Brakes......

heyttown

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Messages
537
heyttown said:
2002 saturn....



Never mind the first post......Message board blunders....

Anyways. I replaced the front pads and rotors on my girls car
on tuesday, everything was fine... Today she calls me and says her brakes went out and I need to come get her.
I get there,First thing I do is look under the car for leaks, no leaks at all....then I check the fluid level and the level is full.


She said she was sitting at a stop light, all the sudden the pedal went to the floor and car started to roll forward,She pumped the pedal several times to no avail...She applied the emergency brake and stopped,and pulled into a nearby parking lot....
I show up and jump in after looking at the fluid and under the car and everything appears to be working fine.I take it for a spin and really jumping on the binders,I sat stopped for some time also....I tried everything I could think of to get it to happen again, and I couldnt.....

After I did the brakes, I did rebleed the lines and had good solid stream come out, so I cant imagine air or anything being in the line...

Any ideas on why it would act up 3 days later after at least 30 miles of stop and go driving?
 

Reel Poor

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
5,522
Re: Brakes......

Thats a typical sign of a bad master cylinder.

When you pressed the pistons back into the calipers did you open the bleeders or did you force the fluid back up into the ABS assembly and master cylinder? (should allways be bleed from calipers, especially on ABS brake systems)
 

heyttown

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Messages
537
Re: Brakes......

Unfortunatly that was the way I was taught years ago to do brakes,was not to open the bleeders......

If thats the case how much trouble is it to change the master cylinder?


Live and learn I guess.:'(
 

Reel Poor

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
5,522
Re: Brakes......

You may be able to reproduce the failure by placing car in gear lightly apply brakes just enough to hold the car at a stop then slightly releasing pressure as if you wanted to roll ahead just a little then reapply light pressure (I reenforce LIGHT pressure). do this repeatedly, typically this type of light pressure is sometimes not enough pressure to cause the rubbers in the cylinder to swell out and keep the fluid from bypassing on worn seals

As far as replacement goes I believe it's pretty straight forward, two nuts holding to the cylinder to the brake booster, and then brake lines, maybe an electrical connecter for the low fluid indicator float switch.
 

Drrockter

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
105
Re: Brakes......

If the master cylinder burned out, you may see burnt fluid in the resevoir (sp?). My Capri did that a loooong time ago and the fluid was brown. No longer translucent.
 

Kenneth Brown

Captain
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
3,481
Re: Brakes......

Drrockter said:
If the master cylinder burned out, you may see burnt fluid in the resevoir (sp?). My Capri did that a loooong time ago and the fluid was brown. No longer translucent.
Hummmm........
 

KRS

Banned
Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
2,383
Re: Brakes......

I've never seen translucent brake fluid before :^
 

Drrockter

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
105
Re: Brakes......

I meant it's clear with a slight brown tint. :$
 

ob

Admiral
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
6,992
Re: Brakes......

You're doing fine Drrockter.Welcome to the critquing center of the universe.Coloration of brake fluid is often a sign of moisture and or corrosion within the brake fluid circuit.
 

Drrockter

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
105
Re: Brakes......

I try, but I admit, I'm not too mechanical when it comes to our vehicles. Just simple stuff. d:)
 

rottenray6402

Ensign
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
Messages
923
Re: Brakes......

Heyttown.... this sounds like something Saturn may have a service bulletin on. You can call your local dealer or possibly access on line for service bulletins relating to this.d:)
 
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