When I bought the car my tires were low on.

Tiny
KENDRADEAN
  • MEMBER
  • 1996 OLDSMOBILE LSS
When I bought the car my tires were low on thread so I thought this was why I had to floor the break pedal to stop and when slowing down it jerks. I bought two used front tires and new brakes for the front and the problem was not as bad as before. I took it to the shop and they said my problem was that the passenger side break was the only break stopping the car so yesterday I went and bought a caliper for the drivers side. I know the caliper works because I made sure before I left but after putting it on the drivers side still isn't stopping. I'm not sure of what else to try.
Thursday, December 20th, 2012 AT 3:22 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,910 POSTS
Tires have nothing to do with the feel of the brake pedal. You could have no tires, even no wheels, and the brake pedal would feel normal.

The problem you described only occurs on GM vehicles and is due to uninformed do-it-yourselfers. There is likely some other problem causing the low pedal, but regardless, it is never advisable to push the pedal more than half way to the floor on any brand of car more than about a year old. Doing so can damage the master cylinder from running the lip seals over the crud and corrosion that build up in the lower halves of the bores where they don't normally travel. In addition to that, on GM cars there's a valve that will trip in the master cylinder and block fluid flow to two ports, one front wheel and the opposite rear wheel. If the master cylinder has not already been damaged, the only way I've ever found to reset that valve is to go to the caliper that's not working or flowing any fluid, open the bleeder screw, then give it a very short, quick burst of compressed air, then let it gravity bleed.
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Thursday, December 20th, 2012 AT 3:47 PM
Tiny
KENDRADEAN
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I already bled the caliper screw when I put it on so could it be I need to buy a new master cylinder?
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Thursday, December 20th, 2012 AT 5:03 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,910 POSTS
Bleeding isn't what I said to do. If a caliper isn't working it's because the port in the master cylinder is blocked by a valve. You have to give a short burst of compressed air into the bleeder screw to force brake fluid to go back up to the master cylinder to open that valve. Until you do that, the left caliper isn't going to work.
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Thursday, December 20th, 2012 AT 5:11 PM
Tiny
KENDRADEAN
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Okay. Thank you for your time and help.
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Thursday, December 20th, 2012 AT 5:14 PM

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