I was replacing the pads in front earlier. Weird thing happened when I was compressing the caliper pistons. From somewhere by the brake fluid reservoir, brake fluid was coming out in a steady stream. Top of the trans is moist with brake fluid, and it left a decent sized puddle on my garage floor. Fluid only came out when I was turning the c clamp slowly. When I started the car and pumped the brake a couple of times, the pedal would not get firm. It goes right to the floor. No fluid leaks out when pressing the brake pedal. I moved the car around in my garage just back and forth for a little bit and the brakes worked okay. They stop the car. I took it for a drive around the block and the brakes still work okay. If pushed real hard to the floor they can still be strong enough to activate the ABS. The pedal is just so soft, like stepping in mush. After the drive I checked the brake fluid level in the reservoir, and to my surprise after I removed the cap I found that the brake fluid didn't go down at all in the reservoir. Not sure how to go about the situation.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Need the car to do a bunch of driving this weekend!

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-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

Thinking it might be the brake master cylinder... Can the car be driven around like this for a little?

Also how bad is the replacement??

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

When the caliper piston is compressed, the reservoir will fill and possibly overflow. (it can look like Old faithful if the compressing is done fast enough ! ) I use a bulb-type baster to remove the excess as the level rises. Brake fluid is an excellent paint remover by the way !!! Anyway, sometimes the pedal "going to the floor" can cause damage to the master cylinder's piston by going into an area in the bore that is dirty or rough from corrosion. It's rare, but it can happen. I'd try bleeding all four wheels to see if that does any good, beyond that, I got nothin'. Good luck !

Not at all safe to drive with a broken/not fully functional brake master cylinder. Replacement is normally fairly easy.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

Thanks guys. From looking online, replacement looks pretty straight forward.

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

When compressing the calipers, only do one at a time to avoid spilling out of the reservoir.

Did you bleed the brakes? That's where I would start, and its free.

_________________
Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 57k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 115k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 280k | Official Bonneville Hauler

Well there's a different problem now. I did have the brakes bled and the pedal feels normal now.

However the car is behaving a little weird still. Almost as if it has the slightest sticking caliper, however I had the brakes checked at my work and they said nothing looks abnormal, nothing is indicating a sticking caliper.

Basically, the car doesn't coast like it used to. It's not like I let off the gas and the speed plummets, but it certainly doesn't keep free wheeling it like before. The car also feels like it uses more effort to stay at speed, which is evidenced by lower than before numbers in the instantaneous MPG section on the DIC.

Things I've been pondering: alignment... Silent wheel bearing failure? I don't know.

When I was doing the front brakes, the right front wheel was stuck on the hub pretty good. I had to smack it around with a 2X6 pretty good in order to get it off. Maybe I *fook* up the alignment? The car doesn't really pull in any direction though.

Any ideas are appreciated. I should probably do an alignment anyways, cause these Chicago roads suck, and I just got brand new tires....

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

Lift the car and spin the wheels by hand. They should spin freely.

_________________
Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 57k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 115k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 280k | Official Bonneville Hauler

The rears spin freely, and the fronts are harder to spin I assume because they are connected to the drive train, but both sides spin equally free.

The tech who drove it at my work said the cars feels normal to him, and I guess to everyone else it would too. But I just feel a slight difference.

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

I'm guessing that the new tires are the culprit. Some tires will roll a lot easier than others due to differences in "squirm", belt construction, tread compounds, etc. Check your inflation pressures, tire shops never seem to get them correct for me when they mount tires.

This was already happening before the tires, so the tires are not the culprit for sure!

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

If they spin freely by hand, I think it's just in your head.

_________________
Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 57k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 115k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 280k | Official Bonneville Hauler

That's what I'm starting to accept. Hahahaha!

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

Took the car on the freeway, letting go of the gas at 80 makes speed plummet like driving into water. I should have checked for play in the front wheels when I had it in the air, to rule out the bearings. Tomorrow I'll stop by Just Tires for a free alignment check. I think I must have screwed something up when I smacking the wheel to remove it from the hub.

Definitely not in my head this time around. :O

The struggle continues with this infernal car.

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

Have you tried shifting into neutral at 80 to see how it coasts out of gear ? Just a thought.

dragging frictions or what not in the transaxle? if its your first impression that the fronts are dragging they probably are ime.

_________________
2001 Bonneville SSEi. 1598xx mi.
great car. Wrecked


Burnt Bonny.

Note if you pull the injectors to obserbe fuel delivery...make sure you leave the plugs in and disconnect the ign. Believe me

I have tried shifting into neutral, and it behaves the same.

_________________
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles

Replace calipers, master cylinder & hoses up front. Check lines for rust, see your in the rust belt. Bench bleed master. Bleed then gravity bleed then use abs on dirt go back & gravity bleed more. Brakes will be new & you will like it.