No brakes

[FordGuy100]

Ok, so I went out to lunch today like any other day. I was riding back with my buddy, and we were almost to the parking lot. All the sudden this car I was following stoped fairly quickly up ahead, no problem right, wrong. I push on the brake pedal, and it goes straight to the floor and nothing happens. About this time I start freaking out and am like what the hell am I going to do. Dont worry, nothing bad happened, the genius I am I downshifted into 1st let out the clutch, and I stopped pretty quickly.

So I go to drive home right, forgot all about this brake problem, the same exact thing happens.

So I had to drive home and go through town that is fairly busy with lots of stops with no brakes, talk about exciting. I then got on the main road, 15 miles of windy curvy roads to our house, once again very exciting.

So I have really really crappy brakes just all the sudden out of the blue. I went and looked in the BMC and it was pretty low. I added some, but still I have really crappy brakes, a little better than before. So do you suppose I just ran low, and now I have air in the lines, or is it something worse?

 

[suv7734]

Check for wet spots. If the rear backing plates are wet then you have a leaking wheel cylinder. If there is any fluid up along the driver's side frame rail you've had a line rust out. There are other possibilities but I'd check those two first.

 

[cgraham]

So you had no brakes and you just kept on driving? Real smart

 

[tractorman86]

So you had no brakes and you just kept on driving? Real smart

hey you do what you gotta do. i drove for 2 days w/o brakes

 

[riphip]

Manually adjust the rear brakes, then add fluid. Front resevoir was low, right?

Rick

 

[FordGuy100]

Yeah, I know, driving without brakes probably isnt the smartest, but I sure as S#$t wouldnt leave my truck in town until I got it fixed.

The front resevoir (or the one I think is the front, towards the front of the truck) was actually the better of the two, I would say it was a little over half full. The big resevoir (towards the rear of the truck) was about 1/3 full. The fluid was real dirty, maybe that had something to do with it.

Anyways I filled it up again (the level was the same as before, I just filled it up fuller this time). I went for a drive, and the brakes got better and better. Actually, after the drive, my brakes are actually better than before. I must have been on the low side for a while. I guess that's what I get for never checking the brake fluid level.

 

[riphip]

If you end up redoing the MC & Booster, go with a 10-3/4"booster from a '92-97 (if you don't hydroboost) & you can use your same model MC (waller the holes to fit). I just did mine last month and it's like Caddy brakes. Yours sounds like it may be ready for loaded calipers and hoses (if they haven't been changed already). I've found my best prices at rockauto.com.

Rick

 

[92F350CC]

I had air in my lines once and it was a b****.
It always strikes you at the worst possible time too. In my case, coming to a red light with the 2 cars behind me being police officers........
Luckily it was 2 am in a town of 3,000. NOBODY was out. I was on my way home from work. I managed to downshift/ebrake it to a stop. Gave the cops a good laugh.