rear brakes not working... stiff pedal

[Garber]

my problem seems similar to this guys http://zilvia.net/f/s-chassis/380728-no-fluid-rear-calipers.html but apparently he didnt solve the issue or update...

stock brake system in my s13. the pedal seemed to have gotten stiff (without me really noticing). i did notice that the brakes seemed to still work well... it would lock the front tires up no problem... but when i had it up on jack stands the brakes werent doing anything for the rear wheels at all.... the hand brake works great though.... any ideas?

[blueshark123]

did u chance anything prior to this

[Garber]

the engine.... lol

nothing with the brake system though

[Chaluska]

easiest thing to do, is unhook the rear brake line from the master cyl, and see if fluid comes out of the master cyl at the hose connection.. if it does, move back, and check for bent lines.. if both brakes are not working (left or right) its probably somewhere on the main feed line from the master to the calipers. a kink or bend. if only one wheel is not braking, then check for secondary bent/kinked hoses/lines.

the stock E-brake is mechanical, not hydrolic.

[ch1873857]

cant remember how the fluid res. is divided but you may have fluid on one side and not the other. i had this problem when one of my fittings broke. rear brakes only worked, fronts werent doing jack. checked the res. and there was only fluid on one side. re-bled the brakes and fixed it. if all 4 were having problems i would say check the vacuum line front the intake manifold to brake booster. that is a common line to get kinked or jacked up. might want to check that out anyway.

[Garber]

so i pulled the line off and pumped the brakes. they are still stiff and no fluid came out at all... do i need a new master or is there something i can do to fix it>?

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b290/revlimityermom/Mobile%20Uploads/mms_picture-51.jpg

[iamtheyi]

sounds like you need a new master if it's not sending any fluid at all. you sure there's fluid inside the reservoir :P

[zerodameaon]

Do the above first then make sure that there isn't a small blockage in the hole for the rears.

[Garber]

there is a allen screw on the end of the master cylinder... i backed it out and then pumped the brakes. it pushed fluid out both the allen hole and the hole to the rear brake lines. when i tightened it back up it went to how it was before.

[zerodameaon]

Wait is that a turbo manifold inches away from the Master Cyl. That would cause alot of problems. You probably fried something inside there.

[Garber]

no its much close than inches away. but i have a head sheild. still probably gets pretty warm. what would fry?

[zerodameaon]

I have never taken apart a 240 MC but i would say there are most likely rubber seals and stuff. Might have broken apart and got lodged in the hole. Also could just be age and the heat was just a secondary factor.

[Garber]

what exactly is the allen screw on the end for? because fluid came out when that was loosened.

[iamtheyi]

what exactly is the allen screw on the end for? because fluid came out when that was loosened.

Haven't looked at it but it's possibly to bleed to BMC. to bench bleed. It's dark out right now so I'll take a look at it tomorrow and tell you. By pumping the brakes while you opened up the lines/allen, you just introduced air into all your lines and BMC.

[Garber]

Haven't looked at it but it's possibly to bleed to BMC. to bench bleed. It's dark out right now so I'll take a look at it tomorrow and tell you. By pumping the brakes while you opened up the lines/allen, you just introduced air into all your lines and BMC.

im not a complete noob:) i tightened the screws before releasing the pedal

[zerodameaon]

My suggestion is buy a new BMC from someplace like frsport that has oem parts. None of the autozone crap, if you cant afford that then find one at the junk yard. I wouldn't even worry about fixing it if you can afford it. just my :2c:
EDIT: Ok so maybe they don't have OEM brake MC but they are alot better then autozone.

[iamtheyi]

im not a complete noob:) i tightened the screws before releasing the pedal

lol cool :]. Just curious haha.

The BMC at autozone works fine. I've had friends use it and rip it apart to check it out.

[zerodameaon]

The BMC at autozone works fine. I've had friends use it and rip it apart to check it out.
I guess im just not a fan of duralast.