A while ago I decided to do the front sway bar bushings on my 1985 300D Turbo. I did those, but noticed fluid was leaking out of the old master cylinder (MC)'s rubber seal. I waited a week for a new one, put it in, screwed the brake lines in and one of them stripped. So i waited another long while till I got it today. I got the new MC in again and everything screwed and bolted in tight. I then start bleeding the brakes, everything goes smoothly, fluid coming out of all of my new SpeedBleeders.

The pedal is still really soft though. I took it out on a drive and the brake pedal will sink to the floor and will have to stay there in order to keep the car from moving forward.

Did I perhaps not do a good enough job bench bleeding the master cylinder, or is this a defective one? I didn't think air in the system would make the pedal drop to the floor. Or maybe the new master cylinder didn't come with a rubber seal (the same one that was leaking on the old one). But fluid did not come out of the new MC when I was "bench bleeding" it. I put that in quotes cause I dont have a vice. I got the MC from Fastlane, apparently it is a "Lucas" one, not the Girling one that I ordered. It is the one that has the weirdass gold paint on it.

Im thinking of taking it to the local indie and just tellin him to pressure bleed the MC... he says thats what they do nowadays instead of bench bleeding.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Does your car have ABS? ABS needs some pressure to bleed, Ie putting your foot on the pedal and holding it while someone lossens the screw.

I have heard of a few people have trouble getting good pedal feel using power bleeders on ABS cars. I have a power bleeder and used it once, but I prefer the traditonal pumping and holding pedal method.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Naw, I think only some european W123s had ABS, and no US ones.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Never mind, I just forgot to tighten one of the brake line unions Real dumb mistake... guess I need to slow down, that could have been a costly mistake.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I hear you I learned the hard way not to rush repairs. Now I take my time and stop regularly to go over and double check myself.

Nothing like trying to fix a car at 7pm on a Tuesday night when you need it the next day and really need to review for a test the next day. It is also usually dark and 40 degrees out.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Lucas and Girling are one in the same. You got what you ordered.