hey i own a 96 cavalier 5 speed with abs. my left front wheel bearing was scrwed up and was just replaced alog with the brake pads. when i go to use my breaks the pedal travels to the floor with minimal effort and my brake resivour is completley full. there are no leaks in the brake lines or flex lines its self and i can brake but has no power brakes at all. any suggestions on what the cause is. i heard that the abs master cylinder goes on them.
bleed your brakes, there is a good possibility that they didn't and there is still air in the lines.
This topic makes me laugh. it is a common misconception that when changing brakes that the lines need blead. Unless you change a caliper or hose, line, etc, its not necessary to bleed the brakes.
When you put new brake pads on , you have to push the piston in to get the new pads to fit, when you do that you are causing an excessive gap between the pad and rotor so you can install them. When you press on the pedal after doing a brake job it will always go right to the floor, always... what is happening is your pressing on the pedal and that gap is getting smaller, let off the pedal and press again and it gets smaller yet . keep doing that till the pedal gets hard and the gap between the pad and rotor will be closed up. And then the brakes are fine. No need to bleed the brakes.
There are some people that want to change out their old brake fluid when they go through a few sets of pads. The heat that is generated from the brakes , transfers to the fluid, and its supposed to break its properties down. I have yet to see any direct links to brake failure that has anything to do with brake fluid break down. mostly dry rotted brake hoses and siezed up calipers from water intrusion.
What it sounds like you did was pushed the caliper piston is so you can install the caliper , leaving a larger gap. just pump the pedal a couple of times and it should be fine.
01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e
how good are Ceramic Pads, do they last longer than the conventional pads are they more expensive etc . I have an 04 Ls sedan 2.2 eco may need brakes down the road and i remember hearing once or twice that the factory pads tend to be kind of crappy. Although i guess it all depends on usage and how you use your brakes, whether you abuse them or not.
No what i did was push the caliper piston back and installing new brake pads to fit over the rorots.but after the break job was done i drove the car for the past few days and the brake pedal pressure is very low . the fluid is topped up and when braking the pedal travels to the floor at most times unless pumped a few times during the breaking process.. there is no current leaks at all and i dunno if one of the caliper pistons sized up or something but it isnt safe for that to happen at all.
Did you let the calipers hang form the hoses while you were working on it? I have seen the old hoses deteriorate inside and out, and when you let them hang , they cause weak places in the hose. sometimes it prevents fluid from going through or causes the brake to grab first making the steering pull when the brake is applied. The hose is just a suggestion cause I have seen them cause some problems . Yours sounds a little off the wall unless your leaving something out. Make sure that your calipers arent hanging up on rust and that they are snug to the pads. if the pads are sloppy with the prake not pressed you have something hanging up on the caliper.
Bill there are pretty good odds that your 04 has ceramic pads on it from the factory. I have a chart at work that tells whether the car has them or not, not at work now so Im not 100%. My rule of thumb is if they are on it oe then i put them back on. Dont want the liability issue if something would happen. We have switched out brake pad suppliers several times, they are all trying to out sell each other, making cheap crap so they can compete price wise. We use to use nothig but bendix till we had several come back for wet or damp weather squeeking, stopped using them. we are using carquest's, Raybestos brakes , very nice stuff. no squeeks, and they seem to last pretty long for the average customer. They are pretty too, just be sure to use their grease when installing them.
A good tell tale , if yours are ceramic, have a your parts store look them up and see if they are avail. if so use them. To drive a car with ceramic pads or not, your not going to tell the difference, the life of the pad depends on the driver mostly , What I have heard is that the ceramic pads are supposed to stop better and be cooler, but thats just what I heard.
01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e
Raybestos are good brakes but I only used 1 set. They were making so much dust, the white on my wheel was always grey. Clean them and go to the track and you don't see the white anymore. Stopped great tough.
Ceramic is suppose to be pretty good if you can afford it. I can buy 3 set of the cheap pads for 1 set of ceramic here. The cheap Napa Tru-Stop cost around 35$ and he ceramic pads are 100+$.
Gilles
2.3 Ho
