i have the spongiest pedal ever, ive tried bleeding the brakes regularly to bring the pedal up but when i start the vehicle the brakes drop down a nice length and is very spongy. i hear air if i hit the brakes hard enough but stops but just not like it should. is there a certain way to bleed a 91 ford explorer xlt 4wd anti-lock brake system. maybe that could be the problem, somebody help me b4 i end up in somebodys backseat ive replaced rotors, calipers and master cylinder what is going on brakes are excellent

 

Gonna take a shot in the dark here but maybe the brake fluid hoses that go from the wheel well to the caliper has worn over time to expand where it shouldn't? if you wanted to go through the trouble, you could try replacing those hoses, do they make steel brake lines for our truck? I have heard many a testimony that THAT is the single best way to remove sponginess.

 

Power booster?

 

Have you tried changing the fluid?
When bleeding brakes, start at the corner furthest from the master cylinder, then move to the next farthest, etc. Check all the hoses, as previously mentioned by neo82. If any look crakced or owrn, replace them.
Hope you find your problem quickly.

 

i was told that the symptoms of needing a brake booster was that i would have to mash the hell out of the brake pedal for the vehicle to stop but i have the complete opposite in this case, and thanks for recommending that i replace the brake lines but i have done that also but i do wanna replace the booster since that is the last item that was not replaced. but if i replace the booster and have the same problem im assed out like prince jeans

 

I had the same problem but mine does not have ABS. When I swapped the master cylinder and bled the brakes, bingo - hard as a rock. Is the procedure for bleeding ABS the same as a non-ABS system?

You also didn't mention any signs of leakage (which will result in a mushy pedal). Have you looked for/found any leaks? You mentioned "hearing air" when you hit the brakes.

 

I had the spongy brake pedal too. I changed my pads to the Gold series from Advance Auto and the problem went away. Brakes are good and strong now...

 

on my 92 explorer i was going down a hill and all of a sudden the brakes fell in and it was extremely hard to stop. i took a look and somehow the hose was cut. i was still able to stop but i needed to push hard as hell, have you checked the simple things?

 

OK, first of all you only have ABS in the rear no front ABS, Ford did not put ABS in the front of explorers till 94 or 95. Do you have any fluid lose in the master cyender after you bleed the brake or does it remain full?? If it remains full the spongey pedal means you still got air in the lines. You mentioned you replaced the master Cylender, what you should of done before you put it in is what is called "Bench Bleeding", what you do to do that is you put the master cylender in a vise, master cylenders usally come with rubber lines which you use just for this purpose, hook those lines up to the side of the master clyender, and put the other end into a bottle, and fill the master clyender, now take a wooden dowel in put it in the back of the master clyender pushing and letting it go, makeing sure that you maintain the fluid level to full, do this until you see no air bubble in the master clyender when you push the dowel in, put the master on the vehical. And bleed the brakes like normal, have a buddy sit in the drivers seat pressing the brake pedal while you open one bleeder screw on the passengers rear wheel have him keep hitting the brake until you see now bubble in the bottle. And continue on to each brake reapeating the steps. ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING IS TO MAKE SURE THE MASTER CYLENDER IS FULL OF BRAKE FLUID THROUGH THIS WHOLE PROCESS IF NOT YOU WILL GET AIR IN THE LINES AND HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN. If you dont want to remove the master cylender again you are going to have to maunually bleed the lines until you see no air bubbles in the master cylender, i would recomend removing it because trust me it takes forever to get all the air out of a new master cylender with out bench bleeding. And onece you finish NO MORE SPONGY PEDAL!!!!!
Let me know how it turns out

 

And another thing to tell if your booster is bad....there is a vacuum line that hooks to the side of it pull that off and smell the line if you can smell brake fluid its a bad booster other wise its fine dont waste your money replacing it you dont need it, If you experence no fluid lose than the booster is fine, you just have air in the lines and master clyender too, again let me know how it turn out

 

Would that be true for a 2002 Explorer?