Brakes

[PvtJoker]

My brake light recently came on and I've been wondering what is going on. I bleed my brakes and it didn't turn the light off and my brakes are still spongy. Now the thing is, if I get on her like a 2 cent whore they will tighten back up to how they should be but the light still stays on. I was told it was the master cylinder, so will I have to replace that "and" the power booster or what? I was going to try the sn95 convo but I'm low on cash and since this is also my daily driver I cant be keeping it off the road with my novice brake skills. When it comes to brakes I'm like my wife when she says, " Whats it mean when the light says 'check oil?' Its been on for about a week hon" 8O

And can anyone suggest a good brand other then nos or company to go through to get these parts for cheap?

[tallboy]

you can get a good price on a reman unit at your local napa store. my car has a sensor on the proprtioning valve. does yours? i'm just guessing as to why the light is on. that switch and e-brake switch are the only ones i know that will turn the brake light on. :burnout:

[PvtJoker]

wow napa is like 3 times the cost of a reman at autozone. damn

[v8only]

Doesn't the low brake light just mean that you are low on fluid?? I am pretty sure there is an electrical connector coming off of the resevoir, but that the rest of the car is too unsophisticated to set off a brake light when something goes bad. There is no sensor that I am aware of on the front brakes, the rear brakes, the booster, etc. My guess is that you are either low on fluid, or that something is wrong with the ebrake switch, as that light comes on when the ebrake handle is pulled up.

I've driven with a bad booster, a bad master cylinder, leaky wheel cylinders, and probably bad calipers all at the same time, and never triggered that light, and my light does come on with the ebrake and appears fully functional. Just my .02

[PvtJoker]

have any idea where that sensor is on my 85?

I still need to know what would make my brakes spongy and then hard after i romp around on it awile and then go back to spongy.

Would it be the master, power, or both going bad? I just need to know what I need to replace, I really am not in the mood to rip my whole dash if I don't have to.

[v8only]

You don't have to rip the dash out to replace the booster. It makes it easier, but it is not a requirement. You should be able to test your booster by sticking a hand held vaccuum pump onto it and creating a vaccum. If it doesn't hold, it's bad. What you described would lead me to believe a bad m/s possibly booster. This is assuming of course you've completely bled the system and have no leaks.

[PvtJoker]

yeah, i bleed the system and I've found no leaks so thats probley it. When I first checked the fluid when I bought it and since then the larger of the resiviours has always been lower then the other, but I have my wife get in and I can never find any leaks. Maybe I'll just do like that one guy did and strap myself under my car and have my wife drive down the highway untill I get wrapped up in driveshaft trying to figure out where the leak is :twisted:

[v8only]

as your brakes wear, they get closer to the rotor, in doing so, the system draws more fluid down into the lines. My tacoma does this. As the pads wear, it draws more fluid into the lines, and the level in the resevoir goes down, that's normal...especially if you have no leaks. When you do the front brakes, it will squeeze that fluid back into the resevoir, and possibly overflow. (I read up on this to find out where in hell the fluid to my tacoma was going)

The bigger of the resevoir goes to the front brakes if memory serves me right.

Be sure the backs are adjusted properly, as they are NOT self adjusting, and that will cause you to loose a lot of pedal, after that, and if you are bled ok, a mushy pedal may just be the master brake cylinder. FYI, my brother got the sn95 booster and resevoir for $100. It may be worth consideration in your case

[PvtJoker]

yeah, if I don't "have" to pull the dash, I will consider that a good possiblility. So your posts on that sn95 somewhat confused me. Do I need to run any different lines and brakes or can I just install that booster and ms as is and worry about rotars lines and whatnot another time?

[v8only]

Shoot my brother 50 proof about the brake lines, he has been crossing that hurdle. There is a little modification to be done to the lines, and offhand I'm not sure at the moment.

Corey installed the booster with the old master cylinder for now. I won't lie to you, it's a lot of work, but worth every minute of the effort. If you are in no hurry, my father and I will be doing this within the next 2-3 weeks or so and will have a template as to exactly where to drill on that firewall, as you have to oblong the bolt holes, and there is a lot of trial and error that took them forever intitially to figure it out. We are also going to see if it as possible to yank the studs out of the booster and replace them with a screw in type of deal, which would eliminate any type of firewall drilling, however that is still very iffy.

You can get to all of the clutch pedal/booster bolts with a socket, and extension and a normal ratchet. it sucks, but can be done