Brake issues

[Clentz73]

Ok, i have had this wonderful 89 festiva for about 6 years now and i adore it, i know sounds :lol: cheesy, but SHE has been great to me until lately i have been having issues with the braking system. I have changed the Mater cylinder (avoiding the brake booster) and new shoes clips lines. I haven't lost a lot of pressure i don't hit the floor yet, I have had several people look at it and they :evil: ALL give me a different answer. One saying bake booster, rear wheel cylinders, then shoes, then another one saying air in the lines. Is there really anyway to pinpointing it w/o going through all the hassle of changing everything out? :?

[Kindred]

Simple things first: Did you bleed the MC when you installed it? Have you tried bleeding those brakes yet? Rule those cheap fixes out before you start jumping into the expensive shit.

[Clentz73]

Yes i bleed them once after i installed it and then again 30 days later. And the mechanics around here are trying to take advantage of me because I am a female, disadvantage of living in a barbaric town.

[mattswabb]

Bleeding the brake and bleeding the master cylinder is 2 different steps. If you didn't "bench" bleed the m/c and just put it on and bled the system you may never get a good pedal. Start over by bench bleeding the m/c. This can be done in the car. Just connect the clear hoses that came with the m/c and run them into the bowl and pump the brakes till the fluid is clear. The m/c should have come with some instructions on how to do this. Reconnect the brake lines to the m/c and then bleed the brakes.

matt

[Clentz73]

oh thats where i goofed up, the box didn't come with instructions, i can do most engine work but when it comes to brakes i am lost, ops: I will try that and cross my fingers and hope that works. I really don't feel like forking out 180 bucks for a brake booster. Thank you so much.... Crystalee

[mattswabb]

Check out this site: http://www.carcentral.net/content/gu...rakeSystem.php

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/howtobleedbrakesright.htm

matt

[Clentz73]

Thank you again so much, i contact my brother to have him help me with that. We are going to try that this weekend, hopefully this will work. Thanks so much Cry

[jeffdjeffd]

Thanks Matt. I tried to find MC bleeding instructions - I know I've seen really good ones around - but I couldn't.

I did find in my pile of stuff this homemade bleeder article. About 1/3 down this page:

http://www.festivacentral.com/

[festscort]

rear wheel cylinder's leaking can be ruled out easily by simply checking on the inside of the rims for brake fluid residue. the only time I've ever had to replace a booster was when we could hear it leaking while the engine was running....

[wtfman2]

A bad booster would present with a harder that usual pedal feel and not the opposite that you are having. If the master was replaced and then this started happening I would say there is air in the lines and also just in case you didn't know you do have to bleed all of the brakes not just the front ones.

[jmlloar]

This doesn't sound like the problem shes having but..... A bad control valve in the booster will make the pedal push "too easily and go down too far"

Just the opposite of a leaky booster