I have a brake question. I have a 1996 chevy Silverado. I have had it
for about 4-5 years. I bought it from my dad. It has 315,000 miles on
it. It has always had a soft spongy pedal. Brakes seem to work, but
like I said the pedal sinks when holding it.

This weekend was a nightmare. I replaced one side of my back drum
brakes. I will have to finish the other side this weekend as I ran out
of time. I noticed when I was trying to force on the pads in the back,
I developed some liquid at the master cylinder boot.

This weekend is a long one so I plan on doing this right. Replacing
the other set of rear pads. I guess I need to replace that wheel
cylinder now too. (Will I hurt anything by driving the truck this week
with one set of new pads on one set of old pads?) For the record, the
pads had a lot of life left on them but there were some superficial
cracks so I attempted to replace them.

Also, for the last year my antilock brake light has been on.

Anyway, Part of me is afraid to replace the master cylinder and re
bleed everything. I have heard of people doing this and somehow
getting air on the anti lock module? Have you heard of this?

I appreciate any help and advice! I just want to get this done and be
finished with it. This summer by the way I had to replace my vacuum
booster. It went out. I have no fluid leakage that I can see by the
way.

I appreciate any help!

stryped wrote:


I appreciate any help!

Take the truck to a competent mechanic before you kill yourself - or worse
yet some innocent bystander that didn't realize you don't have any brakes .
Unless you know what you're doing it's very easy to screw this up . And
brakes just ain't the place to screw up .
--
Snag
Besides , if you take it to a mechanic,
we won't be inundated for the next two weeks
with your incessant stupid questions .

Snag
Besides , if you take it to a mechanic,
we won't be inundated for the next two weeks
with your incessant stupid questions .

Wanna bet?

Karl

On May 24, 7:20*am, stryped wrote:
I have a brake question. I have a 1996 chevy Silverado. I have had it
for about 4-5 years. I bought it from my dad. It has 315,000 miles on
it. It has always had a soft spongy pedal. Brakes seem to work, but
like I said the pedal sinks when holding it.

This weekend was a nightmare. I replaced one side of my back drum
brakes. I will have to finish the other side this weekend as I ran out
of time. I noticed when I was trying to force on the pads in the back,
I developed some liquid at the master cylinder boot.

This weekend is a long one so I plan on doing this right. Replacing
the other set of rear pads. I guess I need to replace that wheel
cylinder now too. (Will I hurt anything by driving the truck this week
with one set of new pads on one set of old pads?) For the record, the
pads had a lot of life left on them but there were some superficial
cracks so I attempted to replace them.

Also, for the last year my antilock brake light has been on.

Anyway, Part of me is afraid to replace the master cylinder and re
bleed everything. I have heard of people doing this and somehow
getting air on the anti lock module? Have you heard of this?

I appreciate any help and advice! I just want to get this done and be
finished with it. This summer by the way I had to replace my vacuum
booster. It went out. I have no fluid leakage that I can see by the
way.

I appreciate any help!

You've got air, at least, in the works, maybe a bad master cylinder
and I hope you've got the manual. You NEED the manual and maybe some
special tools like a vacuum bleeder to get the air out of the anti-
lock system. My b-in-l has a Silverado, a bigger piece of crap I
never hope to see as far as braking systems are concerned. The days
of shade-tree brake mechanicing without docs are long gone with the
advent of ABS. The b-in-l tried 4-5 times to get things back to the
way they were after replacing pads and shoes, he finally ended up
hauling it in to the dealer. The rear wheels on his had both pads AND
shoes, so had discs and drums both. Guess GM was too dumb to figure
out how to do parking brakes with discs. Major pain in the ass
setting the shoe clearance.

If you replaced the vacuum booster, that usually sits right behind the
master cylinder which has to be removed for access. Probably that's
where you got the air in. Some can be bench bled with fittings and
hoses added, some need vacuum. The manual has the procedures. Just
pumping fluid through a cracked fitting doesn't do it anymore.

Stan

stryped wrote:
I have a brake question. I have a 1996 chevy Silverado. I have had it
for about 4-5 years. I bought it from my dad. It has 315,000 miles on
it. It has always had a soft spongy pedal. Brakes seem to work, but
like I said the pedal sinks when holding it.

This weekend was a nightmare. I replaced one side of my back drum
brakes. I will have to finish the other side this weekend as I ran out
of time. I noticed when I was trying to force on the pads in the back,
I developed some liquid at the master cylinder boot.

Do you mean it leaked because you pushed fluid back into the MC and it
overfilled it, spilling out the top?
Or is it leaking out the rear bore of the cylinder, where it bolts up
the vacuum booster? If the latter, you will need to replace the master
cylinder.

This weekend is a long one so I plan on doing this right. Replacing
the other set of rear pads. I guess I need to replace that wheel
cylinder now too. (Will I hurt anything by driving the truck this week
with one set of new pads on one set of old pads?) For the record, the
pads had a lot of life left on them but there were some superficial
cracks so I attempted to replace them.

Also, for the last year my antilock brake light has been on.

Anyway, Part of me is afraid to replace the master cylinder and re
bleed everything. I have heard of people doing this and somehow
getting air on the anti lock module? Have you heard of this?

MC will come with directs for bench bleeding. Also should have some
plastic fittings and hoses to do it with. If not, buy them separately.

I'd also suggest you buy a hand vacuum pump/brake bleeder.
If you have to bleed the whole system, you can do it correctly by
pulling new fluid through the system and bringing air bubbles out with
it. Do RR, LR, RF, LF in that order. Don't skimp on brake fluid, and
don't let the MC run dry. A helper pouring fresh fluid and keeping the
MC topped up while you work the vacuum pump is a big help.

It's not rocket science, but it takes care and the proper tools to do it
correctly and safely.

As the pads wear, the calipers close. Which moves fluid down the line,
to the calipers. So, you see the fluid is low, and pour more in. When
you compress the caliper, you push fluid back towards the master
cylinder. And of course some leaks otu the main seal. This is normal.

The rest of it, I'm less sure.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"stryped" wrote in message
...
I have a brake question. I have a 1996 chevy Silverado. I have had it
for about 4-5 years. I bought it from my dad. It has 315,000 miles on
it. It has always had a soft spongy pedal. Brakes seem to work, but
like I said the pedal sinks when holding it.

This weekend was a nightmare. I replaced one side of my back drum
brakes. I will have to finish the other side this weekend as I ran out
of time. I noticed when I was trying to force on the pads in the back,
I developed some liquid at the master cylinder boot.

This weekend is a long one so I plan on doing this right. Replacing
the other set of rear pads. I guess I need to replace that wheel
cylinder now too. (Will I hurt anything by driving the truck this week
with one set of new pads on one set of old pads?) For the record, the
pads had a lot of life left on them but there were some superficial
cracks so I attempted to replace them.

Also, for the last year my antilock brake light has been on.

Anyway, Part of me is afraid to replace the master cylinder and re
bleed everything. I have heard of people doing this and somehow
getting air on the anti lock module? Have you heard of this?

I appreciate any help and advice! I just want to get this done and be
finished with it. This summer by the way I had to replace my vacuum
booster. It went out. I have no fluid leakage that I can see by the
way.

I appreciate any help!

On May 24, 6:07*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
As the pads wear, the calipers close. Which moves fluid down the line,
to the calipers. So, you see the fluid is low, and pour more in. When
you compress the caliper, you push fluid back towards the master
cylinder. And of course some leaks otu the main seal. This is normal.

The rest of it, I'm less sure.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"stryped" wrote in message

...
I have a brake question. I have a 1996 chevy Silverado. I have had it
for about 4-5 years. I bought it from my dad. It has 315,000 miles on
it. It has always had a soft spongy pedal. Brakes seem to work, but
like I said the pedal sinks when holding it.

This weekend was a nightmare. I replaced one side of my back drum
brakes. I will have to finish the other side this weekend as I ran out
of time. I noticed when I was trying to force on the pads in the back,
I developed some liquid at the master cylinder boot.

This weekend is a long one so I plan on doing this right. Replacing
the other set of rear pads. I guess I need to replace that wheel
cylinder now too. (Will I hurt anything by driving the truck this week
with one set of new pads on one set of old pads?) For the record, the
pads had a lot of life left on them but there were some superficial
cracks so I attempted to replace them.

Also, for the last year my antilock brake light has been on.

Anyway, Part of me is afraid to replace the master cylinder and re
bleed everything. I have heard of people doing this and somehow
getting air on the anti lock module? Have you heard of this?

I appreciate any help and advice! I just want to get this done and be
finished with it. This summer by the way I had to replace my vacuum
booster. It went out. I have no fluid leakage that I can see by the
way.

I appreciate any help!

If you do not know the BASICS then don't mess with it! Drums have
SHOES! Disc brakes have PADS! DRUMS DO NOT HAVE PADS!

In article ,
"Stormin Mormon" wrote:

As the pads wear, the calipers close. Which moves fluid down the line,
to the calipers. So, you see the fluid is low, and pour more in. When
you compress the caliper, you push fluid back towards the master
cylinder. And of course some leaks otu the main seal. This is normal.

The rest of it, I'm less sure.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


"stryped" wrote in message
...

This weekend was a nightmare. I replaced one side of my back drum
brakes. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^