I have a 1983 Camaro Coupe. It has a carburated 2.8L V6 And the 200C tranny. Anyways, I was driving it and I noticed my brakes were a little spongy so I checked the fluid level. It was quite low, I topped it off and drove home. The next day I tried to drive and my brakes were completely gone. It had plenty of fluid but the pedal goes straight to the floor. If I let it sit a few minutes it builds up enough pressure for a couple of pumps. If I pump it anymore it loses all pressure. I tried bleeding the fronts and it will shoot out a steady stream of fluid the first two or three times I bleed it. After that only air comes out. I tried to do the back and no fluid comes out. I can't even hear any air coming out. Anybody know what I'm doing wrong or if a component is bad? Also is there any special way to bleed the system? When I pump the brakes I can see that pressure is building up in the proportioning valve. Theres a little button on the back that kinda pops out with every pump. Any help is appreciated.

 

your pumper has to keep pumping the brakes till all the air comes out of the line then hold them to the floor, i usually bleed em right from the line cos sometimes those bleeder screws will leak or get stripped. Sometimes it just takes a lot of pumping. I hope you didnt get air in the master cylinder though, that would be a pita to do, youd have to bench bleed it then. it didnt lose any fluid though did it its not leaking right?

 

bleeding brakes can be a major PITA . just keep at it , start at rt. rear , lt. rear , rt. front , & lt. front . dont let any more air get into system , keep master cylinder full or you will get more air in system . you may need up to 2 qts. of fluid . keep fluid off paint , or no more paint . also use a bleeder hose and can/jar with fluid in it to keep end of bleeder hose under fluid level in can . if not you can suck air back in . took me 3+ hrs. last major job with pedal pump system . pressure bleeding is another story , and much faster . good luck .

 

You may have a bad master cylinder.

Rear brakes may be so worn that the show is not touching the drum so no pressure is building ant that is why you get no fluid to come out.

I would bleed the breaks in the following manner.

put car on jack stand take off all wheels open all bleeder valves and keep filling the master cylinder. When you get a nice puddle under one wheel close the bleeder valve. the others will drip faster now.

You can put a pan under each brake to catch the fluid.

I still suspect a bad master cylinder based on you saying that it is good for a couple of pumps. If aire in the lines was the only issue the brakes would get better with the pumps.

 

You could have a bad master cylinder. If you're pumping and no fluid is coming out then I would the MC isn't working right.

As far as bleeding the brakes, I've always used a hand vacuum pump and had good results. You don't need a 2nd person and you don't have to close the bleeder screw each time you pump. They're pretty cheap and hardly any mess.