Brakes, then no brakes, now brakes?, scary moment..... Options

[jr91472]

While driving the other day, all was fine. Suddenly the pedal goes to the floor! I pull over using the hand brake. I fool around in a open parking lot and the problem persist momentarily then suddenly dissappears. Now the brakes seem fine.

After limping home (with no more problems) I can see no obvious issues (i.e. plenty of brake fluid, no leaks or wetness anywhere including the m/c). Although, I am probably over due in replacing the brake fluid.

Also, when I say the pedal went to the floor, it wasn't like I was stepping on air, but my braking power probably went down to about 25%.

Clearly it is time for some brake work, but how much and where to start? Is it possible for the m/c to fail intermittently?

signed lucky

[HarveyH]

WARNING - NPC
Brakes/No Brakes/Brakes reminds me of a problem my sister had years ago with a Plymouth Horizon. In the driveway, the brakes were fine, but drive for a while, and the brake pedal would go to the floor when trying to stop. Pump them up, and they would work fine for a while, then the problem would occur again. Her husband and I replaced the master cylinder, and the problem continued. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) Bled several quarts of fluid through the system, still the same. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif) Figured maybe we got a bad master cylinder, so replaced it again, and bled a lot more clean fluid through the system. Still didn't fix the probelm Gave up and took it to a mechanic who worked on it for a couple of days, finally found that an exhaust leak was blowing on one of the rubber brake lines. After driving a while it heated things up and no brakes. Pump the pedal a bit and the fluid and line cooled down and the brakes worked again. Replaced the exhaust pipe and cleared up the brake problem. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Harvey