My brake light had been on for a really long time, and I just passed it off as one of my cars many electrical problems and though the cable was pinched or something. I recently discovered that it was also an indicator for low brake fluid. The day after I discovered that (the day I was going to buy some more brake fluid), my brake pedal felt like no pressure at all until the very end of the push on the pedal. I immediately put in some brake fluid, noticing that it was well below the minimum line. It seemed to have little to no effect on the braking. I can still make stops, but I have to jam down the pedal all the way, and push very hard on it at the end of the brake. I'm guessing that it has been leaking for a while since it was so low, so I definately have to get that checked out, but why even after filling it back up does it still do this? Could it have damaged something being so low? Anyone have any opinions? Also, is it safe to drive like this? I can still make sudden stops, it just requires a lot more force from my foot. Anyone that could offer some help or shed some light on what the problem might be would be great.

- Brian

 

You trapped air in the brake system. This shoots the feel to hell and reduces the efficiency of the braking system.

You need to bleed your brakes. At the same time, change your pads unless you know they are 100%.

1) Top off the fluid.
2) Jack up 1 car. Remove wheels. Find the bleed screw on the caliper. Attach a tube to it long enough to reach into a jar on the ground.
3) Open up the screw slightly so fluid can come out, you need a 6-8mm wrench, I forget which one.
4) The Brakes need to be pumped until there is just fluid coming out.
5) Repeat at the other 3 corners.

I did this the hard way, jacking up each corner and bleeding, then repeating. Twice for the each wheel. I was replacing the fluid 100%.

You are also supposed to do it in order of farthest wheel from brake master cylinder -> closest wheel, which means Rear Pass, Rear Driver, Front Pass, Front Driver.

Or have a shop do it if you don't have confidence in doing it yourself.

 

How much would this cost a place to do for me? Probably would be easier to just have someone else do it if its not too much $$.

 

I wouldn't expect more than 100-150 for new pads and bleeding at any brake place. Dealer will of course be more.

 

You might need to "bench-bleed" the master cylinder, too. If you pushed a bunch of air into the ABS unit, be sure to run a lot of fluid through the system when bleeding to get the air out of the ABS unit.

For an easy one-man bleed job, get some Speedbleeders or a pressure bleeder (http://motiveproducts.com/).

None of this stuff is very hard, and it is a good way to learn about brake maintenance. Plus, it is quite possible that you would do a better job on it since it is your car. A shop might not care to do as good a job.

-Max