perk77

finally got a nice day to take the Vette out. Had to bring it back right away cause the "brake" light was staying on and the pedal went all the way to the floor. Seems like the brakes will pump up when not running but with the engine running I have nothing. I checked the fluid and it was low so I added some but that didn't do any good. Could it be a bad booster ? Would that make the brake light stay on? Gonna look at the simple things first but looking for any suggestions.banghead:
Thanks :

wombvette

Bleed em

78 Vette

sounds like one or more calipers are leaking or the master might be bad.

geezer

:iagree:
If you can't find a leak anywhere then the master is leaking internally, that is, the pistons aren't pushing any fluid out to the calipers. Usually caused by the the bore being corroded up.
Don't even rebuildint it, just get a new one. If you are an original parts freak I believe SS Brakes will sleeve your original master. BUT - time and $$ and it is FINALLY summer for crysakes!


[Modified by geezer, 4:31 PM 3/28/2004]

perk77

Thanks for the responses. Got a chance to look under the car with a light. Definitely something leaking on the driver's side front. Probably explains why it was pulling when I put on the brakes the last time I had it out in the fall.Guess I know what my next "project" will be this week. Aren't old car fun !! Thanks again ! :cheers:

78 Vette

When one of mine started leaking I put 4 new O ring calipers in they work great no problems.

gliot1

The master may not leak, but you may be getting blow by around one of the "O" rings in the master cylinder. I had an issue I dogged for a season, where the brakes were good and hard and then you would get a soft pedal; immediately hit the brakes again and the were hard. I wanted to keep the oringal numbers, so I rebuilt the master. It took an hour to remove; rebuild; bench bleed, and back in the car. Another hour to bleed the system.

gliot1

One more note.....I littel trick I found in the Chevy manual. Once the brake light comes on it may staty on indefintely. Once you correct the problem, you will need to push down on the pedal hard until you will feel a little kind of bump. the light will reset itself at that point.

perk77

glioti1 thanks for the heads up on the light. Found a badly leaking piston on the caliper. I'm going to replace the caliper. I was think of replacing it with a unit from NAPA. Has anyone had any good or bad experience with these??
Thanks