the brakes on my 87 gxl suck. it feels like i have no power brakes, the pedal only travels maybe an inch and i have to put all my wieght on it to stop and i couldnt stop short if my life depended on it, im thinking i need a brake booster, i just got the car a few weeks ago so i havent tried to bleed the system or check the pads or anything but i can feel braking power its just not being transfered from the pedal to the wheels the right way. can anyone give me some suggestions before i go out and buy a $200 brake booster for no reason.

 

check the pistons to see if any are locked in place.

check the master cyl to see if it is leaking internally

check the vacuum line going to the booster.

 

Watch if you have brake oil!

Maybe you need a new caliper.

 

Check what has been mentioned above, then bleed your brakes.

 

you guys are quick as hell i posted this like 5 minutes ago. there is brake fluid in the resivoir, and i really dont think its the calipers so im going to check the vacuum line and bleed the brakes on saturday. how do i check to see if the booster leaks???

 

When I had my Fiero GT, I had the same problem. I replaced calpers, rotors, master cylinder, beld the sytem repeatedly, nothing helped. Turns out it was the power booster, so I say check that.

 

Start with the most cheap and simple solution and work your way up.

Bleed all 4 brakes first.

 

any other symptoms? like if you stop on a hill do you start to roll back if you dont re-apply the brakes after a few seconds? like besides being crappy, do the brakes hold and then seem to give out slowly? if so thats a sure fire sign that it's probably your master going/gone out because the master cylinder can't hold the pressure in the lines.

 

im having the exact same problem with mine. guess i dont need to ask that question now.

 

That can be both master cyl or brake booster.

If it fails too hold or continues to drop when the car is not running and you have pumped the pedal at least 3 or 4 times (to get rid of the stored vacuum in the brake booster) then it might be the master cyl.

But just failing to hold while the engine running could be a half dozen different things.

 

my civic brakes then lets loose some pressure and it rolls on a hill, last time that happened (in my old Accord) it was the brake master cylinder.

I have THIS same problem (seems I have to MASH on the brakes to get them to work) in my '90 TurboII. I'm not sure what the problem is, but in my civic I just kinda hit the brakes and the car lurches, in the RX-7 it's like I have to stomp on them just to get it to stop.

 

So is it possible to have a bad master cylinder if the rear brakes work and the front does not..? I just installed new calipers and have been trying to bleed it for 2 days and nothing. I have had 2 members on here over to help (slick willie and 7ormore). I would like to thank them. Anyway I cannot get any fluid to come through the front claipers. The rear works and bleeds fine. Any suggestions on where to go next...? Obviously you can see I have been searching as this thread is from way back.

 

It sounds to me like you have a clog somewhere in the front lines. Not sure how to check it, but that at least narrows it down.