Brakes suddenly spongy

chef_vader

chef_vader

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Joined
Jan 23, 2016
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Location
Michigan
I have never had a problem with brakes on my 03 TJ until now. Pads have been replaced in the last year. Tonight I drive to a friends place, I'm there for maybe and hour parked on a slight incline, and when I got in to head home, my brake light on the dash is blinking and beeping at me. I assumed it was the sensor for the parking brake at first, but I wasn't feeling any drag while driving. Brakes felt spongy and when I got home I see that the reservoir is basically dry. There was some residue on my drivers side front brake line up by the frame where it is a rubber material, but not much.

Is it possible that I went from "just enough to seem okay" to "pretty scary to stop" all at once and I just have a small leak and need to fill/bleed my lines, or is this indicative of a bigger issue?
 
chef_vader said:
I have never had a problem with brakes on my 03 TJ until now. Pads have been replaced in the last year. Tonight I drive to a friends place, I'm there for maybe and hour parked on a slight incline, and when I got in to head home, my brake light on the dash is blinking and beeping at me. I assumed it was the sensor for the parking brake at first, but I wasn't feeling any drag while driving. Brakes felt spongy and when I got home I see that the reservoir is basically dry. There was some residue on my drivers side front brake line up by the frame where it is a rubber material, but not much.

Is it possible that I went from "just enough to seem okay" to "pretty scary to stop" all at once and I just have a small leak and need to fill/bleed my lines, or is this indicative of a bigger issue?
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You have a bigger issue that you have ignored, or you can't see. The one you may have ignored is a gross leak in the system that emptied the reservoir. Look around under it at all the parts of the system and see if you can see fluid. If not, then the one you can't see is the master pushrod seals have failed and dumped the fluid into the booster. If that has happened, you will need a new booster and a new master. The rubber diaphragms in the booster are not brake fluid compatible and contact with the fluid ruins them and the booster will fail fairly quickly. If you don't see an external leak, pull the master and shine a lit into the hole in the booster to see if there is any fluid in there. If so, time for a new one and avoid anything with the A-1 Cardone or Cardone name on it at any price.
 
Blaine can give real world examples but basically, and in strictly my personal opinion, rebuilt steering boxes from Cardone have earned a reputation for questionable/poor quality. As in being suspected of having had little more done to them during the rebuilding process than a good cleaning and some paint.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
Blaine can give real world examples but basically, and in strictly my personal opinion, rebuilt steering boxes from Cardone have earned a reputation for questionable/poor quality. As in being suspected of having had little more done to them during the rebuilding process than a good cleaning and some paint.
Click to expand...
I've seen calipers that looked like all they did was clean the outside and put them in a box. I've had several bad masters right out of the box which really taught me how to bench bleed a master and then diagnose how well it was done to know if you should install it.

Basically anything with fluid in it from them is suspect and you can add brake boosters to that.
 
Okay, Update. Finally had some time away from work last night, and started really looking around. I noticed a few wet spots in the dirt on my driver side rear wheel well. There was no noticeable fluid anywhere else, must have evacuated before I got home that night.

Long story short, it was the brake wheel cylinder - $12 part at the local auto parts store, two hours of fighting with the old hardware and another trip trip to the store for a new break line that I accidentally twisted off in the process and 29 cents in new stainless bolts, a brake bleed and I'm back in business.

Now I have a better understanding of the brake system though! Learning every day.
 
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