I am trying to get the brakes working on my 86 fiero. They are the last obstacle to getting on the road, but unfortunately no luck yet. The previous owner had replaced the brake lines before selling to me as he said they were leaking, and that all i needed to do was have them bled. So I went to bleed them a week ago and found the bleed screw on the rear passenger side was stripped. I decided to just go ahead and replace the whole caliper with a new one. So I put the new caliper on tonight and went to bleed with my dad, I pumped the brake pedal and held, yet when the bleeder was cracked not a drop of fluid came out, and the pedal did not sink to the floor. Additionally, when pumping the pedal the brake fluid bubbles up in the master cylinder reservoir. Any idea what could be going on?

Is the red "brake" light illuminated when you have the key on? (with the battery in the car, of course)

Do you have no fluid coming out of either rear calipers? Is so than the check ball in the metering valve is tripped to only flow fluid to the front brakes. Actual best way to reset that is drive the car to about 25mph and stomp the brake pedal a few times. Then come back and bleed. Just be cautious when driving it

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--Adam-- ASE Certified Technician

Open one of the front caliper bleeder screws and push firmly on the brake pedal, that should "re-set" the proportional metering block, that's what I did on my 86. I found that I needed to give the rear brakes a slow steady pedal push when bleeding so the valve wouldn't cut off the flow to the rears (like a rear brake line failure).

I went ahead and opened a bleeder screw on the front driver side. Fluid did come out of it. However, I tried a couple of times pressing down on the brake pedal with the front bleed screw out and still not a drop of fluid came out through the rears. It still seems odd that fluid shoots out the reservoir (on the rear part) is this normal behavior?

quote Originally posted by GTFiero1: Do you have no fluid coming out of either rear calipers? Is so than the check ball in the metering valve is tripped to only flow fluid to the front brakes. Actual best way to reset that is drive the car to about 25mph and stomp the brake pedal a few times. Then come back and bleed. Just be cautious when driving it

Not to be a smartass, but what difference does it make to the combination valve if the car is moving or not when you stomp the brake pedal?

When you first step on the brake peddle you do normally see fluid squirt up in the master but not after the peddle moves farther.
It does that until the fill opening is covered by the piston.

Do you not get any fluid from either rear calliper on just one?

I had your same problem and it ended up being a collapsed rubber brake line. The wasted time you spend fixing everything but the real problem will have you willing to pay $25 for the new hose line from the very beginning.

I've had this on a few occasions. Collapsed flex line.

What he said above.

The clip that holds the brake line will rust and will constrict, squeeze the brake line shut. I thought it was crazy until it happened to mine.

This also happened to me, it is the flex line.

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Matt

2002 5.4 Ford F-150 SuperCrew
1986 2.8 Pontiac Fiero 4-Speed

Build Thread
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/111183.html

Ditto. The lefr front hose on my 85GT was just about completely plugged due to age. new hoses and it's like new again.

Well, it would seem I have a consensus! I'll yank the lines from my parts car tonight and give it a go. Can you tell if the lines are free flowing by blowing air through them, or is there some sort of check valve?

Yup. if you have the line in hand, try and blow through it. I had a line swelled from sitting for a few years and was completely plugged.

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Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival. - W. Edwards Deming

Jay Brintnell
Southern Ontario Fiero Association and the Ontario Pontiac Club

quote Originally posted by KurtAKX: Not to be a smartass, but what difference does it make to the combination valve if the car is moving or not when you stomp the brake pedal?

I have no idea, but that actually works the best

quote Originally posted by GTFiero1: I have no idea, but that actually works the best

Possible the slight pulsing from the callipers would make it trip back easier.

Well it looks like that solved the problem. On BOTH sides rust had formed at the bracket and had squeezed the hose shut. I got replacement hoses from Napa and bled my brakes today. Everything works great. Thanks everybody!