Dead Brake Pedal -- No Pressure

1995 5-speed SC. Recent braking issues, needs new pads for sure (brake dust on rear passenger wheel). This occured this morning on my way to work. Indiana, recent snow, still on the streets, car has horrible hop in the snow even just letting the clutch out, etc. I come to a stoplight this morning and barely stopped at the light. The next light I came to turned red and I couldnt stop. I turned on my flashers and honked at the cars in front of me, luckily they moved and I could continue. I parked the car at work and left it. Currently using a friends car to get home and post this, got to skip work.

The pedal which was perfectly fine last night has now gone dead. It will come back to its resting position but when I apply pressure it gives none in return. It will quite literally drop to the floor. When the pedal is at the floor I get some and barely any but enough to slow and e-brake to stop. In order to stop Ive had to downshift and e-brake, which normally I wouldnt mind except that my e-brake is also going downhill, I 'clicked' it to its top position and it didnt do anything but make me hit the dead pedal harder and pray .

When I turned the car off this morning I gave the pedal a few pumps to see if it would repressureize as it always has when the car is off, and it did a little. About half-way up from its resting position it gave me a little bit of squishy pressure and Ive yet to get back into the car to test.

I believe its either the master cylinder or the brake lines. Now a mechanic friend of mine told me that if theres fluid in the cylinder, then its the cylinder. If there is no fluid, then its the lines. Im curious to know how to fix the cylinder or the lines, as my friend told me that it was quite a PITA to do. Please any help will do, but I would like to get it done tonight before nightfall, tomorrow at the latest. I cant just run back and forth from work to my puter (no puters for me to use at work) to update you guys. Any and all help appreciated greatly! Thanks

Ted

Well if the lines are leaking you'd notice a puddle under the car and the resovoir would be low or empty.

If the resovoir is filled up properly then the master cylinder is shot. You have the better brake setup than the 89-92 cars have, and changing a master cylinder is very simple. Remove the lines and unbolt the old one, unplug the fluid level harness. Then swap your resovoir over unless the new one has a resovoir, fill it, bench bleed it (instructions come with it) and then bolt it to the car, hook the lines up, and then bleed all four calipers going Right Rear, Left Rear, Right Front, Left Front. Might have to go through that a few times to get all air out. Shouldn't be too hard of a job, probably about 30 minutes of labor and then time to bleed the calipers. A 4 post hoist would really make it easy to bleed (have one guy in car, you go around and loosen bleeders.) but it can be done on jackstands with the wheels removed.

Sweet..ish

Hey thanks for the good news! I went ahead and swapped out the old Master Cylinder for a new one, peice of cake, bleeding was also not too bad, just took some time but my brakes are still squishy. My friend says that because my rear rotors are fried (due to lack of pad) that that would cause the squishy and possibly the MC blowout because the caliper cylinder had nothing to push to the rotor. Apparently the snow and random braking in the snow finished off what was left on my pads, which I know I shouldve switched out a long time ago, and Ive been having metal-to-metal contact for a little bit. I could get them turned but I think that upgrading the brake system in whole would be a good idea altogether right now as Ive had the car for 2yrs and the previous owner never informed me about his habits with the brakes/ebrake. Im a daily driver so I dont believe a big-brake upgrade is needed, just new slotted rotors and some heavy-duty brakes all around would be good. Again thanks for the help, much appreciated!
Ted

you did bleed them like the manual says right? you bleed the farthest from the master cylinder first, which is the rear passenger one, with the key on engine off, for about 15 seconds, just have someone switch the key on, and you open the bleed screw for around 15 seconds and let the motor cool down, then do the other rear one like that, and the fronts the normal way..

On a 95, there is a special tool to bleed the ABS system, Thexton 133 Teves IV ABS Brake Bleeder. I just did mine and it changed a low, mushy, always dropping brake pedal to a high firm pedal. Might be worth trying

Indeed Ill try that. Reguardless Ill be putting new pads and rotors on, but I will definately use the tool recommended. Darkstar- I did as the manual said, rear: right left; front: right left, made sure to consult it first I get to do it again with the new equip next weekend. Thanks very much for the help.

I know this may not be the right thread but I also want to change out my entire suspension. The original owner did some lowering with eibach springs and dropped it 1.75 I think he said. Well this setup drags over speed bumps, sure its great in corners but I think he installed something wrong (or its just my front susp. bushings giving) because when I turn under pressure (freeway on/off ramp) there is a pop from the front passenger corner and a rattle when slowing down from the front driver. I dont want stock height but I do want something a little higher. Any recommendations? Any helpful tip on pulling the front assemblies? Special tools needed? Anything would be great as I wanna basically revamp my entire car as the money for it becomes available. Its: brakes, suspension, exhaust, engine/tranny, interior, paint. And bushings all around, haha. Thanks again on the brake pointers.

Ted