PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

So last summer, I had to replace the brake lines on my '97 Olds LSS. The car had spent most of its life in the Philadelphia area and they were pretty much rotted out by salt. The car sat at my parents' house in Charlotte for about five months while I had their van to move. During that time, my dad's friend Randy the roving mechanic, came to the house and replaced the front brake pads. I got the car home late last week and the brake pedal started feeling mushy by Saturday. When I checked the brake fluid, I discovered the reservoir was almost empty! After I topped the fluid off, promptly went down again, albeit not quite as far. After topping it off the second time, I seem to have plenty of pedal pressure when I brake, but then it quickly goes down to the floor after I come to a stop. It feels like it does when you're bleeding the brakes.

I had intended to leave the car in the driveway until I could get it to my mechanic to have it checked, but then the car was pressed back into service yesterday after my Aurora broke down Monday night. I've been very careful driving the car and have monitored the brake fluid level closely. Because it appeared to be leaking, I had slightly overfilled the reservoir on Sunday, but now it's down to the normal fill level and appears to be holding steady there. Very strange.

Assuming you don't see any leakage, bleed 'em. Probably a lot. If that doesn't work, you may need to bench bleed the master cylinder, or maybe even replace it.

I finally got the car back today. It was a leaking brake line. There's only one original brake line left on the car and my mechanic said it looked okay even though it had some rust on it. We'll just keep an eye on it and see what happens.