Last night when i got back into my truck, my brakes felt very weird. It feels like it pushes, then loses pressure and pushes again.. hope thats helps you visualize.. i CAN still stop but the pedal seems much lower all of a sudden.. any idea why?

Master cylinder is full, no brake fluid visible by rear drums and none on or near front rotors.

Possible the master cylinder is on its way out?

 

If the piston seals are no good it will act like that.
Be very careful driving.........

 

When you put your foot on the brake pedal does it slowly travel to the floor?

 

no, it will NOT go to floor, but yes slowly goes down... what happens is, ill hit the brakes and i meet some resistance, then brake feels spongey goes down further until i meet resistance again

when the truck is off im still able to pump up the brakes to have a semi firm pedal.. also tryed to self adjust rear brakes by driving in reverse and hitting the brakes repeatidly

 

Sounds like the master cylinder is going bad, after 183000 it doesn't owe you anything.

 

Probably the master but check all of the flex lines. I had one that started to expand.
If replacing master check the brake booster too. Mine didn't look too healthy so I replaced mine at the same time. (180k)
good luck
rikard

 

im taking it to the mechanic, but i wanted to get some ideas so he cant tell me anything crazy. Thanks a lot guys!
Any more ideas?

 

If I remember correctly, a few months back you had trouble with the brake pedal going to the floor because you applied the brakes with the rear drums removed while you were working on them. You bled them, (the rears) which seemed to repair the problem at that time.

At that time I suggested in that post that you have a dual brake system, (separate and independant fronts and rears) and that your pedal should not have gone all the way to the floor just because of your rear brakes, and that you should also check your fronts.

You seemed to reject that fact in that thread, and kind of left the thread unfinished, not commenting on whether you accepted the fact that you have a dual brake system or not.

I strongly suggest you check your front brakes and also take it to a qualified mechanic.

 

Pretty sure i just said im taking it to the mechaic tomorow. When you blow a slave cylinder, your pushing the fluid out insted of building pressure which means your foots going to go to the floor. At that time I WAS losing fluid.

This time IM NOT losing fluid, to my knowlege because the master cylinder is still at the same level.

I love how ALL of you harp on the fact that i reject some things. Im here for help, not to be bashed. I know my truck and i know how it works. All i need is some answers to what may hav broken because i was stumped.

 

I wasn't out to bash you, ..........but maybe I should ! I was trying to perhaps save your life and the life and property of others.

The fact that your pedal went to the floor back a few months ago even with the rear leak means your front brakes aren't, or are only marginally working.

Now if your front brakes aren't loading your pedal,..........and only your rears were,.......then there is a good posibility that your perceived current problem
could be in the rear ABS system and not isolated solely to the posibility of a bad master or booster.

Please,......take it to a qualified experienced mechanic, and if he tells you you have a problem in the front brakes too,.........don't reject his opinion believeing that he is trying to rip you off, he is trying to keep you safe too.

 

Get this through your head and get it throught now. My front brakes WORK I can hear the pads squeel when i apply the brake as there semi-metalic pads.

My ABS also works as it kicked on when I was on ice. There goes your two thoughts

My problem a few months ago is completely unrelated. Was as simple as I blew out one of the slave cylinders. Front brakes were already done as well and cylinders are fine as well as flex lines. ABS is FINE.

Im pretty sure it is the master cylinder on its way out, which is why im taking it to the shop

 

If you think you know all the answers and know what is wrong,.............................

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BOTHERING US ???

 

I dont know whats wrong, but i know whats not wrong.

I just ended your ABS malfunction and front brakes not working

 

Front brakes aren't supposed to squeel, regardless of what type of pads you have.

Like I say, if your pedal went to the floor a few months back because of a lack of fluid in the rear system, you have a problem in your front system also, which is independannt of the rear.

Squeeling can be the symptoms of glazed rotors caused by fronts never having full pressure applied to them.

If the front brakes need bleeding which you have kind of implied you havn't done, this could account for the squeeling.

Also, your master cylinder is a split system with two independant piston assemblies mounted on the same main shaft. If the master is bad it could be that the front section starting going bad first, which would account for the petal going to the floor a few months ago when the rear leaked, and now both the front and the rear sections are defective.

But if as you say, you can pump them up, there is a good posibility it isn't your master.

 

Now you havent seen my rotors have you, there not glazed.

As far as foot going to floor a while back MY SLAVE CYLINDER WAS POPPED so everytime i hit the pedal it just pushed fluid out! GET THAT THROUGHT YOUR HEAD. The line would have been OPEN which means you CAN NOT build up pressure in the brake system.

Squeeling happens all the time. Especially with Semi-Metalic brake pads! Which is why they sell some pads with an anti squeel application.

Not to mention, i know my fronts work fine cause they lock up nice. Trust me.

I will post what happened to the truck tomorow when the mechanic calls me.