Well, for quite a while now iv been driving on some really spongy feeling brakes. It was impossiable for me to lock my tires with the brake to the floor. In trying to hunt down the problem, i blead the **** out of the system, removing all air. That didnt fix the problem. Next i replaced my master cylinder, that didnt do anything either. I thought my stock rubber lines might be the cause and i started looking into stainless steel lines, but it really didnt make any sence to me how the lines could expand that much. I still want SS lines, but i found the rubber lines not to be the problem. Lucky i went to google and typed in 'spongy brakes' and found some1 was having the exact same problem as me. He found that the problem was that his brake booster pushrod was not adjusted to the right length. So, today i went and adjusted it (made it longer) and bam! my brakes are back! its great! the engagement point is really high now, and I have great pedal feel, very firm and responsive.

It took me all day to adjust it right, at first i made it too long and that made the brakes drag, so i had to back it off little by little and jack up the front of the car to check if the brakes are draging. You have to do that with the car running too because it has to be making vacuum to power the booster.

There is a special tool to do this job, but im sure thats going to be pretty hard to find. With a little free time, a wrench and some pliers, this is pretty easy to fix. Just unbolt your master cylinder and push it out of the way, there enough flex in the metal lines to move it. The pushrod does not come out, you have to do it while its in there, and if its getting sucked down pump your brakes a few times with the car and mastercyl off.

 

I have the EXACT same problem, and had been planning to do this, but was unsure if it would help! It's great to hear that it makes a difference - now all I need is the time to do the fix!

 

ill have to try this as well

 

great thread!

 

Sorry to bump a slightly old thread, but can't one do this on the brake pedal as well? Looking at the FSM, the pushrod is adjustable from the brake pedal side too. Anyone try this?

Also, when removing the master cylinder, how exactly does one do it? The proportioning valve seems to be in the way of one of the nuts, and it doesn't look like it will move terribly far when disconnected.

-=Russ=-

 

Ah that's cool. I'll keep this thread in mind if this ever happens to me, good work.

 

Take the 10mm bolt out of the proportioning valve, and you should be able to move it just enough to get to the 12mm nut under it (much easier with the lines off of the master, though).

If you're related to Gumby, you can also get to the nut with a short end wrench from underneath...

 

Yes, my brakes were rather spongy also, but i put a Brembo Pro Performance brake kit on it and hasn't had a spongy feel to it since. :P

 

I FINALLY got around to doing this yesterday!

I had to "unscrew" the rod pretty far - and to be honest I could probably go farther - but it made a hell of a difference!

I installed a new master cylander last year, and in the manual it says to perform this adjustment - but it also says that you need to apply vacuum pressure etc. I figured it was going to be too hard without the right tools, so I left it alone hoping that it would be within spec. Well, after wrenching on it a bit yesterday, I can say that this is a step that needs to be done if you swap your MC!

The brake feel is back to the way it should be!

 

i have spongy brakes... but i found a different problem before this thread was made... my problem is that on my drivers side caliper the bolt that connects the top part to the bottom has pretty much siezed. to be able to open the caliper (i have the single piston ones) i had to use a hammer. the main problem is that it takes the piston on that side longer to get to the pad that on the passanger side