Soft brake pedal
 

I recently acquired a 2002 4.4i. All brake pads were recently changed by previous owner, and I then had the front discs changed (below minimum thickness) and fluid flushed. I had hoped that the fluid flush would firm up the pedal, but it still seems soft to me. I came from an E60 550i Motorsport where a sneeze while braking would put you through the windscreen, so I'm not sure if my slightly soft pedal is normal or not...

What should I look into next?

Any codes?

Did you activate the ABS with your Foxwell, etc.? If not you'll never get the lines to bleed.

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I have to admit that I leave important stuff like brakes to my mechanic.. I use an independent BMW mechanic with all the right tools, so I can only assume he activated the pump etc.

I don't have any brake related codes stored from my Carly scanner, but I have had the ABS and DSC lights come on while driving two times - which reset when restarting.

Red or yellow lights?

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Just yellow..

I don't believe that the Carly scanner actually scans very much.

With just yellow it sounds like that was from a voltage issue and not related to your soft pedal problem.
You need a real scanner no matter what and for less than $120 USD a Foxwell NT-510 or NT-520 will save you a ton of headaches and money tracking down problems/faults.

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Foxwell is better as far as functionality... but you'd be surprised how many of the modules Carly can pull codes for. I don't believe I've seen anything yet on any of my vehicles that doesn't come up on both units.

That said, with the new subscription business model for Carly... buy a Foxwell. You'll need it anyway for steering angle sensor, brake, and other services where activating/initiating/coding new parts might be necessary.

Indications are shade tree mechanic did brake work without properly purging the air from the abs block.

Intermittent abs light commonly from a wheel sensor out of position or rust interfering but if the pressure sensor detects anomaly from the air in the system I'm pretty sure that will also trip the system


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FWIW, I replaced my booster & master cylinder which introduced a lot of air into the system. No matter what I did I couldn’t get it to bleed even with ISTA/D. The pedal felt soft and spongy. In the end I took it to the mechanic and they spent an hour on it, pedal felt a lot better after that but still not perfect. Must be some trick to it.

I even had a pressure bleeder too.

Run ABS 1st, than bleeder and then start ABS again while using bleeder.

It's like the Kama Sutra it's, all the right order and right step or you end up at the chiropractor or body shop getting the dents out from not stopping at the appropriate time....

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