brakes issue
 

This morning, at the end of my commute, my brake pedal went down further than normal and my actual braking was very little. Thankfully, I was coasting to a stop but I pumped the pedal and got full brake force. I finished my commute with this happening once more. It was- 5 degrees F this morning
At one occurence, I locked up the front tires (maybe also the backs)

I checked my brake fluid this morning and it was at the max line, same as when I checked it 5 minutes ago at 3:30pm (no loss of fluid). I also took a quick drive and this afternoon (30*F) and tried to replicate my loss of pedal feel but my pedal was fine with no issues at all.


What could this be? A really experience guy at my job does NOT think it's the Master Cylinder (MC) but he believes it could the rear shoes (drum rears) out of adjustment. Could shoes cause this really? It sure felt like a open-shut case of bad MC, but I've never felt bad MC firsthand.

FWIW, even if I was losing no fluid at the MC reservoir, I still looked at the drums and did not clearly see any fluid seeping from the drums but I could be wrong


thanks for any help guys. I appreicate it...my safety is at risk and I don't want to have to do things twice.







What could this be?

Re: brakes issue
 

anybody?

Re: brakes issue
 

If you were able to lock both of the front brakes when the pedal went further to the floor then the pressure loss was from part of the rear brake hydraulic system as your friend said.

Re: brakes issue
 

I had this happen, exact same symptoms and circumstances. Very cold out
(well below freezing), almost not braking power, pumped pedal and they worked again. No fluid loss. Handbrake barely worked. Problem came and went for a couple days until I opened up the drums.

Shoes were sticking/siezing.

I took everything appart, made sure everything moved freely. I greased the contact "pads" where the shoes rest on the back plate. I think that was causing the problem.



I'm not saying that this will fix your problem but it is worth a look.