my pedal feel is terrible and unsafe. the brakes start to engage maybe a little more then halfway to the floor, and i can put the pedal to the floor at any given time with little effort.
Im thinking my master cylinder could be bad since when i got my car at 50,000 miles last year, i think i was the first to bleed the brakes in the cars history, and when i put in new fluid, the old stuff was so black and dirty i think it could have damaged the wall of the master cyl.

i found out how unsafe this is the other day when i found my self out in the tall weeds of black hawk farms raceway.

as far as i can tell, i have no air in the system, iv bled it way to much to have air. None of the other gen 2 rx-7's at the track have the brake problems that i am having.
why does my pedal feel so bad?

also, is there a harness bar available for our cars? i know the 3rd gens have one that acts like a rear strut tower brace, is there one like that for our cars?

 

does the idle drop at all when you push on the brakes. if not then it is probably your master cylinder

 

no, its not a vacuum leak. prolly master cylinder.

and even if i had a vac leak, i dont think it would be easy to put the pedal to the floor, it would be like having no/or little power assist.

does anyone know why they put different master cylinders and and power assist diaphragms in TII's and N/A's even when they have the same 4 piston calipers? i do know the pistion size is a little bigger in the TII's master cyl.

 

definatly sounds like the master cylinder i had one go on my old civic and had prety similar symptoms. if the fluid looked realy nasty when you bled the calipers it probobly has somehow absorbed water into it or just never been changed (if you are slowly using up brake fluid make sure to check for leaks as they will eventualy leed to component failure)

here is the acid test to see if its the master cylinder:
find the steepest hill or incline around. drive up on to it and push on the pedal just hard enough to stop the car from rolling backwards. now hold the pedal and just wait for a minute. if the pedal remains firm and the car stays put, the master cylinder is fine and you have some other problem. however if the pedal starts to soften up, slowly move tword the floor or the car begins to slide backwards, your master cylinder is bad. get it replaced ASAP. i ended up getting into a wreck with my poor little honda before i figured this out.

 

ya same prob here. i just picked up a new rebuilt Bendix MC for around $60 at Advanced Auto Parts. I havent put it in yet but when i do, i'll let you know what happens. Could this brake prob be associated with the calipers at all, such as broken piston boots???
Josh

 

Same problem on my Accord. Replacement time.

 

no... im pretty sure this is not connected with piston boots.