Protege5 / Mazda6 Brake swap problem

trust me, there is air in your lines. pay the $50 or whatever and have a shop bleed them out.
 
Sadly I'm having the exact same issue with my buick.I though it was the brake booster because the master cyl does not leak and after replacing it still does it. I do not have air in my lines and calipers are fine which makes it the master cylinder. I have the exact same issues as the op so I would say get a new master cylinder
 
yup, air in the lines. first time i swapped out for SS brake lines, had EXACTLY the same response.
 
bled the brakes 3 more times using a different method, got tons of air out, but the pedal is still soft. BUT I took it for a test drive... sometimes the pedal would go right to the floor, other times it would stop the car. you could make it work by pumping it a little first. then we called Mazdaspeed, a dealer, and a local shop..none of which were any help.

Does anyone think the MC's may not be compatible? Is there any difference between a p5 MC and a Mazdaspeed Protege MC?
 
Last edited:
Of course they're compatible, that's not your problem. Either you still have a s*** load of air in your lines or the master cylinder is bad.
 
Of course they're compatible, that's not your problem. Either you still have a s*** load of air in your lines or the master cylinder is bad.

You're 100% sure the 6 brakes will work with the p5 MC?

I have an extra p5 MC I can try. Do you think it's worth $80 to have a shop bleed the brakes to make sure it's not just air in the lines, before we put in all the work replacing the MC?
 
Replacing the mc isn't bad just have you re bleed the brakes again.the fact that you say you bled all the air out then after pumping them and playing with the pedal then you bled it again and had air is leaning more towards a bad mc
 
The only thing that might be different about the other master cylinder is that it moves a greater/lesser volume of fluid. Either way, it wouldn't give you the symptoms you're describing.

If you have an extra master cylinder, why not swap it out? I just looked at the procedure and it doesn't look very tricky...
 
Hey, just got your PM. I'm still trying to get the motor in my car so I haven't had time to really bleed mine. I can say that the MC in the 6 is bored smaller than the P5:
MZ6 = 20mm (3/4")
P5 = 15/16"

So using the P5 MC would mean that you would be discplacing more fluid for the same motion in a P5 as opposed to the MZ6. That said, it may take more travel to dispress the calipers being that the pistons are larger and it requires more fluid to move a larger piston. To your point though, if it feels as though you are hitting the floor and are still not confident in the stopping ability there is an issue.

More than likely you have air trapped in the calipers; have you tried to gravity bleed the system? Also, you say you "almost" put a litre of fluid through the system, I usually go through 2 bottles when flushing the system; maybe I'm an over achiever? I see where you mention the system never went dry, that's a good thing and should alleviate the chance of you having air in the MC or ABS block (if so equipped). If it were me, I would position each caliper so that the valve is at the highest point and gravity bleed the system, this can take a couple of hours. I've used the hand pumps (vacuum) before and they are decent, but I find the pressure pumps that attach at the MC are better, not knocking your method, I doubt that's the issue.
 
have you tried to gravity bleed the system?

havent tried that yet...although we've tried it three other ways lol

Also, you say you "almost" put a litre of fluid through the system, I usually go through 2 bottles when flushing the system; maybe I'm an over achiever?

man we've gone through 5 or 6 containers of brake fluid now :/

I think we are going to replace the master cylinder, and then bleed the crap out of them again. If it STILL doesn't work after a new MC, then I guess I'll limp it to the shop and have them bleed it





Are there any known people who have done this brake swap successfully on all 4 corners of the car?
 
Last edited:
I recently changed all 4 calipers and the hydraulic lines; I had no problem bleeding the system. I don't see why having different calipers would make bleeding any harder (unless the Mazda 6 calipers are inherently harder to bleed).
 
When I put my VTTR's on I had to bleed like 10 times..... Changing the front brakes and SS lines in the front.

My pedal is still soft.......... But when I stomp it I stop really fast....... I think it is still an air issue you are experiencing.

I am abt to swap the rears to the 6 brakes so I am subbing :)

Rob
 
took it to firestone to have the brakes bled. when they looked at it, they said that, because the bleeder screws point down on the rear calipers, air was probably getting trapped in them.

I'm going to unbolt the calipers an bleed them with the bleeder screws up, then just put them back how they were. hopefully that will do the trick!
 
Did you not get to try my gravity bleed? That's what I was getting at when suggesting that method.
 
I meant since I posted that. I suggested the gravity bleed and re-positioning the calipers, then you wrote that firestone said the same thing (about re-positioning the calipers). I was just curious as to whether re-positioning the calipers didn't work and that's why you took it to firestone or you were just getting fed up. Also, did they not bleed them while you were there? Pretty rare that they would give friendly advice without making a buck.
 
Back