I've resurected my old car, everythingis great so far except the brakes.

e-brake will lock the back wheels (after needing a good tightening). When driving, the current owner let me know before parking it for the last year the brakes were fading and didnt work quite so well.

This was evident when I drove the car and the brakes wouldn't even lock until I was going below 50 and hammered down on the pedal to the floor. I flushed the lines and bled the brakes (unthinkingly not in proper order though). I did notice residue of a leak from the master cylinder and the cylinder itself was coated in what looked like some funky fungus in whiteish/green dots all over it. the leak shown was against the brake booster.

After bleeding/flushing the lines when I was driving the brakes didn't seem any better at all and there was a point where I pushed the pedal and it went right to the floor - after the 2nd pump I had pressure and was able to stop.

Can anybody lend me diagnosis or tips on how to proceed in replacing parts if necessary?

Thx.

 

you might just want to replace the brake master cylinder

not too expensive and if there are leaks, this will fix it

 

Is there anything else that *may* be wrong ?

i checked price on master cylinder, its $60 for a rebuilt one.. I think I'll just do this anyways but would like to be prepared if it may be something else .. (brake booster?)

* also, above when I said slowing from 50, that was km (30mph)

 

^there is a test to see if your brake booster is bad. in 4th gens the helms has some tests

i think it was to have the car off and pump the brakes until they are firm

and then when you turn on the car, the pedal should come down to its original place..........something like that

 

Ok, changed master cyilnder today and the pedal doesn't go straight to the floor anymore, but the braking is still super poor ***..

I have a feeling it comes from the constant "wrr wrr wrr wrr wrr" that seems to be coming from the front driver side tire. Not sure if this would be the caliper seized up ??

Any advice helps huge at this point in time. I gotta get this car ready to sell.

 

What you're describing is exactly what happens when an mc fails. MC's will almost always fail if the fluid gets to look like tar. When the pedal is pumped durring bleeding, you have to make sure to only do half pumps. When you go too far with the pedal, it forces the piston and its seals into the the part of the bore where sediment will be thus killing the seals.

To test the booster, press the brake pedal before you start the car. When you start the engine the pedal should drop. If it doesn't, then make sure the check valve still flows in one direction. If the check valve is ok then its your booster.

The fact that you can't lock up your brakes might be due to the pads. If they get too hot they will glaze over greatly reducing friction. Take the pads out and file the layer of pad that touches the rotor. Dark spots on the rotor are another indication that the brakes have been overheated.