Possible air in brake lines?

[Flash]

So yesterday i replaced the calipers, pads and rotors, ive done this countless times and know how to bleed the brakes....so its not something im unfamiliar with.

So i had my friend pump the brakes as i was the one under the car to make sure it was done the way ive always done it, usually i go around twice but it was too cold so we did each caliper once in the correct order. The pedal was hard as a rock like normal after bleeding, so i go to start up the car and its spongy, i drove up and down the street hammering the brakes and they barely do anything, so i drove home (night with no traffic) and then my brakes work a little better but i still cant lock the brakes up even with left foot braking (ABS sensor bad so ABS dont work). If i cant lock them up in the wet, with flooring the pedal then something is wrong, i have maybe 50% of normal braking force at best.

Could there still be air in the system? The reservoir was always topped off and never went below well....it didnt really move at all.

Any help is appreciated.

[Wh33lhop]

Rock hard pedal when the car's off doesn't mean crap. You need vacuum to the booster.

Re: bleeding order, what's the correct order again? Rear Passenger, rear driver, front passenger, front driver? Or is it closest to furthest? (I've got air in my system too)

[Danny]

Furthest to closest.

[Mike325]

I would go around and bleed again. You said that you replaced the calipers, so that means that they were completely empty of fluid, so another go around should be done. While you are bleeding, you might want to take a small hammer and tap the back of the caliper where the piston is to free up any trapped air bubbles when the bleeder screw is open. You might want to try gravity bleeding too.

And yes, the order is farthest caliper from the master first, then move your way to the closest.

[DJB]

The order doesn't really matter. It's no problem to bleed the brakes in a different order.

Of course if you don't have any reason to start at a specific wheel, use that "furtherest" rule. But the only case where it could matter is if starting from a dry system.

[Car Addict]

^ that is not always true. There are circumstances when if one does not follow the correct order, residual air pockets can be left in the system; causing a "spongy pedal".

[delatlanta1281]

^ that is not always true. There are circumstances when if one does not follow the correct order, residual air pockets can be left in the system; causing a "spongy pedal".

Qft
Always start from the furthest away.

[Wh33lhop]

I replaced the master cyl, so there was definitely air way up in there. I've got a spongy pedal but not the spongy you'd think where there's just a few inches of nothing, instead it just slowly presses down if you step on it hard then hits a point where it gets solid an inch or two further down. It's weird, I'm hoping I don't have any air trapped in the ABS.

Also, should it be level when you're bleeding? This is the first time I've really touched brake hydraulics for this exact reason.

[AndrewBird]

If it's level enough to put the car on stands, it's level enough to bleed.

I'm with everyone else; re-bleed them. Sometimes a short drive will work air around in the lines.

[iwantspeed]

possible option is re bleed completely with a different color brake fluid
once that color starts coming out of the bleed valve you know that it has gone through the full system.
repeat on each wheel
then bleed the clutch