my 95' powerstroke doesn't have any braking power and theres new brake pads and plenty of fluid but when I stomp on the brakes it feels like I barley touching the brakes at all.... is it air in the lines????????or my brake booster?????
any ideas guys??????

 

Possibly master cylinder... if the booster is toast the brakes will feel hard, master cylinder going bad will feel mushy... Check your rubber flex lines for bulges and cracks... you don't want one of those suckers to blow... I've had it happen... You will poop your pants for sure

I know the feeling... I test drove a 93, and with the pedal nearly to the floor it still felt like I wasn't gonna stop... owner claimed it just needed rear shoes. Riiiight...

 

Oh and yeah it could be air in the lines... a bad master cylinder can let air into the lines...

 

It could also be a worn out vacuum pump, diesels don't provide vacuum, there is a separate belt driven pump for that....

 

Check your vacuum pump you could have a bad pump

 

It could also be the brake pads. What brand? Did you use the cheapest ones? Those barely meet minimum standards. I recommend a high quality Semi-metallic. They eat up the rotors faster and make more ugly dust, but you could use the benefits of them on a powerstroke.

The next time you look at brakes, look for the edge code. Sometimes it on the metal backing plate, but it should be somewhere. It could be something like TO123456789 FF. The two letters at the end are what you need to look at. The first letter represents cold stopping power and the second represents hot stopping power. The higher the letter, the better.

You will commonly find higher quality pads will be rated FE, or FF. Stay away from EE, it's not enough for a truck IMHO. Some pads will be GG, that would be even better. Also, oversize height tires will decrease the efficiency of a stock braking system.

BTW, I work in research & development for a large brake friction manufacturer. If we have the contract, we make brakes for most of the brands. I really like the Wagner ThermoQuiet pads. I think they are available at Advance and they are pretty expensive. but they are top notch. I'm not personally brand loyal. I look for the best prices and I usually buy a mid priced pad of whatever part store I happen to favor at the moment.

 

I've got the Wagner Severe Duty pads on mine, no complaints. Also make sure your rear brakes are properly adjusted. Did you just replace pads or pads and rotors? Is all the hardware lubricated and moving properly? New pads take some time to break in.

 

Check the rear shoes for proper adjustment.

 

AS ALWAYS WITH BRAKES, start with looking for leaks, on the calipers, slave cylinder in the drums, around the master cylinder, and follow the lines. Often as not leaks in the lines will be around the connections, under the axels or on sharp corners, have a friend push the brake pedal while you look if you find suspected leaks, make sure not to get anything in you eyes.
Failing that check the brake system for air, if it's that bad you should see it emidietly at atleast one wheel when trying the bleeding procedure. But if there are no leaks you really shouldn't get any air in the system wichout haveing had it apart for some reason.

This is easy enough to do and always worth cheking before doing anything else to a braking system. Bar mabye changing pads, but that shouldn't give you any of theese symptoms. Still, check the pads when you're at it, they need to be changed every once in a while anyways, and usually by the time you notice they've gone bad you've ruined the discs/drum lining.

 

Theese _should_ auto-adjust on theese, anyways most of the braking power is still done by the front discs, so shouldn't not stop when unloaded becouse of this.
Not saying they can't be at fault (note the "_should_"), but doesn't sound like it to me.

 

True, but if there is too much space between the shoes and the drums, your pedal will be very mushy. Not saying this is the problem, but if you're not seeing puddles of brake fluid in your parking spot(s), then you either have air in the lines or your rear brake shoes are out of adjustment. And I speak from my own experience on this one.

Also, I found that only my drivers side self-adjuster was working. I still have to manually set the rear shoes. Don't rely on the self-adjusters. They're garbage.

 

Yeh, if they're ****ed of course that is a different story i guess.
Leaks may well occur without puddles forming, small leaks are enough to cause poor braking, and leaky slave cylinders will just collect fluid in the drums, of course, open up the drums and you'll see both potential culprits.

Still, you shouldn't get air in the lines without having leaks, since air doesn't climb in braking fluid. Only other way is having had something apart, and not bleeding properly afterwards, but this should be something he should be aware of, since it's his truck.

 

The "self adjusters" on these trucks are a joke, they never work. Like I said, make sure you don't have any stuck calipers or caliper hardware.