Tii brake booster/master cylinder question

[Armond]

what are the symptoms of these going bad. Thanks

[pkbinplano]

Getting a call in the middle of the night and they want to be bailed out of jail

[Harv]

These things fail in many different ways. Boosters can fail by vaccume leak to the motor, not boosting pedel pressure, pedel not returning peoperly, and way too much boost.

MC's fail by leaking fluid into the booster (causes booster to go bad), not holding pressure (at a light the pedel slowly goes to the floor) and I'm sure there any number of ways they fail.

Accept NO problems with your brakes. They should perform like a new car. There is no "they all do that and just live with it" symptoms. The other think to watch out for is slow degradation of performance. This happens over time anf you can become used to it and you don't think there is anything wrong. Have a friend drive your car and see if they notice anything wrong.

John

[Armond]

Thanks Gents.

I have replaced my calipers,rotors and pads. Brakes still stick once in a while. it was bad last night. Smelled burnt front pads. The brake pedal looses travel when I step on it. That's when I know it's sticking. Pedal comes back up with a slight "delay" sometimes and the brake drag dissapears. Weird.

[Harv]

How old are the brake line hoses? Replace them with the braided stainless ones.

John

[Armond]

Front and back have been replaced by PO. with SS lines. I have no records showing when. Is there a sensor of some sort maybe gone bad?

[TobyB]

Is there a sensor of some sort

no sensors on a 2002!

But there IS a valve in the front of the booster.

It's a pita, but you should probably check the linkabe from the pedal

to the booster. It's not too uncommon for rust to cause a bit of binding,

and that will hold the brakes in the 'dragging' position...

but more common is a sticking piston in the caliper...

fwiw,

t

[Armond]

I'm changing the master cylinder since I believe the car sat a while before it came back to life. Hopefully that solves the mystery.