rolledthatho Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 hey guys, i have a few questions... i just changed my brakes compressed the pistons in and put my pads on got eveything back togather and noticed a puddle (the size of a basket ball) under my master cylinder on the ground... it was brake fluid, my brake fluid tank is full and none can be added... when i slam on the brakes and i mean HARD it will take 20 yards to slow down... used to i could slide 20 yards after slammin them... im not new to this and have done many brake jobs on my mustang and thunderbird blah blah, but have never ran into this... also i cant find where it leaked from the 2 seats which sit under the resovior are dry and have no leaks around them so i didnt bust a seal...there... is it just air in the sys? thoughts and opinions? tia Quote
DrRodey Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 Air is a possibility, but unless you had a crack in one of the lines, i dont' know how It would have gotten into the system. Did the puddle form all of a sudden or was it gradually growing? Quote
Guest TurboSedan Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 sounds like you pushed fluid out of the caps on the master cylinder fluid reservior when you compressed the pistons. that may explain the leak, but i'm not sure why your braking performance would be affected. Quote
jdcutty Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 sounds like you pushed fluid out of the caps on the master cylinder fluid reservior when you compressed the pistons. that may explain the leak, but i'm not sure why your braking performance would be affected. Thfluid was pushed out of the cap when you compressed them, for sure. Did you do rotors as well? Quote
herb427sc Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 Rust buildup on the calipers/slides... Quote
terryk2003 Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 the fluid was just pushed out from compressing the calipers, as others said... as far as the shitty pedal...did you pump the pedal a few times after you finished to get the piston back against the rotors!?... Quote
Donutboy97 Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 the stoping performance could be that the pads are too new and they have to be broken in Quote
jeremy Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 sounds like there is air in the system..........bleed them starting with the wheel farthest from the Master cylinder and work your way back Quote
glock19 Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 I'll throw in my 2 cents (since everyone else did) You did the brakes the same way I do mine and have done them for the last 13 years. The fluid that leaked onto the floor is probably from the MS reservoir. When you compressed the pistons it pushed fluid back into the MS. If you have ever topped off the MS with brake fluid, when you pushed the piston back into the caliper there was 2 much fluid in the system and it had to go somewhere. If the fluid in the reservoir was near the top or fluid was running down the side of the reservoir, then I am 99% sure it was from too much fluid. Basically no big deal. The poor braking performance could be from a couple things. The first thing I would suspect is the pads. Did you put in cheap pads or a high performance pad? If so this could be the problem. Some performance pads need heat to build up until they start to bite. Cheap pads are just cheap and should not be used. A decent quality pad should be used (Raybestos, Napa, Bendix etc). If you did not create a leak in the system I doubt there would be air in it but you can try it. You are supposed to start at the rears and work forwards, but to test the theory and speed up the process, I would do the fronts only. If there is any improvement then you need to determine how the air got into the system, fix that and bleed the whole system. Glock Quote
rolledthatho Posted June 16, 2005 Author Report Posted June 16, 2005 hey guys i dont really know what to do... ive had this happen before on other cars but it didnt matter brake wise... yes i have pumped them continually yes they have been broken in with about 50 miles of every cautious driving due to shitty stopping... yes i did the rotors its feels about like im trying to stop with my brake booster vaccume hose disconnected.. lol anyway i dont see anyway possible for air to be in the system... anything else? btw thanks for everything so far Quote
rolledthatho Posted June 16, 2005 Author Report Posted June 16, 2005 hey guys is there a left and right set of brakes on the front of this car 92 prix le ive done some brakes that had a "r" or "l" on them but i didnt even look at these? Quote
94CutlassSLCoupe Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 I don't believe that they are side specific. Quote
Brian P Posted June 16, 2005 Report Posted June 16, 2005 technically they are, but only the wear sensor on 1 pad per side. The sensor (metal tab) is supposed to be "ahead" of the caliper, so when the sensor does hit the rotor, it's "dragging it". Quote
rolledthatho Posted June 16, 2005 Author Report Posted June 16, 2005 ohhh so thats what that damn thing is... well it IS on the wrong side then, but that should just mean...when my brakes are done for that thing will scrape the rotor... which is bad, so ill change it i dont see why this would make performance any different but i guess you never know, i hope it works! Quote
jdcutty Posted June 17, 2005 Report Posted June 17, 2005 make sure that you cleaned the rotors really good and didn't get anything on them. Quote
DaveFromColorado Posted June 17, 2005 Report Posted June 17, 2005 it actually sounds like you have a bad master cylinder, honestly... everyone is saying your brake fluid came out of the reservoir, but it almost sounds like you blew out the piston seals in the master, and it leaked into the booster, and then on to the ground, this would explain how you ended up with brake fluid under the car and seeing no source of it, and it would also explain why you have poor performance after that. compressing the pistons on the calipers where it has been done, is never advisable, if you were to do it according to the engineers, you would use a line block off tool, and then block the rubber line as close to the caliper as you can, crack the bleeder valve, and compress the thing, then close the bleeder valve, open the rubber line, and continue with your brake job, this is especially important in ABS systems as brake fluid is SO hydrophilic that it will actually pull moisture out of the air thru the rubber brake hoses, and water is EXTREMELY bad for the ABS pumps. Also, most brake pads come "pre treated" meaning they have already been heat cycled, so you don't need to worry about "burnishing" or heat treating them - an other thing that could (and probably is) lead to your problem is if you didn't resurface the rotors, if they are glazed (somewhat shiney - to mirror finish) you will have poor performance as the new pads will slide much more easily across the surface. Remember, brakes are simply an energy exchanging device, they convert kenetic energy (the force moving your car) into heat energy (the fact you have to cool your rotors with cross drilling, and such proves this) if you have a shiney surface, there isn't as much area to convert this energy (IE: if you have a de-glazed rotor there's many more small pockets in which you have surface material to transfer the heat) I'd start by checking the power booster for signs of brake fluid building up/pooling up in it, and work from there. --Dave. Quote
jeremy Posted June 23, 2005 Report Posted June 23, 2005 what is the current situation with this? Quote
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