Honda Car Forum

I am working on a friend's CRV. She took it to a shop because of a bad vibration. They changed her brake fluid, said the old fluid was contaminated, but also said she might need a whole new system - master cyl, calipers, etc. Well, I'm trying to give a 2nd opinon and maybe do the work; I have plenty of experience, but not on these vehicles.
Here's what I find: First, I should say that in a test drive, the brakes seemed fine. Perhaps they didn't release completely, because the vehicle slows down faster than I would think correct when you coast. Now I've tried to bleed the brakes with my mityvac. I seem to get a fair amount of air and a tiny amount of fluid out. And it takes a LOT of vaccum to pull any fluid out. I can't get anything out of the LF caliper, already checked the bleeder screw, it isn't clogged. But I did get a squirt out of it when I left it open and braked. After bleeding the rears and tightening the bleeder screws, the brake pedal is always soft, requires a few pumps to stiffen up. I've repeated this a few times; not sure whether to keep at it, or if there is some reason why the ordinary procedures I've used on other cars don't seem to be working here. Any ideas? I may have to resort to the assistant method if I can find one ...

I should have mentioned it is a 1998 CRV.