I guess you would have checked that already. When the master tracels out of it's normall range the crud built up on the walls at the end can cut the plunger and damage it i see this alot with hydralic failures and people who bleed brakes with out the special tool(2 pieces of 2x4 cut 6 inches long and nailed together) so when you pump the brake it doesn't go to the floor and ruin the master this is the trick shops use to aviod damaging your master when fixing your car and having to buy you one it takes longer to bleed but only about a minute and saves shops money in unexpected repairs.

i am about to replace the master cylinder per larry's advice. is there a procedure for bleeding brakes with abs? or do i just go the standard route and place something under the brake pedal so it does not reach the floor? thanks for any help!!