Brake problems

[epsark]

Zed Head, Thanks!!

You steered me in the right direction. I went out to the garage and got my Haynes manual to double check what it said as far as what resevior serviced what section. I thought for sure it would vindicate me and say back to the rear and front to the front. It did, as far as 240Z's are concerned. Then I noticied the diagrams and the 260Z looked like mine, since the larger resevior was in the back and the skinny tall one in the front. I thought "no way"! Mine couldn't be set up that way, it's a 240Z after all. The diagram also showed the the 260Z MC has F and R stamped on the side below the reseviors to indicate which was which, presumably for people who don't look at what they have or just assume what should be on their car.

Anyway, I went out to the garage again to check which set up I had, and lo and behold I have a 260Z MC complete with F and R stamped on the side. Then looked in the R stamped resevior, and found it empty. Bone dry (figuratively). Wow! Never even thought to check the front (physical) resevior since I was convinced it serviced the front brakes.

So now I know why they wouldn't bleed. The whole system for the rear was empty. Now I know I have only lost part of my mind seeing how I didn't think to check the other resevior to see if it was empty. Between what leaked out from the original swap and what my mini vac sucked out, I took all of it out. No wonder ot would only gurgle. Now to fill the resevior back up and start the process again. This time watching the correct resevior and the level.

[epsark]

So, went ahead and began bleeding again, this time watching the correct resevior. It took about 15 minutes for the whole thing. What a difference it makes knowing which resevior goes to which set of brakes!

So, lesson learned: double check what MC set up you have regardless of the year car!

[Sarge368]

Thank you everyone. We switched the calipers, bled the system and the brakes work perfectly!

[Zed Head]

Glad my pontifications could help someone out. Funny how we get stuck on the path of how we assume things should be and miss the obvious. I spent a good few weeks living with bad brakes, bleeding them constantly and trying to figure out what was wrong until someone helping me and watching the reservoir said "I wonder where all of the fluid is going" and I realized I must have a huge air bubble, and the only place with that much room was the calipers. They were on the wrong sides.

[Wade Nelson]

I concur with an earlier post about disassemblign and cleaning the proportioning valve.