HELP ASAP. brakes barely work

[me217]

hey
finished work today driving home and just as i got to my drive way the brakes on the 92 wt sierra started to play up. it feels as if ive got bad brake fade. and even if i really stand on them they wont lock. theres also a bit of a smell coming from them. but the thing is i hadnts bin braking hard at all. its actually a 5 min highway run b4 my house so i hadnt braked at all.

can anyone help me as this is my daily driver atm.

my brakes do leak between the master cylinder and the reservior. (already raplaced the to o-rings, it stopped for a while but now its back. but its always topped up.)

the front rotors are only about 8 months old.

brakes have always felt spongey. but still worked fine

[bunder_ute]

hey mate... it sounds like you may have a leak or a master cylinder problem...

i am leaning towards a master cylinder problem.

[11_evl]

keep pumping and topping up sluid as needed and see which rear wheel develops a wet patch.
fix as required

[me217]

i checked all that and couldnt find a wet patch. im gonna take it for another drive but steady. just to see if its changed

[me217]

checked it all again and no wet patches took it for a drive and it was back to normal. could the brakes be dragging abit causing them to heat up. it is a very hot day today. 38 degrees in the sun

[mrRocky]

One trip in mud can destroy your pads especially in the rear. If the rear are wore substantially then the front wont function as they should.
check the rear

[me217]

havnt bin 4wding for ages but ill check it out

[Ben_Sierra]

One trip in mud can destroy your pads especially in the rear. If the rear are wore substantially then the front wont function as they should.
check the rear

Doesn't a 92 wt have drums in the rear?

[Ridge]

One trip in mud can destroy your pads especially in the rear. If the rear are wore substantially then the front wont function as they should.
check the rear

Doesn't a 92 wt have drums in the rear?

they are all drum break rear.

[mrRocky]

brake pads/shoes
Didnt mean to imply rears were discs, mud and gunk get traped in the rear drums and erode the brake shoes at a rate much quicker than they would normally wear.

[me217]

but would that cause them to not work properly and them wen everythings cooled down they work properly again.

[mrRocky]

If it was me I would replace all pads front and rear.
Bleed/flush brake system with about 600ml of fluid to make sure its clean.
Then as a last resort look at actual disc rotors then the booster/mast cyl itself.

If you start with something simple like pads first then you can eliminate other things one by one. A brake shop may be able to diagnose it quickly and cheaply, or then again it might cost you an arm and a leg, you have to weigh up what your capable of doing as its simple enough but brakes can mean the diff between life and death so double check all your work.

[Ridge]

If it was me I would replace all pads front and rear.
Bleed/flush brake system with about 600ml of fluid to make sure its clean.
Then as a last resort look at actual disc rotors then the booster/mast cyl itself.

If you start with something simple like pads first then you can eliminate other things one by one. A brake shop may be able to diagnose it quickly and cheaply, or then again it might cost you an arm and a leg, you have to weigh up what your capable of doing as its simple enough but brakes can mean the diff between life and death so double check all your work.

^^^ what he said

pretty much if you get any mud or sand in a break drum it will wear your pads down really quick. clean them out asap and adjust if you have too.

[me217]

brakes are working fine now. i did nutting to them. the only thing i can think of is the rears jumped to the next adjustment and were dragging which caused brake fade.

[me217]

brakes are working fine now. i did nutting to them. the only thing i can think of is the rears jumped to the next adjustment and were dragging which caused brake fade.