Brake Problems

[AllDay815]

Well today I figured I would finally get to replacing the brakes .... well i thought wrong ... the front brake pads went in fine but when I went to do the rear nothing would come off ... I mean i got the wheel off but the bushing that you have to use a chisel to get off, wouldn't even budge...

So i said ef it and said ill just settle with the front brakes for now ... well then i ran into a problem there ... there was no back presure what so ever ... so i re-bled the brakes and still nothing... so I took it for a drive and the only way to stop or slow down is to stomp on the brake ... I honestly had better braking before I changed the pads ...

And for everyone thats gonna tell me to take my time, I spent the better part of 6 hours working on the rear brakes alone and another 3 hours trying to get resistance back in the pedal and still nothing ...

Any suggestions?

[AllDay815]

An idea just hit me ... could it possibly be the brake power booster??

*fingers crossed*

[sam.1956]

You can try cracking the lines loose at the master cylinder & try to bleed again.
If this doesn't help you might have to replace the master cylinder.
I've seen more than one Festiva master cylinder "go bad" with no provocation.

[AllDay815]

well the thing is it bleeds fine ... fluid comes out from every brake its just its not holding any vaccum presure ... which is what made me thing power brake booster cause its pretty much not doing what the booster is meant to do ..

[Charlie1717]

Here was my brake problem don't know if any of the info in the thread could help or not but here ya go!

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27277

[1988redfordfestiva]

you got to bleed the brakes in order from closest to farthest or your never gona get the brake pedal hard

[1988redfordfestiva]

theres a way to see if the boost has failed as u press on the brake do u hear any whistling or air getting sucked in i just found out a little trick cause i have a car that i've been taking parts off at the junkyard but not really any good stuff except the 5 speed trans and rims and hubs that all i have so far and some interior parts and going back to grab a quarter glass tomorrow gona keep it as a spare same with the right fender since its still good but let me know how the brakes come along

[AllDay815]

maybe you got it mixed up when you typed but everywhere i have looked on the internet, and even in my manual, it says to start with the brake farthest away from the master cylinder ... and i read through the link that was posted on here and one guy says to check if there appears to be fluid where the master cylinder meets the booster but doesnt say what to do about it .... im guessing that in that case it would be the master cylinder ...

[1988redfordfestiva]

most likely its a cheap part anyways from auto zone i had to replace mine it was the original but i'm just having vacuum lines that aren't hooked up I've been doing body work on it and its a pain i just replaced all the brakes and lines i want this car to drive right now i'm driving a beat up 98 gmc jimmy soon to fall apart and die trucks motor and trans are on there way out bought it for $100 and its my way of getting home to work unless i can get the festiva fixed then i can buy another project festiva

[Mike McKown]

well the thing is it bleeds fine ... fluid comes out from every brake its just its not holding any vaccum presure ... which is what made me thing power brake booster cause its pretty much not doing what the booster is meant to do ..

I'm a little confused.

You say it bleeds fine. Does this means fluid will squirt out of the bleeder under pressure when you open the bleeder or does it just dribble out?

Then, you say the only way you can stop is to stomp on the pedal.

So, does this mean you have pedal resistance before the brake pedal hits the floor and you have a hard pedal or does it mean you have a low pedal with boost assist?

Or what?

You shouldn't have had to bleed the brakes just changing the pads.

[AllDay815]

yes the fluid does squirt out .... there is no resistance in the pedal ... what i meant is that the brakes don't actually start to catch until the pedal is to the floor ... but i do have an update, when i went out to the car this morning i opened the hood and where the booster meets the master cylinder is really wet ... i mentioned something about it last night and no one answered me ... from what i've read though everything describing that situation points to master cylinder ...

[Flyin4stroke]

Replace master cylinder... Make sure you bench bleed it and as long as you have no leaks for air it will work.. If the booster was out it would have a really stiff pedal when the brakes come on...

[Mike McKown]

Yep!