cDavisM

I couldn't find a similar story from anyone else so heres my problem. 2 weeks ago my brake pedal felt really squishy and my brake light on my dash turned on while driving to work. I limped to work fearing that I would crash but I made it. I checked all the lines and found that my rear drivers side tire was covered in break fluid and a small drip was coming from the brake itself but I couldn't find where the leak came from. I got my mom to bring me brake fluid because the reservoir was empty so I topped it off and drove back home after my shift. Brake pedal was still squishy until I pulled into my neighborhood and it felt normal again. Today I drove it around my neighborhood to see if it was still busted and it was. Got back and I pulled the drum off with some resistance and it was nasty and all black caked up crap inside. There was a few drops of brake fluid that came out after I pulled the drum off but not much. I wasn't able to start pulling it apart so i put the drum back on it and used a rubber mallet to hammer it back on lol. Then I took it for a ride again and magically the brake light was off and the pedal felt normal again. Someone please tell me what happened and what should I do next.

tech

If you can't find any brake fluid leaks at the wheels or brake lines , you can remove the master cylinder and see if it is leaking into the brake booster .

Corky

The LR brake leak won't fix itself...I'd get a new wheel cylinder and get it swapped out.. It gave you a warning the next time it won't be so nice..I'm sure you have tons of air in there and it might not show up as a leak with air in the line but do you really want to run it knowing it could go at any time ???

cDavisM

Thanks for the suggestion, just installed an SYE and I finally have zero vibrations so I was bummed out when the brakes got all weird. Any other recommendations for things I should look at/replace while i’m doing the brakes?

Sirsyc0

The pedal is not normal. That line is full of air. The brake light is off because the master is full. Replace the wheel cylinders and shoes. Both sides. If it dripped brake fluid out of the drum the shoes are soaked. Clean everything ( brake clean) and bleed the entire system. Check the condition of the hardware and drums before you start the job so you can wrap it up in one shot. The whole job including fluids is less than a $100.