Just got this car a few days ago and the brakes were making a God aweful noise when I'd step on them .. Popped the hood no brake fluid at all so I filled it up with 2 bottles .. Was for for a minute then the brake peddle would depress all the way and the brakes were almost non existent once again .. Bought MORE brake fluid and noticed that it was draining out somewhere behind the back driver side wheel . Is this a relatively easy fix or not? Never messed with the brakes on any car before.. Oh and my blinkers stopped working out of nowhere . Doesn't make the usual noise nor light up at all . Do i just need New lights? I'll probably go probe around to figure that one out but figured I'd throw it out there while I'm on here ha. Thanks guys .

Yes brake fluid leak is easy to diagnose.

 

Drum mechanism or caliper is leaking (depending which one it has). This would be a leak adjacent to or basically from right behind the wheel area and the inside of the drum or the rotor will be wet.

 

Or the brake line itself is leaking.

 

If it’s the hard line you pull the rear seat bottom and under the access plate is a common place to find a clean section of line to splice in new line. If that’s the case I’d do both she’s if they’re both likely rusted which is usually the case.

 

Buy hard line and splicing tools and end fittings to splice in new line. Lots of other treads on this and some food recent threads touting the easier to work with type of line and splicing. Read those if you’ve never done it.

Your turn signals could be the fuse (but I think the same fuse is for the turn signals/parking lights?) or the flasher.

Edited February 12, 20188 yr by Mike104

Seeing as how you are on the east coast, the brake issue is most likely a rotted out line - the rears tend to go before the fronts do.

 

fill the reservoir, then get a friend to gently apply the brakes while you look underneath the car to determine exactly where it is leaking at. Where the leak is located will determine the best course of action in fixing it.

 

as for the turn signal.. start by checking fuses. Do they light up at all? if they do light up, but don't flash, then it could be the flasher unit itself that has died. pretty easy fix for that, too.

As Heartless stated, rear lines disolve like butter on these. Brake fluid has a distinct odor, so that can help generalize area. It also coats what it touches, but if entire underside is wet from water, it's harder to see. If no luck, fill reservoir, and have someone else pump the brakes slowly while looking under the car for drips or spraying.

 

My 95' Legacy has had 3 brake line failures. 1st was rear above the rear crossmember, 2nd was a side line in the rear, and last one was passenger side front behind the front tire, where it feeds through the body opening in the engine compartment.

 

Once they are squared away, test furure failures by standing on the brakes (safely). The 2nd failure I experienced, was on a snow covered road after a pick up plow truck backed out of a driveway into the road w/o looking in advance. I stood on the brakes and line ruputured. Came about 10' from t-boning him and brakes were a 1-shot use in that panic stop.

If you heard a bad noise, and then later you have fluid leaking. Likely it NEEDED brakes but you blew the caliper piston or  wheel cylinder apart on that side. More common on drums but it can happen with discs depending on how bad the rotors have been cut from driving metal on metal

Its not leaking from the lines . Its squirting out from the middle of the caliper thing . I think thats what its called

Blew the piston

well, that can actually be a blessing in disguise... reman caliper, new pads - check the rotors for wear.. fill the fluid, bleed, and good to go

 

actually easier than trying to splice brake lines, LOL

Its not leaking from the lines . Its squirting out from the middle of the caliper thing . I think thats what its called

 

Easy fix

Might as well replace both sides (new calipers, rotors, pads, and slide pins if applicable) to be safe, and to have equal braking force. Other caliper could be in a similar state. Don't forget to thoroughly spray brake cleaner all over the rotors to remove their protective shipping oil.