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I put a new brake master cylinder on. I have the front and rear brake nipples open w/bleed bottles attached. When I pump it does not appear thatfluid is coming out. When I push the brake pedal I can see movment in the resevoir but it does not seem to push fluid into the system. Could I have an air block in the cylinder? I remeber seeing something about bleedin the cylinder but don't know whow that is done. I have but numerous master cylinders on but never a GTV6 (this one has been on since new as I am the original owner). Terry

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Well to paraphrase Prof Henry Higgins 'I thnik I've got it!'. I went disconnected the metal tubes into the master cylinder and pumped but nothing came out. Then I loosened the screw under the resevoir which I thought might be a bleed srew. I then pumped the pedal and heard a whishing noise and tightened the screw. From then on the MC pumped fluid into the system and I was able to bleed it. Thanks for all the advice!! Terry

No, no, thank YOU Terry.... a good tip which I will try to remember myself.

Hi, I was wondering if i could get a few suggestions from one of you guys. My Milano sat for about three years but all my brakes were just shy of 700 mile usage when parked. Well, i had no pump in the pedal and an empty tank when I started working on the car again. I used one of those vacum pumps to bleed the brakes, the front ones are fine but I cannot seem to be able to pull anything out of the rear ones. Needless to say I have almost no pump and the car brakes very little. Can anyone give me some good tips? I used to be a true guru on Alfas, but four years of school and being unable to work on them will dull your mind. Any suggestions where I may start?

get a rebuild kit and re do all 4 corners....sitting for extended periods has a habit of setteling the sludge in the brakes and locking up calipers

Ok Mr Student, lesson 1. You cannot possibly consider owning and driving an Alfa sports car and not have 100% sound brakes. So my suggestion is to completely review the entire system starting from the Vacuum booster forward.
Check the diaphragm for operation
Rekit the master cylinder and ensure the bore is not pitted
Rekit front and rear callipers. You may find that you need to buy an exchange rear calliper set as they are likely to be corroded up and will eventually leak if they dont already.
If your brake hoses are only relatively new then they should be ok otherwise renew them too.
Purge the lines with a few bleeds and never reuse any fluid.
Check for minimum rotor thickness and run out. Replace as necessary.
If any pads have brake fluid contamination, discard and do not use.

That will at least get you in the ballpark of brakes. As for improving on the original set ups, do a search, there are heaps of pointers about.

Welcome back to skinned knuckles, sleepless nights and resident moths in your wallet.

while your inside of everything clear out the old lines with a can of brake clean..this will wash out any sludge still in the lines that more fluid wont always wash out...leaveing you with a almost new system

MD, thanks for the advice, I had kind of figured that, only I got spoiled with my 164s I guess, the vehicle is soo reliable that I barely have to do any maintenance on it . As far as the Milano is concerned, I got braking on the front two brakes, pressing the pedal clear flid comes easily out, I pulled it through with a vacum pump. However, i cannot pull any fluid to the rear even with the pump. Maybe a frozen line? The master seems to be doing fine, so does the booster, I will start working my way back from ther front to the back. I will probably rebuild the two rear calipers, I don't think that they even ever worked correctly, but it will be impossible to correctly bleed the system with the rear section frozen. Go figure!

pull the rear line at the MC ..get a small section of line and use the pump to bleed off the mc...once your getting fluid out there with no air...connect the line and move to the rear...unbolt the line at the T junction on the transaxle and bleed to that T...this will prove that there is no blockage..once thats bled hook it back up and move to a caliper.....this is what i was forced to do on my gtv6 for some reason i simply couldnt pull enuf to bleed the parts as a unit and had to seperate everything up and bleed my way back...but the system works perfectly now

That's good advice from shortlife. I would just add that I would make the first test at the output stage of the in line rear pressure regulator in case it has seized. If you get good flow there, move onto the rear callipers.

That is great advice, i will surely have to do that. Before i parked this Alfa I had just replaced al the pads and rotors, I will have to order a master cylinder rebuild kit because i noticed today that most of the new fluid has leaked out of it, the cause is the grommets where the plastic tank lines sit in. Once i replace these parts i will have to do this bleeding procedure, last I took down the rear calipers was when I replaced the tranny a few years back, has anyone removed the calipers without lowering the tranny? (I'm asking just in case I have to rebuild them, however they work mechanicaly effortlessly when I pull the hand brake).

yeah i did it..i was in no mood to use a wrench to remove the bolts to the rotor's so i cut 1/4 inch off of the correct size socket so i could use a ratchet to do it.....basicly you have to remove the rotors(and slide the axles out of the way a little bit) from both sides to do it..not a huge deal at all.....is the normal proccesss to drop the tranny down a bit to do the job????

Shortlife,

There is an article on the main site under the tech articles listing. Looks like the normal way to do it is how you did it>

HTH,
Scott

I have bleed the brakes on my late1983 GTV6 (Brembo front calipers) and was wondering the best method to make sure all the air is expelled. One manual says the further side from the master cylinder and another both rear and front together on the right and then the left. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

usually the way to go is to bleed the farthest out from the master cyl and work your way in....first do the ( in left hand drive car) passenger side rear, then the driver's rear , then the passengers front, then the drivers front. The rear can be a bit of a pain but try bleeding both rears at the same time.

I find pressure bleeding works best, as opposed to vaccum bleeding.

hth,