The story begins with a front caliper that sticks on my '83 245. New calipers and rotors are needed up front, and I decide to replace the old brake hoses as they look pretty suspicious.

Rebuilt calipers are obtained from a local parts place - the rebuilder was 'New Gen'. After a little bathing in brake fluid and fighting old fittings that the PO had vice-gripped, the new parts were in place. Out comes the power bleeder to finish up the job in time to have a pint with some friends.

Round 1 of bleeding - got some nice bubbles out, looking good. Hmmm, no pedal.
Round 2 of bleeding - no bubbles, just lots of fluid. Still no pedal.
Round 3 - same. Back to the store for another quart of fluid.
Round 4 - same issue. No pedal.

OK, what is going on here? Talk to a friend, and he suggests tapping on the calipers with a mallet while bleeding - claims that bubbles can stick to the fresh bore. Try that for 2 more rounds, STILL no pedal!

Back to the store for another quart.

I take a real close look at all the lines / hoses to make sure there are no leaks - none are found. I try another round of bleeding, this time with only 5-10 PSI on the bleeder. No luck. Then I try another round and have my wife pump the brakes while I am bleeding. No dice.

Huh, bad master cyl I guess. Off to the parts place to get one... and a gallon of brake fluid.

Fit the new MC, bleed again... STILL NO PEDAL!

That night I start searching the Brickboard archive - reading others tales of brake bleeding induced pain and suffering. I come across several accounts of people getting calipers that have been incorrectly assembled by the rebuilder - the inner halves being installed on the wrong side and upside down. Now, there is NO WAY to tell this by looking at the caliper... and fluid comes out each of the bleeders as it should.

Next day I pull the calipers and test them. Sure enough, they are assembled incorrectly! I take them back to the parts place to exchange for some new ones (from a different rebuilder). The guys at the parts place have never seen this problem before, and did not know it was even possible!

I don't think I would have EVER figured this out without this board - so a big thank you to Brickboard!

Here is a link to a very helpful thread on this issue:

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1039732

-Josh '83 245