I have a 2000 Ford Ranger with 2 wheel drive and front disk brakes. I replaced the right front caliper because one piston was sticking. Afterward, the brake pedal was stiff as normal until I started the engine. Then the brake pedal went to the floor and there are no brakes. I bled the all four brakes several times and it's still the same. What am I missing? Why would the brake pedal be stiff until the engine is started and then go to the floor? I've replaced the calipers in the past and never had this problem? How do I troubleshoot this issue to restore my brakes?

 

I wonder if you let the master cylinder suck air, either while you were working on the caliper or while you were bleeding? Master cylinders can be hard to bleed while installed, although it should be possible.

 

I gave up on it and made an appointment to have the Ford dealership bleed my brakes for me. I'll post the results after they fix whatever I screwed up.

 

The reason that I didn't have any brakes after replacing a front caliper was that the parts store sold me a caliper for the drivers side which I mounted on the passenger side not realizing that I had the wrong caliper. The bleeder screw was on the bottom and because of that I couldn't bleed the air out of the system. I put in the correct caliper and everything works fine.

 

Thanks for sharing your findings, this will most certainly help others with a similar situation. Of NOTE, always compare the new part to the old part before installation!

 

Remove the master cylinder and bench bleed it.
Refit it and then bleed the brake from the side that's furthest from the master cylinder, and so forth.

 

It turned out to be a driver's side caliper that I mounted on the passenger side not realizing that I had the wrong caliper. Once I put the correct replacement caliper on, the brakes worked like they were supposed to.