okay this has been happening for a while now.

usually when the pedal starts going all the way to the floor and the e brake doesnt engage till you hit the top it means your brakes are low and its probably time to change them, or a fluid thing...

well i changed the brakes on the front and whatta yah know they were only about 2/3 gone. so i still changed em anyways. well still no fix. i still have to put pedal to the metal in order to brake. unless i pump the brakes. if i pump it 2-3 times then i get good pressure and it feels like normal braking as it should if they were shiny new brakes. also sometimes it feels like maybe they dont disengage all the way and are possibly still rubbing against the rotors. (squeaks for no reason sometimes, rotors are not messed up btw)

now i would think it could be the master cylinder or my dad says something about a "booster"
(btw my car is manual and had the trd clutch installed by dealer, not sure if our cars use hydraulic clutch and whether or not this would affect my braking abilities)

i tried bleeding the brake lines to no success.. :/ they were all fine no bubbles/air and brake fluid is topped off. and ive also checked the rear brakes. i even bought them and ended up returning them cuz they were hardly worn out.

has anyone else had this sort of problem or able to help me out? it seems unusual that the master cylinder would go out after only 50k miles. or does it depend on how you drive you car? e.t.c? i dont want to change anything i dont have to so please help with anything you know.

 

Sounds like a classic master cylinder failure to me.

I had some old cars some time ago that did almost the same thing.

On older cars, master cylinder failure was more common than it is today. But it is one of the reasons why I always say it is just as important to change your brake fluid as it is any other fluid in a car.

Report back with what you found, and good luck. The car sound dangerous to drive now.

 

its not like it has no stopping power. that isnt the problem. the car stops fine. there is some sort of pressure in there. its just from my experience when it was brand new and with my previous car and other cars i believe i know what it should feel like after you've put new brakes and checked the lines for air. it should be nice and firm and near the top, and the e-brake should be tight after pulling it up slightly.

this is why i think it could possibly be the booster. which sadly is over 200$ the brake power booster is supposed to "amplify" your braking power. but im not sure if it does that at the pedal level.. which is what concerns me. i dont want to spend that much money on something that isnt broken. and i would think if the master cylinder is gone then there might be no pressure. and it seems reasonably early for either to go out.

 

Hmmm, check your slide pins on the calipers. Make sure that both left and right pins move freely in the caliper bracket.

 

Are the rear brakes adjusted?

If not, they may take a lot of fluid/pedal travel to engage and cause the low pedal thing. And my brakes do not start to touch "way at the top" more like half way to 2/3. That's w/new pads.

Check the pins like Metro273 said! Something sticking/binding?

Still under warranty?

Robert

 

hmm i will check both of those and get back to this. im leaning more towards adjustment seems like it sounds reasonable i dont know why i didnt try to find anything that could be. makes sense since there is breaking power just not enough.

yeah i didnt mean right away top 2/3 is about right with new brakes. mine is like the bottom 1/3-1/4 to brake normally. i dont believe i would be able to brake super fast in case of debris/accident avoidance.

ill have to look up warranty info. although at 50k miles idk if something like this is covered.

ill get a manual tonight and hopefully check this stuff out.

 

Only if while sitting in gear with the brakes applied, the pedal slowly creeps to the floor you would need a new master cylinder.
Check the rear adjustments first and if it's fine just swap in a new master.
If it was a bad booster the pedal would be hard as hell and not go more than halfway to the floor.

 

yeah i third the master cylinder

i had one go out on my last car it wasn't fun trying to slow down a 3900 lbs car

 

If you have to pump the pedal to get proper brake pressure, and you aren't losing brake fluid nor finding air in the lines it is almost definitely the master cylinder. The internal seal is bad, letting fluid past the piston.

 

If your booster is gone, your brake pedal would feel rock hard!

Could however also be an ABS-module failure where a solenoid/valve is leaking creating a brake line 'loop'

Maybe you can try to brake on a very slippery surface like a patch of ice? You'll need hardly any brake pedal force, but the ABS module will engage. If that seems to modulate as it should normally, you pretty much narrowed it down to the master cilinder.

THIS MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUS IN THE EVENT OF AN ABS/EBD FAILURE, SO DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS ON A PUBLIC ROAD OR ANYWHERE NEAR PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND OBSTACLES!!!

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

or on a empty road get up to speed and do a panic stop you don't really need ice for that...

 

But be very careful! (I added a warning label to my message ;) )