Brake Issues

[MeganH]

Thursday morning on my way to work, my brakes decided to give me trouble. They stopped completely normally at the end of my street and about a 1/4 mile later, at the next stop sign my foot nearly went clear to the floor before the car stopped. I thought maybe my foot had slipped off the brake so when I turned around to head back home I tried to stop again and the pedal still went clear to the floor before stopping. I talked to my dad about it later and he told me to check everything from the brake lines to the calipers to the master cylinder. He's out of state so his help frequently involves advice over the phone. I told my husband what he said and my husband wanted to change the master cylinder and not worry about looking for any leaks other than seeing there was any fluid around the tires, which there wasn't. We ended up having to wait 24 hours for the master cylinder and swapped them out. The video we watched didn't mention anything about bleeding the cylinder so after installation we just did the bleeding procedure it mentioned on the video and called it good. Due to my husband telling me ok to remove my foot once when he didn't mean to on the 4th time, we did a 5th for good measure. This unfortunately didn't fix the problem and my brakes still go clear to the floor before the car stops. They also go straight to the floor with little resistance when the car is running but in park. I'm not sure what to do now; should we try to re-bleed them since we had the issue at the 4th gas pedal depression or is there still a leak somewhere? I want to do everything my dad recommended but my husband is hesitant to spend so much time looking at the braking system despite the fact he doesn't know much about brakes. This forum has been helpful before so I thought I'd get another opinion as to what else I should do.

 

[Shaggy]

Thursday morning on my way to work, my brakes decided to give me trouble. They stopped completely normally at the end of my street and about a 1/4 mile later, at the next stop sign my foot nearly went clear to the floor before the car stopped. I thought maybe my foot had slipped off the brake so when I turned around to head back home I tried to stop again and the pedal still went clear to the floor before stopping. I talked to my dad about it later and he told me to check everything from the brake lines to the calipers to the master cylinder. He's out of state so his help frequently involves advice over the phone. I told my husband what he said and my husband wanted to change the master cylinder and not worry about looking for any leaks other than seeing there was any fluid around the tires, which there wasn't. We ended up having to wait 24 hours for the master cylinder and swapped them out. The video we watched didn't mention anything about bleeding the cylinder so after installation we just did the bleeding procedure it mentioned on the video and called it good. Due to my husband telling me ok to remove my foot once when he didn't mean to on the 4th time, we did a 5th for good measure. This unfortunately didn't fix the problem and my brakes still go clear to the floor before the car stops. They also go straight to the floor with little resistance when the car is running but in park. I'm not sure what to do now; should we try to re-bleed them since we had the issue at the 4th gas pedal depression or is there still a leak somewhere? I want to do everything my dad recommended but my husband is hesitant to spend so much time looking at the braking system despite the fact he doesn't know much about brakes. This forum has been helpful before so I thought I'd get another opinion as to what else I should do.

I wouldn't play with the brakes to much if you are not sure how to fix them. Go to a mechanic, it may cost some money, but I think safety is more important rather then saving a few bucks.

 

[Dennis Schiller]

You need to look for leaks everywhere, not just at the wheels.
Get the car up into the air a bit so you can look underneath while someone pumps the brakes.
Be careful, make sure the car cannot roll over your head.
If there is a leak, you may see it squirting fluid somewhere.

By the way, with new master cylinder on, does fluid level stay constant or do you need to replace it after pumping the brakes.

FYI, bleeding rakes is not as easy as it looks.