jeffy

i guess the title makes sense? lol. Anyways, since my project day the other day, i have been having an issue with the brakes. The issue is a loss of pedal basically, it feels like when you have compressed the calipers and step on it the first time, it goes pretty much all the way to the floor before engaging the brakes. If i hit it a few times its back to normal. This problem ONLY happens after ive driven for a while without touching the brakes, lets say 20 miles or so. Other than that i dont seem to feel any issues like it sinking while im at a stop light or anything. Maybe worth mentioning, when rolling the front fenders i had to remove the calipers and brackets, and in doing so while compressing the left front caliper it gave a slight pop sound, and also since i have been having a pop sound at first move of the day from the same caliper, like its breaking free. Might be the humid rainy weather slight surface rust, blah blah, but only on the left.
So im pretty sure this is going to start pointing towards the master, but wondering if the caliper could be something worth looking into? Was the slight noise on disassembly and after sitting overnight just a coincidence? I hate it when other normally minute things tie in time wise with something not so minute. Screws with my head. So what do you guys think?

edited to add: no warning lights of any kind, no screeching noise. the minor priming buzz at first start up and every so often throughout the drive if i have the radio down and paying attention. hoping its just some nasty fluid pushed back up and getting a little sticky???......probably start with a flush this weekend and see whats up. still looking for some thoughts and input and i will update along the way.

captainva

iTrader: (1)

Did you remove the brake lines from the calipers or just take the calipers off the rotors? When I removed the calipers my brake pedal sunk really far initially but I didn't have enough fluid. Adding brake fluid up to max fixed the pedal feel. Not sure what the popping sound could be though. Maybe check that the brake bolts are tight? I didn't tighten the brake bolts all the way down on another car and when I took it around the block to test my brakes and it made a noise like that clicking

jeffy

nope, didnt remove the lines. brake fluid is full, no leaks anywhere so far that ive seen. brake bolts are tight, bracket bolts are tight. the initial popping when i was compressing the caliper not sure of, but the pop after sitting definitely sounds like the caliper is holding a bit of clamping force and is breaking free when i roll it out to drive. ill be doing a flush/bleed tomorrow morning and hopefully have some peace of mind afterwards. just strange that there was zero signs of an issue for the couple hundred miles i put on it before the caliper compression.....hmmm.

Blaze876

iTrader: (1)

when you took off the calipers did you have them hanging? Maybe the rubber brake line collapsed inside of itself.

jeffy

blaze - nope didnt dangle them, i had them supported and tied up to the upper arms while they were off.

i pulled half the fluid out of the resevoir (could only get half thanks to the stupid design at the fill area that wouldnt allow my siphon tube into it very far) and then went through a good bleed process today and emptied alot of fluid from the system. Pretty dark amber to brownish in color, so not a bad deal to get it gone. So far so good, but didnt get some of the long stretches of non braking as much as i would have liked in order to feel confident that it worked. sooooo maybe some more testing to go still, hopefully good news to come in the future.

jeffy

update:........ after two good trips along my commute during some lonely hours and about 25 miles of no brake touches at all. Definitely improved, still has a sporadic not perfect feeling but not that bad at all and also has now an every now and then slight side pull when i first touch the brakes after a while without them, so i am feeling very strongly that its the left front caliper giving me issues and slightly hanging up. That side looks to be factory and the right side has for sure been replaced before. So now onto the caliper hunt, ill be moving on to ls calipers soon enough.