Daehawk

Today I stopped at a red light and the brake peddle was stiff. I could barely move it and it worked at about 1" travel. Next light the pedal was soft. Next one it went almost to the floor. Next light it hit the floor but barely grabbed. then all brakes were gone. It was on the floor doing nothing when i pulled into the parking lot of where I was going.

I had no choice but to drive it home when I came out 2 hours later but then they worked again. They were not as strong as normal but they actually held. I drove slow and used my emergency brake a lot. Didn't need to but wanted to take it easy on the brakes.

I checked them in that parking lot. The master cylinder was full of fluid and looking at the rotors both looked rubbed and it was not pulling left or right. I did tell my wife I thought I was smelling some weird smell right before the brakes failed. It smelled like insulation on wiring that was too hot. I didn't smell it on the way home.

im taking it in early in the morning about sunrise. But does this sound like a master cylinder failure or something? Never heard of one failing then working again.

BabyGT

At first with the stiff pedal I was thinking brake booster failure, but with the rest of the description im guessing somewhere you have a leak and its sucking in air.

Daehawk

My mechanic also thinks master cylinder. He quoted me parts and labor of $200 for refurb and $50 more if a new one. I choose new. But wont be in till tomorrow. geez now Im hoping it is the MC because if its the booster or something then its a waste.

Also my wife recalled about 2 weeks ago when a jerk stopped in front of me and I had to slam my brakes on hard and slid to a stop. Not sure that has anything to do with it. Also not sure on that smell.

Daehawk

My mechanic called. It was the master cylinder. Parts, labor, oil and other fluids total came to $249. I feel thats a damn good price.

BabyGT

Changing brake parts is actually pretty easy, bleeding isn't hard just messy and a pain, that's the part I pay someone to do. But depending on how the master cylinder failed if it leaked out the back and into the brake booster be on the look out for that failing soon as well. Brake fluid is like acid to the rubber diaphragms in them. Just be super attentive to how the brakes feel. If the brake booster dies your brake pedal will get rock hard and brakes will be close to non existent.

Daehawk

I'll watch for it. But the tank was full to the top when they failed. Dont think any leaked out. Also I was thinking about the fluid. When they failed that stuff was jet black. It looked worse than year old motor oil. It didn't strike me as off until today when I looked at the new one and the fluid was more clear than cooking oil. It could have screwed up my master cylinder.

BabyGT

Brake fluid breaks down and changes color from being in contact with the hot calipers and stuff so that's to be expected. How many miles do you have? I've only got 112k and just had to replace everything brake related on the passenger front. Caliper locked up, that killed the pads and warped the rotor, this of course means replacing everything even across the whole front. Usually when one side goes the other is not far behind.

Daehawk

Around 145k or so. had new pads and rotors in front about 3 years ago.

BabyGT

Prolly just its time then. Most people don't ever think about fresh brake fluid. I'd think that would be a priority just like oil, just not as often though.

Daehawk

Drove it on a good trip today. Worked fine though the pedal seems softer than it was before. Getting used to it...just feels weird.