Weak, spongey, pedal on my 2000 V70 with 78K. It's been that way for awhile. So my mechanic said I need all new brakes at my recent inspection.
So I got all new rotors and pads for $510, hoping the problem would go away.
It is actually worse! I brought it back and asked if bleeding is part of the job and he bled it no charge and said he got some air out of a front wheel and he thought it felt fine. I don't want to question his expertise, but he should know the correct way to bleed different cars, right? And he should know how to figure out if there is a vacuum leak or hydraulic part going bad, correct? I don't hear any hissing. He said the calipers were working.

Is it possible for me and a friend to try bleeding the system (and install new fluid). Do I need a special wrench or pliers? What is the correct order?

It feels like if there were a cable between the pedal and the brakes, that cable is longer than it should be. And the pedal never gets hard whether the car is running or not. I drive three other cars with nice firm powerful brakes, so this is very disconcerting for me.

 

Usually if the booster goes bad the pedal gets really hard.
Bleeding might help. Air usually works to the back calipers.
You should bleed them in this order R/R L/R R/F L/F.

 

so now I know it's not the booster. I have a feeling he either didn't put much effort into bleeding the system or did not do it properly.
Could it be the master cylinder? How would I know?

I should look for another mechanic.

 

There is a thread in this forum or else where (sorry don't remember, but perhaps the brickboard?) that talks about if the pads are loaded wrong. There is a keeper, spring, WTF I sure wish I'd saved it, that if installed wrong gives you a very spongy brake and is a fairly common mistake. All the bleeding in the world won't fix it. Since I can't be of much help either a more experienced member will need to respond, or you'll need to expand your search. If the mechanic installed the pads EXACTLY as he took them off, then nothing was fixed. You need to find this in the forums or perhaps pay to have an experienced Volvo Tech look at them. I wish you the best of luck and PLEASE KEEP US POSTED. This is how all the other members learn.

Jerry

 

thanks for the tip. I will look into it soon and post what happens.