Brake Was Soft and Squishy When Braking

After buying my car for a few months, I noticed the brake was soft and squishy when braking. I had to press the pedal hard, but still inches away from the floor for the car to stop.

What I have done so far to diagnose the problem but it still persists.
- Changed rear brake shoes & components, I also did the rear adjustment as tight as I could.
- Changed front brake pads & rotors
- Flushed all four tires, bled and filled them up with brand-new brake fluid


I checked all the brake lines and no leakage. So, what else could I check for the problem? thank you guys

 

How did you bleed the brakes? 2 person, pressure at the master cylinder, vacuum bleed, etc.

 

I did the one-person method in the ChrisFix video <- this video.

 

It could be a bad master cylinder. Was the brake fluid black or green when you got it?

The only one person method i know of that works is a pressure bleeder setup

 

When I was bleeding the brake fluid, it was dark brown in color. The brake fluid I got, I think was green (don't quote me cuz it was months ago)

 

I mean the brake fluid in the reservoir. Was it green or very dark? That could indicate a "corrosive" behavior that could damage the internal seals in the master cylinder

 

It was a dark green color.

 

So I have had success with the 1 person method on my previous 2000 Corvette. I couldn't believe it actually worked and I had great brakes.

With that said I would try to bleed again, with a pressure bleeder at the master/reservoir OR 2 person method.

If that doesn't work, then you've got a bad master as @b_r_o said. Or something else is bad. Could be a bad caliper, brake lines, etc.

 

A brake line-lock comes in handy. You can clamp off each corner and see if anything changes at the pedal. Or clamp off all 4 if you have 4 line-locks

Try bleeding again with a helper

 

Pressure bleeder. Hopefully the BMC is not internal leaking allowing pressure to leak past the seal.

my clutch master was in shit shape and replaced it. Noticed a difference. Works similarly. But different part of the system.

that and quality of the pads and rotors. If they’re not good parts that bite well it’s not gonna feel as good. Bedding procedures can also help with that, laying down transfer material so the brake is essentially biting pad material onto pad material which grips more. Pretty sure my TRD pads even came with instructions to do that.

which reminds me. I forgot to do it again since putting second set of pads on. Doesn’t feel as good as it used to. Probably need to do it again and get improvement.
Did it the first time on previous set.
At least the mileage had elapsed to qualify it. You don’t want to do that on new parts within the first 200 miles generally.

 

My truck took forever to bleed for some reason. Did the old pump and hold method. Never had as much trouble as i did with this truck, i just figured it was a taco thing.
Fwiw, if you bleed it long enough its basically a fluid swap lol

 

Will definitely bleed again with two people method and keep y’all posted

 

If air was never introduced into your brake lines, then it shouldn’t be necessary to bleed the ABS module, but since you haven’t had your Taco that long, you can’t rule it out. The official way to do that is to use the Techstream software to actuate the ABS, but you can potentially do it yourself by causing the ABS to engage by slamming on the brakes several times on a dirt or gravel road. Then bleed again, moving a lot of fluid because an air bubble up by the ABS takes a long time to reach, for example, the rear wheels. Do not let the master cylinder run dry while doing this, of course.