Soft brakes!!!

[MoparMello]

Back in December my p/s fluid would foam over and while on the brakes the truck made a whining noise. I drained and refilled the fluid until it was much clearer and I haven’t had that problem since. My hope was it either was contaminated and or burnt out. Now I’m noticing a sort of soft brake pedal, if I push long and hard enough the pedal will just about hit the floor and when released it will return to normal position. I’m wondering if my hydroboost is bad or possible vac pump issue. Any help/suggestions is much appreciated. Looks like I’ll have a couple weeks of distancing from society and hopefully get this truck resolved. Thanks again. 

[JAG1]

I hope you get it figured out.

 

Its very weird because I redid all my brakes a year ago. Rebuilt calipers and pads all the way around, all new fluid, but the fluid has turned brown in only a year. It's frustrating and wonder if O'rielly's brake fluid is bad. Heck only put about 5-6 thousand on that truck since. I also had some O'rielly synthetic power steering fluid foam up and overflow out the power steering pump cap with the truck just siting there in the summer heat. 

[Mopar1973Man]

First off when you do a flush of the power steering system it takes 2 quarts just about to fill an empty system. You need a gallon of power steering fluid being you need to push at least 2 quarts through the system to clear the power steering pump, hydroboost and steering box with fresh fluid and top it back off after the foaming settles after the system getting air in the lines. 410k miles on the factory pump. I've only use WalMart Super Tech for the 410k miles and change every 30k miles like you should. Never had a foam problem.

 

But if your using a turkey baster you only getting about 1 pint out of the 2 quarts that is in the rest of the system. Gotta ask do you just dump out your oil filter and top off or do you drop the drain plug and drain and fill your engine oil? Of course you drain and fill completely. This is why people have such issues with Power Steering system because they do not do it correctly. 

 

As for brakes life just upgrade and install a exhaust brake. Pads last me up to 180k to 200k miles easy. There is no other way to reach this kind of longevity without the exhaust brake and you must use it every time and everyday. 

 

As for brake fluid it has a life span too and system need to be dumped and bleed again every 30k miles. This is another fluid that is hygroscopic that means it pulls moisture from the air. As brake fluid absorbs moisture the boiling point will fall. The next problem is the moisture have oxygen in it and it oxidizes the rubber which causes the black color in the fluid and the rubber line failures. If the brake fluid is dark in color I would dump the entire system and start over. Be aware any debris in the master is heading for the calipers or wheel cylinders. If you push too mach debris in the calipers you can bind them up causing sticky brakes. I typically pull the lines from the calipers and let drain into a waste bucket. This way the debris doesn't enter the calipers or wheel cylinders.

 

 

 

[Haggar]

Mello,

 

A brake pedal that slowly reaches the floor, is a brake system problem not a hydroboost problem.

 

you could be losing brake fluid. (you should notice this in your reservoir) or  You could be internally recirculating in the master cylinder.

 

I attached the test procedure for the hydroboost below.

 

GL  HTH

 

Hag