I rebuilt the back end of our Mazda 2, put on a new rear axle beam, so I had to disconnect all of the hydraulic lines to do it. I ended up rebuilding the back drum brakes, because unlike the front calipers (which are to Mazda specs) the back drums are FoMoCo, to Ford specs. Everything came together reasonably well.

But then the trouble started ...

I needed to bleed the hydraulic lines. First off, Mazda has that split-diagonal hydraulic system, and the back of the car is SAE-inches, while the front is Metric. Makes sense, back is Ford, front is Mazda. But then things get weird ... the Ford brake components seem to respond completely differently to the hydraulic pressure than the Mazda components. That wouldn't be a big deal, EXCEPT THAT THEY'RE PRESSURIZED TOGETHER ON THE SAME HYDRAULIC LINE!!!

So the back drum brakes seem to do best with a static bleed, using a vacuum line, while the front brakes can't bleed like that at all, they seem to need the booster running, and they bleed better with a more dynamic approach. Due to the rebuild, the car was essentially air-locked, with essentially no hydraulic braking, The bleed was critical. But as far as I can tell, the factory bleed on this vehicles must have been a complicated process. Yeah, it's not a big deal to bleed this car when all you have are a few bubbles, but when the hydraulic system is air-locked, the bleed is really involved. The back bleeders in the FoMoCo stuff are fairly tight, but the front bleeders allow air in through the threads, so it was difficult to even tell with the car was bled, the bubbles got into the system through the caliper bleed.

I started on Rear-Passenger first, then Front-Driver, then Rear Driver, then Front Passenger. This doesn't strictly follow the distance from the master cylinder, but with the split diagonal there is no other way to do it. I suspect that the factory bleed did both wheels on the diagonal at once. I think I have a functional method, at least I'm getting closer to hard brakes, but it was confusing as hell.

It honestly felt like I lost the master cylinder, so I called the auto parts places, and neither O'Reilly's nor Autozone has the master cylinder for that car, it's a special order. I found some online, but they look nothing like the one in the car. That did get me thinking though, I remember that if a particular part rarely breaks, it's often hard to get stock on it. Then I thought it might be the ABS cylinder, but I'm hoping that's okay too. I'm convinced that if I get a decent bleed that the master cylinder and ABS cylinder will be good-to-go.

I nearly threw in the towel with that car today, I just about gave up on her and I was about to take her to the specialist, because the braking system confused me so much, but then I finally made some progress on it by recognizing that the Ford parts need a different kind of attention that the Mazda parts. Now things seem to be going a bit better, and the personality of our little "Baby Bandit" is coming out.

Yeah, I hate that it's a Ford-Mazda Frankenstein. But I love the read axle design, it's dead simple, I like the drum-disc brake setup, it works. The engine is compact and it's fairly easy to do general maintenance. It's a fun little car to drive and seems to have the soul of my little 1875 Fiat Spider, it really does feel like an Italian roadster in response it's fairly balanced torque curve. I do like that little car. But it's an investment to learn how to fix it, it's just so different than any other car that I've ever wrenched.

 

I see that NO one had the guts to address your 'Journey'. You are an advanced shade-tree mechanic and most would have little idea what you where talking about. I can only sympathize with you because "these things happen". It is also why after spending close to 20k for my Mazda 3S (2009) I bit the bullet and got a proper Mazda Workshop Manual for it (published by Mazda). It costs a lot, but would probably have helped you during your time of need...

What can I say but that Cars seem alive and it is best to pray over and bless them as you co-exist together. I especially pray for wisdom & patience as I attempt to understand and/or repair its various idiosyncrasies. As has been noted before, every woman is different. It would be best to remember that when entering the auto arena as well.

As for me, I have my own story to tell about a 1987 B2000's

Brake Proportioning Valve

and the hell that it caused me to descend into for years. I even fixed it accidentally which falls under the heading of 'Better to be lucky than good'. Not even the Mazda Factory Tech could fix the issue. So I understand your story completely. I am sure that the humble among us will have very little to add besides, "Oh my", because yours is a special kind of trial by fire.

Question: did you manually bleed the rear or use the booster for everything?

In closing, I am not sure I want to thank you for sharing (shudder, gasp) or just say that I am glad you made it back to warn others of the 'dangers that lie ahead'...