So yesterday i was driving around down doing my chores and what not, and i came to a red light so I got on the brakes to start slowin myself down. And next thing I know, the pedal is on the floor. At this point I'm having a heart attack but I let off the pedal, and reapply the brakes and they worked perfect.

So here's the deal, whenever i want to brake i only get braking at the end of the travel, minimal braking if anything. But when i pump them they worked perfect, i checked my fluid level and its full. I'm going to try and bleed them tomorrow if i have time. But are there any other problems?

I also noticed my front right brake/caliper squeals when I'm turning the wheel left or right and going slow, so ill have to pull the wheel off that side too..

And insight would be appreciated.

 

How recently have you adjusted the rears?

 

Scott,

If there aren't any leaks and the system is bled to your satisfaction, your symptom sounds like a master cylinder going south. One problem is the heat from our engines make those master cylinder seals go bad. Reman or new? Your call as everyone will have their own preference from experience.

Aloha-

 

thats what i was originally thinking.... the master has 200k miles on it... i'll make a good inspection and then go through the master.

 

Yea sounds like the master cylinder to me I had the same thing happen to me a little while ago. It was a brand new one to and after a year it stopped working

 

Check the wheel bearing adjustment.

If the bearings are loose that will allow the rotor to collapse the piston into the caliper. Most likely that is why its taking two hits on the pedal to get a good pedal.

 

If this happened all of a sudden the first thing I would suspect would be the ABS. Sounds to me like the ABS valve on the rear frame rail is being held open which gives that two pump stopping action. Are the ABS and brake lights on?

There have been some really good threads lately discussing the operation and repair of the ABS, a search on the topic will give you some good info on troubleshooting.

 

Has the barke fluid gone down any. If It has, you may have a leak somewhere. I had a brake line up on the front end that had a real small crack in it and was causing me to lose pressure when using the breaks. Thats about the only help I can give you.

 

Break fluid is good, and my abs lights are off. I'm leaning towards the master cyl or the wheel bearings could be loose. A mechanic replaced them a while ago. When i get a chance ill give all these things a look through, thanks guys!

 

This happened with mine, ... my fr LHS bearing was trashed and I needed to double pump the brake at the end. Replaced the bearings and seal, bled brakes and end of story

 

I was thinking the same thing if it is cocking the rotor enough it could push the piston back in the caliper. Then you would have to pump the brakes to get it to stop. probably would not take much movement to do that.

 

LHS front bearing?

 

LHS= Left Hand side?

 

Glad you asked

 

haha makes sense to me now, i read that and sort of scratched my head.... Common sense was lacking