I am having problems with spongy brakes. I just realized that the brake reservoir has 2 chambers so I was able to fill them both and bleed the brakes. However, when driving if I depress the brake it is still spongy, but if I double pump the brake I can fill it tighten. Is this a sign of there still being air in the system? Also, my abs light on the dash does not come one when I start the car up. Could this be correlated to the problem or is it a separate issue?

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1990 190E 3.0L

why did you have to bleed them/fill them in the first place, do you have a leak?

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'85 190, unrego'd (prospect track car)
'87 190e, manual (kinda rare in australia)
'89 260e

no leak, I disconnect a caliper a while ago and never got around to bleeding them properly. You have any advice to offer? Thanks

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1990 190E 3.0L

A spongey brake pedal means you have air in there still, especially as you removed a brake caliper and left it. Another time try putting a sheet of clingfilm / cellophane over the reservoir filler hole and tighten the cap down. You will only lose a little fluid and won't need to bleed the whole system.
We have always used the two man method for bleeding brake systems of that era, but whatever method you use, you will need to ensure that the front chamber of the reservoir is always full to the brim so that the rear one is automatically filled and you might find it worthwhile to bleed every caliper, let it settle overnight and check them all again.
Have fun and Merry Christmas.

Thank u. I will try again and then repost

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1990 190E 3.0L

I had to replace a rear hard line and until I had a pressure bleeder I could not get good brakes. Once the pressure bleeder was on the reservoir bleeding was simple- pump to 15 psi and then bleed. I did farthest to closest but thats a habit from doing old single circuit systems.
My understanding is that the ABS requires some pressure to bleed right. I gained all my know how on the system from using the search function on the site.

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles

Bleeding the rear brakes from an empty system is slow - it takes a surprising amount of pumping the pedal and opening the valve, etc to purge the air out and circulate the fluid, but it does work.
15 psi? I think the factory manual says no more than 5 psi.

Finally fixed the brake issue. Rear driver side caliper was the culprit, it was sticking. Bought a used caliper from junkyard and cleaned it up, now brakes work like a charm. I barely have to tap them at all, at most my foot goes down a couple of millimeters before they stop. Oh, plus I bought 2 new rear rotors and brake pads for back, plus all fluid was flushed and drained

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1990 190E 3.0L