I recently rebuilt all of my 1976 brake calipers. I bled the brakes and now the brake light stays on. I know from reading the service manual that the proportioning valve has a position sensor which in turn tells the driver that there is a problem with either the front or rear brakes. Is there a procedure that I need to do in bleeding the brakes to reset the sensor in the proportioning valve? I have been told that I would have to lift the rear of the car higher than the master cylinder when bleeding the rear calipers. Is this correct?
Thanks,
2vetteken

|QUOTE|2vetteken said: I recently rebuilt all of my 1976 brake calipers. I bled the brakes and now the brake light stays on. I know from reading the service manual that the proportioning valve has a position sensor which in turn tells the driver that there is a problem with either the front or rear brakes. Is there a procedure that I need to do in bleeding the brakes to reset the sensor in the proportioning valve? I have been told that I would have to lift the rear of the car higher than the master cylinder when bleeding the rear calipers. Is this correct?
Thanks,
2vetteken |/QUOTE|

Ken, I presume that you mean the light on the dash. If that is what you are talking about, there is a special procedure for turning it off. In my stainless steel brakes manual, it says that the proportional valve has a bleeder screw on each end. When you bled the brakes, was the last one you bled, the drivers side? If it was, you need to have someone get in the car, pump up the brakes, and loosen the nut slowly on the passenger side of the proportional valve until the light goes out. Then immediatly tighten it. That should fix your problem. If it don't, e-mail me , and I'll scan the page in the manual, and send it to you.

Remember to loosen the nut SLOWLY, on the proportional valve, on the opposite side of the last brake that was bled.

I hope I haven't confused you too much



Don't forget to turn on the ignition switch while you are working with the proportioning valve, so the light will be on...

|UPDATED|8/6/2002 9:20:12 AM|/UPDATED|

Ken, did you manually bleed them or pressure bleed them?

Thanks for the advice. The brake light I am referring to is the dash light. The last brake caliper that was bled was the left rear (passenger rear) caliper farthest from the master cylinder. I will try the procedure you have described.

The brakes were manually bled.

|UPDATED|8/5/2002 11:43:26 PM|/UPDATED|

Just so you know, the service manual says to raise the rear of the car when doing them so you don't get an air bubble trapped in the line. And obviously to top off the master cylinder(which I'm sure you did)

Both manals I have (Chilton's and Haynes, page 9-9 in either one) list in chapter 9 the sequence for bleeding the brakes:

Left rear (inner then outer)
Right rear (inner then outer)
Left front
Right front

Hope this helps.


Jim O.

|QUOTE|2vetteken said: Thanks for the advice. The brake light I am referring to is the dash light. The last brake caliper that was bled was the left rear (passenger rear) caliper farthest from the master cylinder. I will try the procedure you have described.

The brakes were manually bled.


|/QUOTE|

You bled the brakes in reverse rotation. The first to be bled should have been the outer RR, then inner RR, the outer LR, then inner LR, then pass front, then driver front. You might need to redo everything...

It still might be ok. You can try to do the proportioning valve.
Maybe you got all of the air out doing it your way. Luckily!



This is information from the Stainless Steel disc brake system manual.
It is the procedure I used when I installed new S/S calipers on my vette, and I had no problems at all. If you want, I can e-mail you a copy of this info...

|UPDATED|8/6/2002 9:15:20 AM|/UPDATED|

I knew about the service manual's procedure in bleeding the brakes which starts with the caliper farthest from the master cylinder and work your way to the master cylinder. I read in a tech article in Cars & Parts Corvette (June 2002, Vol. 5, No. 3, pg. 30) that they recommeded the way I bled the brakes starting with the shortest line. My brakes work fine with a good resistance in the brake peddle. I tried this procedure to see if it was a better way of bleeding the brakes. I will go back and do the brakes the way the manuals recommend and hope that this will fix my dash brake light constantly being on. If the light stays on after bleeding the second time, I will also look at bleeding the proportioning valve.

Thanks for the help all. I appreciate the great comments.

2vetteken

|UPDATED|8/6/2002 5:37:51 PM|/UPDATED|

|QUOTE|2vetteken said: I knew about the service manual's procedure in bleeding the brakes which starts with the caliper farthest from the master cylinder and work your way to the master cylinder. I read in a tech article in Cars & Parts Corvette (June 2002, Vol. 5, No. 3, pg. 30) that they recommeded the way I bled the brakes starting with the shortest line. My brakes work fine with a good resistance in the brake peddle. I tried this procedure to see if it was a better way of bleeding the brakes. I will go back and do the brakes the way the manuals recommend and hope that this will fix my dash brake light constantly being on. If the light stays on after bleeding the second time, I will also look at bleeding the proportioning valve.

Thanks for the help all. I appreciate the great comments.

2vetteken


|/QUOTE|

Hey Ken,

Did you get the light to go off?
Glen

I tried bleeding the brakes per the manual and went to the proportioning valve to bleed the opposite line and the wife said the light flickered and stayed on. Is it that sensitive? I will try again this weekend.