Ok. The boy's been driving this little soldier for a couple of months and last week noticed that it was getting harder & harder to stop. At this point, he has to mash the pedal all the way. And there's no guarantee he will be able to stop.

He and his dad bled the brakes & replaced a left rear wheel cylinder. We are about to take it to a mechanic. Any wisdom before we attempt what I expect will be an exhilarating drive thru town?

Many thanks in advance.

 

Try bleading them again you might not have gotten all the air out of the lines. also make sure there are no leaks... im sure youve checked your fluid level since the brake job to mmake sure it not leaking out somewhere? Did you do anything to the front brakes becaust the rear should affect the front and thats where most of your braking is. You might just want to check your front pads to see if there almost gone. coul dhave nothing to do with what you did. Just the brakes going out. it will only take 10 mins to inspect the front...

 

Is the master cylinder ok? Rebuild kits are cheap and easy to install, generally it's just that a fluid seal is bad inside the master.

If the hydraulic system is good, the next thing to check out would be the power brake booster (big drum behind the master cylinder on the firewall), particularly whther the big vacuum line is still connected to the intake manifold, and in good enough shape to not leak. If that's ok, it may need a new booster altogether.

Good luck.

 

Nobody has mentioned these yet.

When I pulled my two SE's out of winter storage last week, one had no brakes, turned out to be rotted through hard line across axle (still haven't got that bracket on the passenger side of axle loose to take break line out)

The other lost brakes on first drive after getting it home. The hard line from front to back (driver side) had rusted through. Given they are almost 25 years old, I can't complain I guess.

 

If the pair know how to do a wheel cylinder than why not just do all 4 corners, pads rotors, drums and cylinders? If that does not work do the master cylinder. Check the front calipers for leaking too. But before you do all that, inspect the front pads for wear. Perhaps they are just worn down to the steel.
Why was one cylinder replaced? 'Cause of one is bad, you have to consider the others are poor too.

 

My guess would be the rear brake adjusters are rusted up. This will cause the rear shoes to be out of adjustment, with an extremely low pedal, no matter how much you try to bleed the brakes.

 

This is great stuff! Thankyouverymuch! I will run this past the 2 of them. The lad is always up for disassembling things, but his dad grows weary of the endless mess & frustration. If it is a case of rust (no punctured hoses) will de-rusting solve it, or will he need to replace parts? They already are looking at the master cylinder as a possible culprit.
Will keep you posted as the situation unravels.