Today I replaced my front brake pads....everything went very well...although i did make the mistake of taking off the cap to the brake fluid resevoir when i couldnt get the brake cylinder to reset back into the caliper....now my brake pedal is somewhat soft. But the pedal will tighten up after pumping it 2 or 3 times. My question is....does anyone know a way to pump out the air in the system just by removing and replacing the resevoir cap!
So far, ive been able to slightly reduce the softness of the pedal by pumping the brakes, removing the cap while holding in the pedal when it starts to press back! Is there a different way of doing this? Should the car be off or running? I would hate to have to get back under there and bleed the system and get my hands all dirty and greesy now that I have them somewhat clean.
Oh and another note... the level of brake fluid is just above the min line....would topping it off help

thanks for your time.