Now what?

[BlackMount]

braking trouble NOT ftw....


I almost rear ended a truck today because he slammed on his brakes because someone pulled out in front of him and then practically stopped in the road, and when I slapped on my brakes, My car was barely braking at all, and I was pushing the pedal down as hard as I could almost.

What happend? when I got this car it stopped on a Dime, now it barely stops at all if I have to stop quicker then normal.

I have EBC pads all around which are still pretty fresh, and Cross drilled rotors in the back.

should I bleed my brakes? and if i bleed them should I open the breather's all at once, or do one brake at a time??

idk if it has something to do with my Brake Booster or not...if i hold the pedal when the car is off, and then turn the car on, it depresses some but not alot.

Please help, this is not good because this is my DD, and I cant be slamming into people because of someone else's stupidity and my lack of proper working brakes

 

[92blutalon]

Replace you rotors and pads. If you want more stopping power get yourself 93-94 calipars.

 

[2gGSXEclipse]

If you gonna bleed them go Rear Right, Rear Left, Front Right, then Front Left. Its worth a try to bleed them would be a good starting place to diagnose the problem. Check all brake lines for leaks and check the resivoir for fluid level.

 

[MrBoxx]

Bleed your brakes one at a time. Check for leaks in the soft brake hoses at each corner and on the metal hard lines from the master cylinder to the ABS module and from the module to each corner. Make sure there's fluid in the reservoir.

 

[dsm8883]

If your master cylinder is bypassing and needs replacement you can bleed the brakes and slap new pads and rotors at it until you are blue in the face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If the pads have a lot of meat on them and they did not get hot that is prob not your problem. Did the pedal go to the floor or get soft?

 

[BlackMount]

Replace you rotors and pads. If you want more stopping power get yourself 93-94 calipars.

EBC Pads <<< Not cheapo pads FYI, Cross drilled Rear Rotors <<< The holes are there for a reason, NEW OEM front Rotors.

all 5,000+ Miles old. I don't think that is my issue.

only things left to do is front cross drilled rotors, and or 3000gt conversion and or Big Brake Kit.

I highly doubt it has anything to do with ware on my rotors\pads\calipers

If you gonna bleed them go Rear Right, Rear Left, Front Right, then Front Left. Its worth a try to bleed them would be a good starting place to diagnose the problem. Check all brake lines for leaks and check the resivoir for fluid level.

plenty of fluid in the resivior

Bleed your brakes one at a time. Check for leaks in the soft brake hoses at each corner and on the metal hard lines from the master cylinder to the ABS module and from the module to each corner. Make sure there's fluid in the reservoir.

1990 FWD = No ABS

If your master cylinder is bypassing and needs replacement you can bleed the brakes and slap new pads and rotors at it until you are blue in the face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If the pads have a lot of meat on them and they did not get hot that is prob not your problem. Did the pedal go to the floor or get soft?

pedal does not go to the floor or get soft, it goes halfway. pedal stays nice and firm.



P.S I've only had the car for 3000 miles.

 

[frankenstein406]

get some speed bleeders there worth it! What does the fluid look like? Were brakes ever broken in?

 

[BlackMount]

get some speed bleeders there worth it! What does the fluid look like? Were brakes ever broken in?

Cant afford speed bleeder otherwise I would .

Fluid is the same color it comes in brand new, It's pretty fresh I just added some not that long ago.

and I don't know if they were ever "Broken In" I didn't own the car when all this braking stuff went on. I just got receipts from the performance shop that did it.

 

[BlackMount]

I tried bleeding my brakes, and it didn't make any difference really....


the only thing I can think of before this happened is I mixed DOT-4 with DOT-3 brake fluid, (I was low and needed to add some and all they had where I went was DOT-4 and I didn't feel like driving all over the place looking for some.)

but it couldn't #### up my braking that bad could it?

If I stomp, and I mean STOMP the brakes, I can barely get 1 tire to lock up they are that bad, and no I do not have ABS and before if I could lock up at least the front 2 tires with out making the pedal travel more then 3\4 of the way till it stops.


This is very annoying. There's gotta be something, I'm tempted just to say #### it and get some new pads even tho mine have tons of meat on them and aren't cheap.

 

[MrBoxx]

Don't bump your threads. When someone knows the answer or has something else to offer, they'll post.

But none of us can fix your brakes for you. Either we'll come up with an idea for you to try, or you can keep trying things, OR you can take it to a shop and have it diagnosed.

 

[JEFFREYCASTGSX]

Everytime we do brakes we go run them, HARD, we do one or 2 VERY HARD stops. Go try that and if not try deglaezing your pads by sanding them lightly. By the way your saying it seems like as if they were never broken in and this was the first time they were pushed hard. If that don't work then rule out the pads.

 

[brandon1239]

have you checked the calipers. on my other car I was having trouble stopping and it turned out to be the front calipers rusting away and not letting the piston move freely.

 

[BlackMount]

Don't bump your threads. When someone knows the answer or has something else to offer, they'll post.

But none of us can fix your brakes for you. Either we'll come up with an idea for you to try, or you can keep trying things, OR you can take it to a shop and have it diagnosed.

I bumped because after awhile the thread gets discarded, or is ignored because it is old and no one has posted recently on it, and I figured you moderators would prefer I bump the old thread, over start a new thread for the exact same thing. Do you see what I am trying to say?

I would take it to a shop but!

1: Cant afford a shop
2: Don't trust shop's other then my friends, he said he would help me out, and charge me 50% an hour for labor what he charges average customer if he decides to charge me at all.

Also, I know you cant FIX it for me; all I am trying to just get an Idea or find someone who had a similar problem, and how they fixed it.

Everytime we do brakes we go run them, HARD, we do one or 2 VERY HARD stops. Go try that and if not try deglaezing your pads by sanding them lightly. By the way your saying it seems like as if they were never broken in and this was the first time they were pushed hard. If that don't work then rule out the pads.

My brakes were about 2000 Miles old when I got the car, and the stopped REALLY GOOD. I don't think its a matter of them being broken in, I did deglaze them awhile back when I was checking the brakes.

have you checked the calipers. on my other car I was having trouble stopping and it turned out to be the front calipers rusting away and not letting the piston move freely.

maybe I'm just miss understanding what you mean by the "Piston move freely" the caliper piston should not move freely, if it moves freely you have a leak, it should take pressure to push it back in, thats why when you do brake pads your suppose to take a very large pare of pliers or something, and squeeze the piston back in.


I think this weekend I'm going to pull my calipers off and observe them, and see whats the dealio... I've noticed while driving, sometimes I stomp the pedal it brakes hard, other times I stomp the pedal, and it just crawls to a stop.


I am considering replacing the BMC.

 

[Achelea]

I think what he meant by freely is occasionaly the piston will hang in the caliper and not move out as fast.

 

[brandon1239]

I meant freely as in the normal operation. when mine failed there was rust buildup inside the caliper that caused the piston to push unevenly on the pad which gave me about 2cm of pad to use for stopping.

 

[BlackMount]

I meant freely as in the normal operation. when mine failed there was rust buildup inside the caliper that caused the piston to push unevenly on the pad which gave me about 2cm of pad to use for stopping.

that makes more sense