Hi guys, this is my first thread. I bought 97 Cherokee xj.. I had no problems with the jeep until yesterday I lost the brakes... I had to press all the way to the floor to get to full stop.. I checked the fluid and it is full. I have tried to search the forums but no luck .. I saw some mentions about brake line? Thanks hope y'all can help me out

 

Master cylinder is bad. Replace it and do a full brake fluid flush/bleed.

 

Thanks! That's what I thought.. Any recommendations on which store or what parts. I was about to post the picture of the leak. Appreciate it

 

Wait wait wait!

Leak? What leak?

The brake light is not a parking brake light. It's a warning light. It comes on when you engage the parking brake to warn you not to drive away with it engaged. It ALSO comes on when you lose pressure in the system to warn you that the brakes are not going to work when you push the pedal.

The master cylinder has a plunger in it that creates pressure in the system when you push the pedal. A bad master cylinder lets pressure go around the plunger so that it doesn't create any pressure.

A leak will also result in a loss of pressure because the fluid just squirts out instead of pushing the calipers. So if you have a leak in the system somewhere, you need to fix that first. You can't tell whether the master cylinder is shot until the system is bled and sealed. It may not be bad at all.

While out on a trip, I pulled into a McDonald's to grab a bite and had my pedal go to the floor. Turned out mine was just squirting fluid right out on the ground under the rear. The security guard saw it and said, "Your truck is pissing all over my parking lot. You wanna stop that?"

Jeez, it's not like I was doing it on purpose.

 

Lmao!! Pissing!! Yea. Heavy leak coming out of the wheel. There were puddle of fluid by the wheel.. I went to Jeep store that sells 4 by 4 parts and Jeep parts... I showed the salesman the picture and he said it is more likely wheel cylinder. So I went ahead and buy one.