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I've bled my brakes several times now and I'm certain I've done it perfectly this last time, but...on my first time bleeding, I have this feeling I let the reservoir get a bit too low. Could that explain why I cant get the firmness in the brakes, despite bleeding each line, in sequence, perfectly? Is this a situation where one needs to bench bleed the brake master cylinder?
Car Details: 2000 Hyundai Accent, no ABS
Yes you need to pull your master cylinder(MC) and bench bleed it. Air in your brake lines can be removed by a normal bleed of pushing the brake pad and keeping the MC filled above the min line. But once air gets in the MC it cant get out of the MC by that push on the brake pad method. You need to find the workshop manual for your specific car for instructions to be sure you did it right, but generic bench bleed may be ok. Several good companies offer very inexpensive 1 yr or 5 yr subscriptions online. Auto zone who operates Alldata, has much of its paid subscription information on its site for free! You just need to sign up with your email and you'll have access to a ton of procedures, specs and pictures for near most cars on the road.
It's quite possible that if you've let it get too low, air has got back into the system - in which case I think the only option is to start again...
I don't know the year, make, model or brake system type. But if you have air in the antilock system you could try bleeding the pump. This requires a scan tool with that capability. If you don't have access to a scan tool , you could try bench bleed and hope it works. It seems like you are bleeding correctly, so if there are no leaks, it is most likely the pump or master cylinder.
