I have been refurbishing the brakes (Disco 1 - no ABS, nice and simple, or so I thought! ). All calipers stripped down, cleaned and painted D ), new seals, new pistons, new bleed screws, new master cylinder, new flexible hoses, new pads. Fixed brake pipes have been replaced before and are all in good condition (copper).

But, I cannot get the pedal to be firm on the first push, it always goes to the floor and on the second push it is firm, if I repeat iommedaitely the pedal is still firm but if I leave it for a few seconds it's back to the floor on the first push.

No leaks and the fluid level stays the same in the reservoir.

Thought it must be air in the system but I have bled it so many times - I even bought a Gunson Eezibleed, a great invention if only because it does not answer back (unlike the wife when she is pushing the brake pedal ) - and no more air comes out.

Any ideas?

try bleeding the brakes with the engine running, that way the servo is working

make sure theres no play in the wheel bearings as this will push the pads back and give a soft pedal on the first push, make sure the discs are in good nick too

Bled the brakes with the engine running, definitely better but I can still floor the brake pedal on the first push, so I will now have a go at the wheel bearings...

are you bleeding them in the corect order?

Good point and yes I am. However, the Haynes manual does not deal with the 3 bleed screws on the front calipers so I followed the Service Manual which has the proper sequence and this improved matters but still not perfect. However, there is play in the front bearings and this will be the next thing to try.

Great, get teh bearing tightened up and then try again, you will need a large box spanner to do the brearing nuts up and in theory you will need new tab washers as well.

Hi coul,
Had similar problem with a 90 needed new master cylinder ( it was fine untill I stripped and put new seals in !!)
regards Harddrive