Re: Milano brakes

["Rich Wagner" <drsavage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Will Owen reports that the mechanics at his local shop:

>have somehow been unable to restore the
>proper pedal height to said brakes. They've bled'em, I've done the bit
>with holding the pedal down overnight, all for naught. The pedal still
>goes clear to the floor, and even though it does apparently engage all
>four brakes at that point, it is still very unnerving, especially
>since it used to engage them after barely an inch of travel. Does
>anyone have a clue here?

Back when I was a mechanic, I worked on a lot of brakes.  I'm very good at
getting all of the air out of the system, and in achieving a rock-solid
pedal (or lever, as the case may be).  I had never, ever been skunked by a
brake system, until I let all of the fluid drain from my GTV6.  My
impression is that there is a high point somewhere in the brake line, and
that it's very difficult to get the air bubble to move past that point.  In
fact, you can have every molecule of air out of the rear calipers, and
still have a very soft pedal, or even no pedal at all.  I eventually got
the pedal in my car back to normal by using my previously posted
Alfa-mechanics-variation-on-the-Lucas-black-magic-brake-trick.  I assume
that, body pans and brake systems being equal, the Milano has exactly the
same problem.  Since the last time I worked on my car, I've spent a lot of
time thinking about this problem, and I'm wondering if there isn't a simple
solution:  pressure bleeding.  Pressure bleeding displaces much more fluid
than normal bleeding, making it easier to dislodge a tenacious bubble. 
Will, did your mechanic try this?  If not, find someone who has a pressure
bleeding kit, and ask them to try it.


Rich
Montrose, CO
'82 GTV6 Balocco

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