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Hey all,
I have a 2004 Chevy silverado 1500, 5.3L v8 4×4 disk breaks all around. I picked up the truck 2 years ago and kinda thought the breaks were sub par. So I figured that it was due for a refresh. When it came time I replaced the pads with a mid grade cermanic autozone pad, autozone genteric rotors (due to wear tolerences) and new DOT3 fluid, completely draining the system and filling. With the truck off I get a nice firm pedel, however when it is runnning it sits close to the floor. So I figured I must of had air in the system so I blead the system again with no change. So I took it to a local shop they pressure blead the breaks, and ran an ABS and Body code scanner on it to see if there were any codes, there was not. The pedel isn’t much better, the mech told me it was and old truck. I’m at a loss, I’ve thought about replaceing the break hoses (dont know when they were done if ever) but the cost is really detering me any suggestions.
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here is a link to help you.
You might give this a try before you look into a new master cylinder. Sometimes it works.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Thanks guys,
Eric I’ve been following you on YouTube for the past few months and I came a cross that video, I’ve tried that 2-3 times with out any change. As of right now I’m about $500 into the breaks in the last month with out much improvement, so I’m scared to assume any thing at this point. Is there any good way to test the master cylinder before you replace it?
A little history on the truck; the PO was the original owner and it was garage kept, it seams that he did not do much to it besides change the oil. Right now as it sits it has 117,xxx on the clock.
No test for the master that I can think of other than this.
Outside of that, check the brake pads. If there’s a bunch of goop on the back of the pads or the shims are very rusty this can also cause a spongy pedal feel. Also, soft friction compounds can cause this condition as well. Some friction materials are better than others so be sure you’re using quality name brand pads.
Keep us posted.
Do you have drum brakes in the rear? forgive me if i missed that. My pedal is soft on my 94 C1500.
I have been told without 100% certainty that it is the brake booster on the GM trucks. I have not looked into it further than that as of yet.
However I pulled off my brake drums and rotated the star-wheel adjusters, pushing the shoes closer to the drums and that has seemed to help stiffen up the pedal.Good Luck
NateThanks,
Eric,
I’ve seen that video, last car that I had a master cylinder go bad in the pedal would slowly sink to the floor. This is a little different, When I press on the pedal it stops close to the floor and If i apply pressure it go’s to the floor (2″). I hate just guessing when it comes to replacing parts but I might need to do that. I cleaned every thing from the caliper with brake clean, and the pads have new shims installed from the factory. Like i said before I am using generic autozone ceramics though.If a customer brought you a truck like mine what would you do to trouble shoot before you start replacing parts. So I entertain the idea of stainless steel break hoses being a magic fix?
Nate,
No I do not have drums, disk in the rear. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Thanks once again!
Honestly what you describe sounds like air in the system. I’d be checking for that and also what I described about the brake pads in my earlier post. It does not seem like it’s a master cylinder problem to me.
One other test you might try is to isolate each wheel. You can do this by crimping each brake hose individually at each wheel. You can also do combinations of wheels to eliminate the front or back brakes. If you crimp off a brake hose and the pedal gets hard, you know you’ve found the problem brake.
Lastly, If I’m not mistaken some GMs require a scan tool to bleed the brakes. Perhaps yours is one of those models.
As always, keep us posted.
Yeah I really though it was air in the system because the fluid was black when I purchased truck (most likely from 2004) So I changed it and didn’t make a difference, so I took it to the shop so they could cycle the ABS pump with the scan tool to bleed it. If this pittsburgh weather clears up tomorrow Ill try clamp the brake hoses.
Thanks for all the help so far, I can’t thank you enough for all the information I’ve leared from you!
I’d probably just make a makeshift “checker” of sorts. Same idea, just yanking the lines out 1 at a time at the distribution block, then plug with a mashed end made bit of brake line with nut, much like in this video:
Friend did this for his 91′ Isuzu Trooper that had a rear leak. Just bent and bashed the end of it so it could be fixed later, but brakes in the front would work in the meantime. I thought about making a few just for the purpose of checking when there’s a small enough leak that isn’t easy to find. If you have a bit of line and the right nuts lying around anyway, this would also be a cheap way to verify a master cylinder failure as well by plugging them.
Thanks for the video, yeah right now my plan of action is going to be clamp the hoses first and work my way back. I should be able to cover my needle nose vice grips with fuel hose and clamp the brake hoses to see if it changes any thing…..The plus side of this would be I get to buy another set of needle nose vice grips =)
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