why does brake pedal go to the floor?

yes i did bench bleed the master cylinder...just pumping the pedal to bleed ...the pedal goes hard then I can wait a min and it goes to the floor

The bleeder valve is on the bottom of the caliper. Gravity pulls the fluid to it and leaves air in the top. Take the caliper off the car but leave the rotor between the pads and bleed with the valve at a high point. You will get your air out. ... pita to figure out. ....

Hey this is Pete, if you want a good pedal after replacing faulty part, bleed system, & then still have a spongy pedal this is what you should try, take the vehicle to a gravel road, drive the vehicle in a safe area where you can slide the wheels in a quick/ panic type stop, this will reset a.b.s. module out of line mode. Brakes system should correct itself and pedal resume normal. Dealers don't want you too know that. Your welcome! A.S.E. master mechanic with 30 years experience.

I wished that I had gone to that dirt road before doing all of that work. I got the speed up to 45 and slammed on the brake and now I have a solid pedal and brakes. Thanks. Phil

The dirt road at 45 mph and slamming on the brakes fixed our brake problem on our 2010 terrain as well. Thank you for this info

It worked 45 mph on a dirt rd and slammed on the brakes and it worked on a 2012 equinox Thanx for the info

I also did the gravel road with my 2011 equinox and it worked! Thank you Pete, you saved me a lot of money and worry!!!

I had a similar problem with a 2013 equinox and tried the slam this morning and it worked after a week of horror. Thanks

I did this today. Drove my 2012 equinox 45 mph on a dirt road and slammed the brakes. It worked perfect! Thank you!

With very little hope I decided to give this a try. WOW, it worked just as you said. (2013 Equinox) Don't know if I made it to 45 MPH due to short area to build up speed. I have full brake pedal now. THANKS

I am mechanic for 30 years my custmers is also a retires mechanic after replacing the master cylinderin a 2012 equinox i couldnt get the pedal to hold pressure took it out on a dirt road got it up to 45mph slammed on the brakes and BAM it works lile new. Thank you.

What do you do if no gravel/dirt roads nearby? Live in a concrete jungle these days and I replaced master, bled in new DOT3, new pads on 4 corners properly but pedal still eventually sinks to floor. How does GM do it? An ABS scan tool or something?

Thank you Pete. I just did this on a gravel road on our 2011 Eqionox and it worked. Where I am still puzzled is we have never had any brake work done to the car 58O00 miles. I was told sometimes a valve in the ABS module will stick. and cause this.

Thank U Pete !!! Unbelievable! After I can’t add up how many times we bled pumped bled pumped my friggin leg was about to fall off!!!! LOL

I tried the dirt road several times and couldn't get it to work. 2012 captiva

Pete- u da man! From brake tech w 10 yrs experience who just had customer come back after brake work on 2010 Exuinox. Worked like a charm! 40 mph on asphalt. Thx a mil!

Thank you Pete. It worked on my 2012 Equinox after replacing the master cylinder. Amazing!

Thanks Pete! Worked great on my girl’s 2012 equinox. She was going to take it to the dealer and get reamed. She finally let me try your trick. You genius!

Glad I found this post. I changed the master cylinder on my Mom's car and pedal still would slowly go to floor but tried this on a dirt road and it worked the first time...wonderful...Thanks!!

Pete's fix worked perfectly...driving down gravel road 45mph, stomp brakes to engage ABS. The ABS module needs a reset/cycle, so this can be done by either physically doing it like Pete suggests or the GM dealer using a program tool can manually cycle the ABS module solenoids. My guess is the vehicle's collision avoidance system (which preloads the pads) probably causes one of the valves to get stuck over time and the ABS module just needs cycled to clear it.