HELP! Brakes failed - almost died!

[Danbob]

So I had so slam on my brakes in my 95 legacy tonight....they slammed and then the pedal hit the floor and I had barely enough power to stop. The brake light on the dash went on. I was able to get back to my house as I was down the road when it happened. The e-brake still wrks but the pedal has very little resistance and just goes down to the floor....Did I snap something when braking hard? It appears that not much fluid has leaked...What'd I do and how much do you think it's gonna cost me? Scariest experience of my life!

[SPR]

what do u mean it appears not much fluid has leaked? are you just looking under your car for leaks? or have you actually checked your brake fluid level.

first thing i would do is look under each wheel and just examine all the brake lines... see if they are still in tact.

have you been driving your legacy for a long time and never had the slightest sign your brakes were acting funny? or has it been sitting a while?

[Plays_with_Toys]

Is your car ABS equipped or no?

[Danbob]

No ABS. What I mean is that I checked the fluid level after this happened and it was more than half full. It happened at night so I couldn't see anythign on the ground even with the flashlight. I called my father and he seems to think it could be either a blown main brakeline or the master cylinder but he does not know subies.....what do you guys think? The car has NEVER acted funny before this and the brakes worked great until tonight when I slammed them.

[Perdue]

sounds like a busted brake line, or a severe amount of air in the system. I guess it is possible, seeing that your brake fluid is only half full, that you could have sucked air into the system. It's also possibly that there is a brake line busted somewhere.

Park the car, pump the brakes a few times, then go around and check around and inside all four wheels for brake fluid. Also check around the firewall under the master cylinder. If you trace the entire system and you aren't losing fluid, put it up on jackstands and have someone who knows what they're doing help you bleed the brakes. Also check the vacuum lines for the brake system (although if one of these was leaking, I'm pretty sure you'd just lose power brakes).

Make sure the fluid is all the way full this time... There is no such thing as half full...there's the full mark, and anything below it is low. It sounds like you were really low. This is pretty scary, considering the brakes are the most important system on your car.

[AussieDan]

I'm with perdue on this one

[danci1973]

Make sure the fluid is all the way full this time... There is no such thing as half full...there's the full mark, and anything below it is low. It sounds like you were really low. This is pretty scary, considering the brakes are the most important system on your car.
Not so. There is the 'MAX' and the 'MIN' mark on the reservoior. When you install new brake pads the fluid should be filled up to 'MAX'. As your pads wear down, more and more fluid will go in the brake calipers and the fluid level will go down.

In a well designed system with no leaks the difference between MAX and MIN should be analogue to the difference between new and worn-out brake pads. So when you install new pads again, you will have to push back the brake pistons resulting in 'MAX' fluid level (again). The 'MIN' level however should still be on the safe side - meaning that cornering or stopping G's shouldn't be able to 'move' the fluid enough to get air in the system.

If you re-filled the brake fluid inbetween, you'll probably spill some when you push the pistons back.


Back on topic - a busted brake line should result in a major leak that should be obvious and visible. With a busted brake line two diagonal wheels would have virtually no braking.

OTOH severe amount of air shouldn't be able to get in the system in a single emergency brake manouver AND should be obvious (long) before that.

That opens up another possibility - a bad master cylinder seal?


D.

[rougeben83]

I'm thinking your brake booster may be shot. At least check that the vacuum line that's connected to it isn't leaking.