air in brakes?? still? or what! - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

dsean1 · 10-08-2009, 10:41

I've been on here before. Some peeps lent me advice on a troublesome cruise control. I've diagnosed it and need to fix it. I got three 3 "cruise" blinks upon doing self test.

Anyway, I bled the brakes 2x because the 1st time did not give me good results. I had replaced drums a while ago so I felt the pedal was not satisfactory in terms of the squishy feeling.

After bleeding, the brakes feel much better. However, every few hard stops, I have to apply hard pressure to slow the car, almost like the brakes are not functioning. It can't be air. Within 1 year, the booster has been replaced if I remember correctly.

Is it possible that booster/brake master cylinder are bad or going bad again??

Could it be something else?... jeez, bleeding brakes can tedious and a PITA!

87k miles on the car. 3.0 motor, 2v motor. No ABS I believe.

**tbird100636** · 10-09-2009, 19:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsean1

I've been on here before. Some peeps lent me advice on a troublesome cruise control. I've diagnosed it and need to fix it. I got three 3 "cruise" blinks upon doing self test.

Anyway, I bled the brakes 2x because the 1st time did not give me good results. I had replaced drums a while ago so I felt the pedal was not satisfactory in terms of the squishy feeling.

After bleeding, the brakes feel much better. However, every few hard stops, I have to apply hard pressure to slow the car, almost like the brakes are not functioning. It can't be air. Within 1 year, the booster has been replaced if I remember correctly.

Is it possible that booster/brake master cylinder are bad or going bad again??

Could it be something else?... jeez, bleeding brakes can tedious and a PITA!

87k miles on the car. 3.0 motor, 2v motor. No ABS I believe.

Are the wheel cylinders binding up??? Did you adjust the shoes after replacing the drums???

dsean1 · 10-10-2009, 01:41

wheel cylinders binding up? I've never heard of that.

I adjusted the drums the best I could or know how to....I set them to drag on the drums (similar to discs how they always have contact) and when the parking brake applied, the car would hold pretty good on a hill in park. A friend helped and thats the best we could get it to.

(Ive now noticed im losing/burning oil. On the dipstick, full to low mark, its now reading halfway between those marks in about 3 weeks after oil change. Anything notorious for these cars ?)
thanks in advance.

**Bert** · 10-10-2009, 07:47

From moisture in the brake fluid and the air, the wheel cylinders rust up inside and won't move. Sometimes only one end but the brakes don't apply fully or not at all. That's why the fluid should be flushed periodically.

Oil usage hasn't been a problem unless high miles or poor service. If you used the same kind of oil as you have, recheck it again and see iff any oil is leaking underneath.

dsean1 · 10-10-2009, 21:44

How does one determine if binding (wheel cylinder gone bad) has occurred?...just by replacing them?

I am gonna just monitor the oil for leaks and such.

**Bert** · 10-11-2009, 07:57

Take the drums off and pull the boot back. You'll see rust in there. Also have someone push the brake pedal down and you should see them move. Don't pump the pedal If they haven't been changed before, they wil be stuck. If you can't see much that way, pull the shoes off, pull the boots and try moving the pistons on both sides, front and back.

dsean1 · 10-16-2009, 13:57

Ok, from what I see, the cylinders are operating fine.

The front pads still have meat so I might do another bleeding. It could be a faulty master or even brake booster. Ill do some more diagnosing.