brake issues

[bomberdave]

so the otherday i had the wonderful surprize of the brake pedal going to the floor and doing squat all, yay for the e brake.......

took a look under the hood and to my surprize, no brake fluid!

took it to the shop up the road to get the lines looked at. no leaks from the master cylinder or any visable lines, but the mech said there router inside the car for the most part and to check its gona be costly. i can do this myself, but does anyone have any pointers before i dive into this?

[ooberdoob]

A: what year/model

and router inside the car? wtf?

assuming you have a newer car, you have your master cyl, ABS module and 4 lines that go to each wheel. i don't know wtf he's talking about a router, mabe a canukistani word for ditsribution block or something... but if you have 4ch ABS then you don't have that.

answer letter A.

even if it is an old car, then the dist block is not a big deal as long as it's within reach. it's really as simple as it sounds. one in, two out. and that wouldn't cause fluid to magically dissappear except for visible leaking. fill your res, bleed your brakes, (furthest from the master first... RR, RL, FR, FL) mark the level, check that you do have brakes and drive around your neighborhood. really use the brakes.

if you have rear drums, see if you have a blown wheel cyl. also see if a bleed screw came loose.

[bomberdave]

sorry ill clairify, its a 97 legacy L wagon

and sorry i ment the brake lines go though the inside of the car, they are not fully accessable from the underside, so we cant see if its leaking for alot of the lines, the fluid level however seems to be ok now, it hasnt gone down since i topped up the fluid, still spongy, from wroking with hydro brakes on my mountain bikes im guessing its some air in the lines and i do have to bleed them, but if it does go down i guess im just looking for some info on how to go about getting to the lines

[ivwarrior]

Did the mechanic check you brake pads? It's possible that they're all to the almost worn out stage, and the fluid is just all in the calipers.

I'd say you definitely have air in the lines, get everything checked over and bleed the lines.

I was a bit surprised when you said about the lines running inside the vehicle, but I went out and looked under the hood of my 97 Outback and sure enough, the rear lines go through the firewall. I guess that's actually a good thing as it keeps them away from road salt and debris and probably greatly reduces the chances of having a problem with them.

[bomberdave]

naa pads and rotors are a month old, had them replaced when i bought it so im guessing air, though im going to keep a close eye on the fluid levels the next few days, right now it goes down grabs a little then i have to pump to stop

[StatGSR]

if pads were done recently i would check and make sure your bleeders are all tight and not leaking.

[backpack09]

Refill your master cylinder.

Have your SO/FF/wifey press the brake pedal while you look under the car. It will be coming out somewhere...

If you are in the salt belt, it could be a rusted hard line. But if you had recent work, it is usually faulty repair work.