I just bought my 86 Iroc a few months ago. When test driving it I relised that there was a lot of pedal for it to brake. The pedal drops about 3/4's of the way to the floor, but it does come to a complete stop. Is there something a wrong with my brake system, like a master cyclinder problem? Or do i need to make an adjustment somewhere? And also the car probably sat for 10 years in a garage, only 22,000 miles logged on it.

Thanks for your time.

 

Luther,

If the pedal is firm but low, you likely have soem pad/shoe wear and may have some sticky calipers or drum brake hardware. Do you have rear drum brakes or four-wheel disc?

 

Four wheel disc. I havent had time to check the brake pads, i already have it put away for winter but I will check that out tonight.... Thanks for replying

 

Put away for winter? It's less than one week until spring...

Anyway, you may have a caliper that is not moving freely in the anchor bracket. This is a real possibility since the car sat for so long. You may also have a problem with the park brake mechanism. The rear calipers on '85-88 'F' cars were prone to park brake lever and actuator screw problems. Have you tried to "exercise" the park brake to see how well it sets and releases?

 

Ha. With all the salt that they put on the roads out here in Pa ill be lucky if ill drive it towards the end of spring....

Ive been working in the garage today, and i did think about exerciseing the parking brake. F150's are the same way but they have rear drum brakes. And i did notice once that i left the parking brake on and there was no resistance. So i exercised the brake and i did get some more firmness out of the pedal. Ill still check the wear on the pads though too. Thanks

 

If that car has sat for 10 years the first thing I would do flush the brake lines real good to remove all the old fluid, then I would rebuild or replace the master cyl., get new brake hoses, calipers and pads, there is usually a little water in the system and if it sits a long time it will rust everything up.