Help! Spongy brake pedal!

[2008e92328i]

After installing new shock/struts spring combo, I've noticed that my brake pedal felt spongy on test drive.

I bled the brakes because I thought there was air in the lines somewhere, but to my surprise and disappointment no air bubbles came out from any bleeder screws.

I then went to searching here and found that ABS might have air in it. Went to auto parts store to rent a scan tool that can pulsate ABS system. Again, no air came out from any bleeder screws.

My car has 82k miles. I'm betting the master cylinder is original. Can it that my master cylinder is bad? I checked it out visually and did "see" any leaks.

Btw, when I was bleeding my brakes, there was a white or cream colored chucks in my master cylinder. The brake fluid was very dark color. I sucked all that out, but it didn't make a difference.

My brake pedal feels like it engages almost at the bottom of its travel. I can pump brakes hard when car is off, but it feels spongy when car is on. Brake pedal is not completely soft, but it certainly isn't confidence inspiring.

Anyone that has knowledge of braking systems and how they work, or anyone that's dealt with something similar and fixed their brakes, please chime in. I appreciate any and every feedback.

Thanks

[Thunderguts]

Cream colored brake fluid is definitely a bad sign. I'm guessing your brake fluid may be original to the car and it's probably absorbed a lot of water over the years and thus corroded the lines somewhere along the way. Unfortunately there's no telling how extensive the damage might be. It sounds like you still have air in the system, but I'm guessing there's even more to it than that. I wouldn't even know what to advise you. You definitely don't want to replace the ABS unit if you don't need to because it's damned expensive. I guess I would pull off the master cylinder to look for damage and go from there.

[iminhell1]

Sounds like you stretched a line/s and they collapsed?

They system isn't going to all of a sudden go soft without some type of change to the system. Damage, leak, opening a line etc. It's a sealed system so any change to that will result in a change to braking force.

[2008e92328i]

Originally Posted by iminhell1

Sounds like you stretched a line/s and they collapsed?

They system isn't going to all of a sudden go soft without some type of change to the system. Damage, leak, opening a line etc. It's a sealed system so any change to that will result in a change to braking force.

It's certainly possible, even though I was being mindful of that. I guess I will go ahead and order new lines and probably new bleeder screws as well.

It's just strange that I had no air bubbles coming out from any of callipers or the ABS unit. When I was bleeding my brakes I actually wanted to see air bubbles and was disappointed when I saw none