Getting rid of the mushy brake pedal; share your tips

[Supercharged111]

I hope not! It does seem odd that it will emit fluid (without prompting) one day and not another even with pressure on the pedal.

Like I said in my first post, they can cause a mushy pedal. Maybe go lock your brakes up on a dirt road to get the ABS pump running then flush again. You may have old, nasty fluid trapped in the accumulators of the pump.

 

[Gibson]

I do it the easy way.
I take the rig to a Chevy dealer, (where I've known the service manager for over 20 years,) they hook up the scan tool and pressure bleed the system.
They flush enough fluid thru the system so that it's all full of new fluid.
The brakes work great,, peace of mind is worth the cost.

 

[98chevy2500SS]

I do it the easy way.
I take the rig to a Chevy dealer, (where I've known the service manager for over 20 years,) they hook up the scan tool and pressure bleed the system.
They flush enough fluid thru the system so that it's all full of new fluid.
The brakes work great,, peace of mind is worth the cost.

This. In school, we learned how to bleed an ABS module through a scan tool, pretty neat stuff!

 

[Vikingdude]

When I got my 97 this year, I bled to get all the dark (black) fluid out, than used the poppet under the rubber cap on the abs unit to try and get air out. Lots more dark fluid was hiding in it. I went to a gravel road and stomped on the pedal and cycled the abs a few times. I thought I would have to bleed it again, but it's felt pretty firm since. Much much better than when I got it.

 

[David89gmc]

Ditto to most of the above.
I added a slightly larger diameter piston master cylinder to my '89 K1500, after rebuilding the rear drum pistons, all new pads and shoes, and changing all the fluid. Made a huge difference to the pedal feel.
FYI: The rear ABS is necessary on this truck and works great!

 

[Pinger]

I pushed the bleed valve on the ABS unit and a little spurt of fluid appeared and the pedal was the better for it. I've tried that again (with pedal pressure this time) and no fluid comes out.

And tried it again. Still no fluid (other than the merest hint of wet) but what I noticed is that the pintle on the bleed valve isn't permanently 'out'. It is when there's pressure on the pedal but when pedal pressure is released it jumps back in flush with the boss it sits in. Normal?

 

[thegawd]

Cycle the abs as a first step, for sure. While I was downloading and trying to get torque pro or garage pro or one of the other apps I have on my phone working I got pissed off, jumped in the truck and cycled my abs 10 times on the back half of my grassy laneway. Every time the brakes felt better and better. The abs works wonderfully on my 97 Burb, i didnt even tare up the grass at all, well except for when I was getting up to speed... ok i was having some fun as this is as close as she gets to offroad anymore. LOL

Abs can save your life I dont understand why people delete it but I have a theory, they dont live in the snow and it never gets used and so it fails. Then they get frustrated and remove it. Oh ya Iv had a car without abs, a beautiful 1980 Malibu Classic that my buddy fkn destroyed. If there was a vehicle coming when I spun it around on the highway someone was getting hurt. While spinning in circles doing 100KM/H does one pump the brakes or what? At least with a functioning abs system it should stop sooner than not or maybe I wouldn't have spun around on that black ice when I touched the brakes to leave the highway... G80 + crown of the road simply spun me around but there was nothing I could do to get it under control until it stopped spinning. My GF was screaming.... with no vehicles coming, i was laughing but it was truly terrifying.

Al

 

[Supercharged111]

Cycle the abs as a first step, for sure. While I was downloading and trying to get torque pro or garage pro or one of the other apps I have on my phone working I got pissed off, jumped in the truck and cycled my abs 10 times on the back half of my grassy laneway. Every time the brakes felt better and better. The abs works wonderfully on my 97 Burb, i didnt even tare up the grass at all, well except for when I was getting up to speed... ok i was having some fun as this is as close as she gets to offroad anymore. LOL

Abs can save your life I dont understand why people delete it but I have a theory, they dont live in the snow and it never gets used and so it fails. Then they get frustrated and remove it. Oh ya Iv had a car without abs, a beautiful 1980 Malibu Classic that my buddy fkn destroyed. If there was a vehicle coming when I spun it around on the highway someone was getting hurt. While spinning in circles doing 100KM/H does one pump the brakes or what? At least with a functioning abs system it should stop sooner than not or maybe I wouldn't have spun around on that black ice when I touched the brakes to leave the highway... G80 + crown of the road simply spun me around but there was nothing I could do to get it under control until it stopped spinning. My GF was screaming.... with no vehicles coming, i was laughing but it was truly terrifying.

Al

The ABS in my 1500 didn't fail, it just plain SUCKED. It just cycled and cycled and the truck would not stop. I unplugged it and the truck drove fine after that. It's an early system, it's nowhere near as good as what came after it. The ABS stays on my Z06 and the wife's Envoy. I'm even going to give it a shot on my dually if I ever change out my reluctor pigtail up front. RWAL sucked hard on my 88 so I removed that too. I can outbrake early ABS, but the later stuff is worlds better.

 

[Erik the Awful]

While spinning in circles doing 100KM/H does one pump the brakes or what?

Once you get backwards, pump furiously. I got sideways on an icy bridge years ago, and I kept my foot off the brake until the car went backwards. At that point you have no control over where you're going, but you sure know you want to be slower when you get there.

 

[thegawd]

I totally understand and agree with your reasoning for removing it. To be honest the only abs iv had experience with is on a 1994 Burb, i dont remember using it though but those brakes worked fine after I replaced everything LOL. and then in my 97 Burb and 98 Sierra..... so ya my experience with abs is very limited and I have not experienced a failed abs system.

Al

The ABS in my 1500 didn't fail, it just plain SUCKED. It just cycled and cycled and the truck would not stop. I unplugged it and the truck drove fine after that. It's an early system, it's nowhere near as good as what came after it. The ABS stays on my Z06 and the wife's Envoy. I'm even going to give it a shot on my dually if I ever change out my reluctor pigtail up front. RWAL sucked hard on my 88 so I removed that too. I can outbrake early ABS, but the later stuff is worlds better.