soft breaks to no breaks
soft breaks to no breaks
i just bought a 66 baja bug and the breaks were a little soft and far down but they did work good. the other day my brother was driving it and they just completly went out. i checked the brake fluid and its empty but i don't know where it all went??? any ideas?
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fatalifeaten
- Senior Member
- Posts: 512
- Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 12:05 am
- Location: The 480
Get it up on stands and start looking for drips or signs of recent puddling. odds are the soft lines somewhere have gone south or you've blown a wheel cylinder. there should be evidence SOMEwhere to let you know where it all went, unless it was dry when you got it and you just got lucky.
Likely culprits (in no particular order)
Failed wheel cylinder
Failed brake line (soft line)
Failed reservior line
Pinhole leak in hard lines (this one is a real headache to find, especially if it's in the tunnel)
Failed master.
You might as well pull all the drums and do a thorough inspection of those, the brake shoes, and your wheel bearings while you're troubleshooting. better to keep it off the road a little longer and fix it right ONCE, than to have to keep throwing a nickel here and a dime there at it and run the risk of a failure that'd leave you in mortal danger.
Likely culprits (in no particular order)
Failed wheel cylinder
Failed brake line (soft line)
Failed reservior line
Pinhole leak in hard lines (this one is a real headache to find, especially if it's in the tunnel)
Failed master.
You might as well pull all the drums and do a thorough inspection of those, the brake shoes, and your wheel bearings while you're troubleshooting. better to keep it off the road a little longer and fix it right ONCE, than to have to keep throwing a nickel here and a dime there at it and run the risk of a failure that'd leave you in mortal danger.
eeeeek!
Hi there!
That's a bit scary...... glad you're not trying to drive it without brakes hee hee! My previous 1964 bug had to do an emergengy stop to avoid an accident. The breaks were fine straight after the incident, then slowly for about 10 miles the breaks began to get a bit "spongy". I found oud that during the emergengy stop I had popped one of the rear break cylinders. There was a residue noticible on the wheel and it was easily fixed.
That's a bit scary...... glad you're not trying to drive it without brakes hee hee! My previous 1964 bug had to do an emergengy stop to avoid an accident. The breaks were fine straight after the incident, then slowly for about 10 miles the breaks began to get a bit "spongy". I found oud that during the emergengy stop I had popped one of the rear break cylinders. There was a residue noticible on the wheel and it was easily fixed.
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Blue Baron
- Senior Member
- Posts: 879
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:34 pm
- Location: Tampa, Florida
B-R-A-K-E-S
If you just bought the car, you really need to replace everything, master cylinder, wheel cylinders and brake lines. That way you can be totally confident with the brakes.
As to what happened when they completely went out, check every inch of the brake system, and where fluid has leaked out, you've found the answer.
As to what happened when they completely went out, check every inch of the brake system, and where fluid has leaked out, you've found the answer.