Vic Whitmore wrote:
> Rabsim@aol.com wrote:
> I was driving in stop and go traffic and it was rather warm
> > outside. After a while , the brake pedal seemed to go down pretty
> close to
> > the floorboard. (I try not to drive in traffic since the last time
> this
> > happened.) The master cylinder is full / no leaks anywhere/ the
> wheel
> > cylinders do not appear to be leaking. Could this be a problem with
> the
> > master cylinder? I pumped the brakes after this happened and was
> able to
> > drive home uneventfully but I left a wide margin in front just in
> case.
> > Maurice Simckes/ Rabsim@aol.com
>
> By the sounds of your problem, I would guess that the brake lines or
> calipers have water in them. When things are cool, the water isn't
> compressible. When the water boils after lots of stops, the steam
> compresses and the pedal goes to the metal (so to speak). After
> cooling,
> things get better. Just as a first step, try bleeding. Its cheap and
> doesn't take a lot of time.
>
> Vic Whitmore
> 76 Spitfire
> Thornhill ,Ontario
>From personal experience, Vic has the answer...my '73 Spit 1500 had a
similar problem not long after I bought it. I flushed out all of the
nasty old brake fluid and refilled the system, and voila!, working
brakes again. If you are going to do this much work, though, I'd
suggest going ahead and doing a complete brake job from master cylinder
to pads/shoes. You'll get everything out of the way, have good brakes
for a number of seasons, and it only takes a Saturday afternoon.
-Schuyler
--
Schuyler E. Grace
schuyler@bellsouth.net
schuyler.grace@atl.frb.org
http://members.tripod.com/~schuyler/
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