Car is an 89 SC. For the last few thousand miles, if I hit the brakes with any decent amount of pressure, even just tapping them, the brake light and abs light would come on momentarily. I thought, oh well, I'll get around to finding out what it is sooner or later. Well, as I pulled out of the parking lot from work, both lights came on and stayed on. Crap. About 150 feet later I almost died in an intersection because, well, surprise surprise, the brakes don't work well! The brake pedal is firm, requiring a lot of effort to depress. There's no 'give' to them. Just really hard to push down. I know what air in the lines feels like cuz I've had that issue in an 81 Skylark that my dad and I bled the lines on. This is a different feeling, much like the way the brakes feel after you pump the about 15 times when the car's off. Real stiff. I checked the fuse box and the abs fuse is perfectly fine. I looked at the brake pedal equipment up behind the dash and it's all good. I looked at the brake lines and there aren't any leaks. I looked all around and under the brake fluid reservoir and abs gadgetry below, and there aren't any leaks. There's a lot of moisture now, due to yours truly accidentally overfilling the reservoir because the fluid was low. Very low. I thought, what's to hurt by topping it off and pumping the brakes 150 times. Which I did. Needless to say, I topped it off a little too much and when I went to pump them...yeah. Also, when I turn the key to the 'two-clicks-forward/accessory-mode/on-position', whichever terminology is preferred, there's not the familiar sound of a little pump running and gradually winding down. Before this...episode...I'd turn the key to to 'on' position and hear this pump. If I tapped the brakes, I'd hear it again. It lasts around four seconds, maybe a bit longer. One more thing: my brakes don't squeak, unless I barely touch them, due to a slightly warped rotor.
So here's a breakdown:
ABS light on
Brake light on
Brake pedal stiff/very little give
Fuses fine
Brake pedal equipment fine
Low brake fluid (before I attempted to top it off)
No leaks around the brake fluid reservoir
No leaks around any of the brake lines
No pump sound in the 'key on' position
Car had brakes done at 69k, now has 136k
Just want a thought or two from all the experts before I give in to the temptation to throw $$$$ in black saleen speedstar rims, big brake upgrades, and 93+ hubs/spindles at my car, which I'd love to do but probably won't anyway. Thanks guys!
So here's a breakdown:
ABS light on
Brake light on
Brake pedal stiff/very little give
Fuses fine
Brake pedal equipment fine
Low brake fluid (before I attempted to top it off)
No leaks around the brake fluid reservoir
No leaks around any of the brake lines
No pump sound in the 'key on' position
Car had brakes done at 69k, now has 136k
Just want a thought or two from all the experts before I give in to the temptation to throw $$$$ in black saleen speedstar rims, big brake upgrades, and 93+ hubs/spindles at my car, which I'd love to do but probably won't anyway. Thanks guys!
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