86subaru Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 on a 97 legacy L wagon ,with abs, all of a sudden the pedal is alittle low, no abs light on , brake fluid good, the pads / rotors good , aleast half the pads left, any thing to look at first ? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOthis Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 if you can, get it in the air and check for any leaks if none are visable i would bleed the brakes and see how it feels........by the way how does the brake fluid look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 fluid looks ok, but not real clear, when i changed the front axles there were no leaks then 5,000mi ago , but have not checked the back , thats what i was thinking about doing bleeding the brakes and put in all new fluid ,thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 On an eleven year old car, it might be a good idea to install a new master cylinder, then bleed out the system. I don't think this has anything to do with your abs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapdaddytatum Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 if the master cyl looses 1 part of its 2 part system it could couse the pedal to do this,i would bleed the brakes first, then if that doesnt do it, replace master and rebleed untill all fluid is clean and new, that should do the trick.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 ok, it has 156,000mi on it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screwbaru2 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 You mentioned you changed axles. Make sure those axle nuts are tight. I had one back off I me one time. Don't know how, it looked staked really good. It took quite awhile for it to happened. Anyway the outside pad was worn way down from the wheel trying to get off the shaft. The brake pedal felt lower than normal but still firm. As mentioned your master maybe starting to leak internally, you won't see the leak but you'll feel it in the pedal. Pump the brakes till they get hard, then press hard if they don't stay frim for a few seconds I'd suspect the master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 what i need notice when i changed both axles ,was that the axle nuts were pretty loose, what is the right way to change a master cylinder, ? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapdaddytatum Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 bench bleed the new one first, then it will onlu need a little bleeding to get the air out when installed,have help to bleed brakes and bleed the chit out of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Haynes manual has a generalized bench bleed procedure if you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Or do a Google search on "bench bleeding"; there are a lot of online articles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Also, to minimize the chance of damage to the brake line fittings, you might want to get a properly-sized tubing wrench if you don't already have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Good point. Also I have noticed at least the crapsman flare/line wrenches will open up a bit if you start really laying on them thus can potentially round off the nut. I clamp some vise grips onto the line wrench open end after getting it on the fitting so that it stays nice and tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 ok thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I wouldnt buy a master cyclinder yet, most of the time I have had a master cyclinder go bad the pedal is not low but the brakes must be pumped in order to mantain the pressure. I think your problem may be a bad caliper or wheel cyclinder letting pressure leak off, it can do this without showing fluild leak. For just a few dollars you can buy a brake line pincher from Snap On and then you can check each caliper, if one is bad when you pinch that line you will mantain the brake pedal. The reason I say this is because I chased this same problem and changed the master cyclinder and it did not fix it, I then took it to Midas and they found it was the front caliper by doing the above test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Another thing that can cause this is a bad wheel bearing. The hub/rotor floats around and pushes the pads back into the caliper. Next time you step on the brake the pad must first move this distance before contacting the rotor, thus the lower than normal pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted February 3, 2008 Author Share Posted February 3, 2008 ok thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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