My brakes have been really soft since I bought this car and I just can't figure out why. I have replaced the master cylinder... it looked like hell after we pulled it out, so I thought that was it for sure. We bled all the brakes after putting the new one in and it worked fine for a cruise, but the next day they were back to being soft again.

Last thing I can possibly think of would be that the booster may be going bad or already bad.. but the problem is that I don't know how to take it off. Can anyone help me out on this?

 

the 4 nuts that hold it on are the same that hold on the pedals. they are sandwiched back to back. They are not fun to get too. dropping the steering column helps a bit, but its still a PITA

 

it's not the booster. the pedal actually gets extremely hard when the booster goes- i've had 2 go bad already. it'll feel like manual brakes and will barely stop the car.

if you want to stiffen up your brake pedal, get a set of stainless steel braided brake hoses. it won't be an huge improvement, but it will make the brake pedal feel better.

keep in mind, the factory brakes on these cars aren't the greatest and most of the 80's GM cars i've driven have the spongy brake pedal. upgrading the calipers would probably help too.

 

Well, my problem is that it is a little hard to stop. A car pulled out in front of me earlier today and I thought I was going to rear end them for sure.. even if it was just a tap, I know the would get out and complain like I just slammed into them at 120 mph lol.

One day I went to leave and the brake pedal was so hard to push in, I swear it wasn't even budging... so I parked it and when I went to try it again later to test it and mess around about an hour later, they were fine and have been ever since.

Also, my brake light is on and I can make it go off by pressing the pedal in, letting off, and pressing it in again... but after about 2 minutes it comes back on. The only things I thought of were the booster and maybe a whole in the line somewhere, but I'm not losing any break fluid so it can't be that... so I thought the booster for sure.

But I'll try that out, punkdude. I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

 

hows the fluid level? Im not sure what else makes the brake light some on?

 

Fliud level is fine. It's at the max line in the resevoir on both sides... so that's not it.

 

Put new tires on her today and suprisingly, the brakes are a little stiffer. lol. Stops better too, and that's saying a lot since it was raining today.

 

I have a feeling it's the vacuum or lack of enough vacuum to the booster. you may have a vacuum leak in the booster, which is why the brakes work after waiting a bit. check the hose going to the booster from the manifold....and the check valve, which is the thing the hose attaches to on the booster.

 

what he said. I have had this problem and replaced everything about a weekago and my problem continued. Turns out i had a vacuum leak in the brake booster. My brakes would suck when the car was cold, but as it warmed up and vacuum was built, the brakes improved a little bit. I could have the pedal to the floor and barely stop. Swapped out the brake booster and now all is well.

 

Is the brake booster what is attacked to the firewall or is it the little valve connectins the hoses?