Last weekend, I took the Teener out for a quick ride, and I noticed that the brake pedal felt soft/low. Then again, I thought, I might be just used to the pedal on my '86 Carrera, which I have been driving more frequently.

This morning, my wife and I decided to take the Teener out for a drive to the local farmer's market. Again, I noticed that the brake pedal felt strange. After driving up a couple of relatively steep hills in the neighborhood to go toward the farmer's market, I tried to brake for a stop sign and the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. The car ultimately stopped but not with any sort of authority, so I pulled into a parking lot and parked the car for fear of trying to drive back home (the only way is to go back down the steep hills we drove up earlier).

Before parking, I tried pumping the pedal repeatedly, and doing so brought it back to a more "normal" position and feel. However, after doing so, it goes right back to the floor again.

I'm pretty comfortable tinkering with engine stuff, interior, and exterior on my own, but I'm a general stranger to brakes and working on them, so I'd appreciate some help from the group. Any rec's on what I should check first? I had the master cylinder and the lines replaced about 3 years ago, so I'm hoping these aren't the problem.

Also, assuming I can't identify/resolve the issue on my own, can anyone recommend a shop local to San Mateo that is comfortable working on 914's? I just moved up from So-Cal, so my TRE guys cannot help me here.

Thanks!!
Chris

Chris,
You could have a combination of three problems or just one or two... The master cylinder is on the other side of the pedal cluster and it is known to leak and cause the pedal cluster to fubar. pull up your carpet and check for wet brake fluid on the floor. If you have that you likely need to rebuild the cluster. If the brake master cylinder is bad you have to jack up the car and replace it. There are rebuild kits out there but I have never wanted to bet my life on rebuilding a master cylinder. Finally, you need to bleed your brakes. If all the lines are in good shape and they might not be (inspect) start in the passenger rear, move to the driver rear, then to the passenger front and finally driver front. It is a good time to inspect the rotors and pads at this time too... If you do a search you can find more detail than I have put here... Good luck and Welcome to the World!!!

San Mateo? If you can get it to Redwood City, High Performance House is probably a little comfortable working on a 914. (They specialize in them, and have for ~30 years.) They're not cheap, but they do know these cars!

--DD

Thanks, Dave. I'll take your word for it!

Dave,

Thanks again. I did make contact with Rich @ HPH and he welcomed my 914 with open arms.