Hey all,

I got a 1980 w116 300sd recently. The brakes seemed to be a bit weak and made some noise on stopping, screeching noises probably from rust since it was sitting for a long time.

So I decided I would check the whole system out, change all 4 wheel pads, rotors looked good, bled with DOT 4, and installed new rubber lines.

Thought it would brake like a champ now, took it on a test drive, and it seemed to be worse than when I started - the car stops, but takes a long time. Not even near close to safe on freeway, or even back streets for that matter.

I did some searching and some people have mentioned vacuum and brake booster problems, but I don't think it did this bad of a job before I started working on the brakes.

The vacuum door locks do not work, but the blower turns on and off from the climate control panel (eventually, after the car has been running for a minute or so) so the vacuum must be working somewhat right?

Also, I did the brake bleeding with the wife in pumping the pedal while I did the bleeding. Could there have been an issue with her not pushing down far enough - she is short and cant push all the way down to the floor, which is bad any way, and when I opened the bleed screw, fluid comes out but does not "spray" out as hard as I have seen other cars do.

Any suggestions on where to start looking or common causes for this behavior?

Thanks in advance.