Brakes, no brakes... wtf?

I have a 99 Sonoma Highrider. The back brakes are new (calipers, pads, rotors and a line.) This came after a standard Michigan dirt road vibrated my brake line in half while driving. (I replaced the line but the bleeder broke, I tried and easy-out and that broke, I bought a new caliper and the mount broke, I bought a new mount and the opposite side brakes wont work.) great start to a story right? Front brakes are older but have new functioning bleeders in them (I wont even get into that fiasco). Bled the system and it gets great pressure... until you turn the vehicle on, nothing at all. Brakes to the floor with the greatest of ease.Master cylinder? Brake booster? Never should have bought this damn truck? How can I diagnose this issue?

I miss my cop car...

I'm thinking you have an air bubble in the system still. Re-bleed.

The great pressure is false- with no vacuum on the booster, the pedal gets pretty darn hard. Your two possibilities are incomplete bleeding, or a torn cup in the master due to the pedal travelling much farther than it has for years.

I would wonder if you have a diagonal split on the brake circuits- left front and right rear on one, right front and left rear on the other. You may have to bleed the rear to get the pedal back. I presume, since you are talking Michigan, that doing that may involvoe new rear cylinders too.

Try just gravity bleeding- no pumping, just open the bleeder and let it drip.

Still air in the line huh? I bled the brakes for about 2 hours yesterday starting with the brakes furthest from the master cylinder. Right rear, Left rear, Right front, Left front. I guess that system of bleeding could be an urban mechanic legend, but the theory sounded decent. By the end of the process, all the bleeder were shooting straight fluid far with no air...

Does it have ABS? I read on here some where about bleeding and ABS system differently than a std system.

It does have ABS and I didn't know there was a different bleeding process.

ABS systems are a pain to bleed by hand. There might be a bleeder or 2 on the ABS pump, but otherwise it takes a long time (or specialized equipment)

I've had some luck by bleeding with the engine running.

Kendall

Thanks gents, I suppose I'll give bleeding another shot tonight with the vehicle on and see what happens.