[Shotimes] brake spongy

[Dave Garber]

It really depends on an individuals description and/or interpretation
(really spongy to you might not be the same to Jason, or me, or whoever) of
what is going on. And as I detailed in my follow-up, a "stop or two" may not
be sufficient depending on how bad the rust was. I just went through this on
my 99 (just this past weekend actually), and I worked on brakes for WAY too
many years as a wrench, so I know what I'm talking about here. A mild coat
of rust isn't going to hurt anything, but my 99 was certainly not mild after
4 months of sitting outside. Jason's might have been similarly bad.

It will hurt absolutely nothing to disassemble, clean and reassemble the
brakes. And as I mentioned, I agree that a flush should be in order as well
but that doesn't discount the previous advice.


Dave Garber
Pittsburgh, PA
99 White, 96k
99 SF, 77k


----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald Mallinson" <dmall@mwonline.net>
To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] brake spongy


> A really spongy brake pedal is not going to have anything to do with a
> coat of rust on the disks or anything on the pads.  That might effect
> braking power for a stop or two, but even really bad rust is gone after
> a very few stops.
>
> You need to bleed the system completely with new fluid.  Just use Ford
> HD fluid or basic fluid.  Don't use anything exotic.
>
> Check the pads to make sure they have some thickness.  Check that the
> slider pins are working and clean and re-lube them.
>
> If the system isn't working as expected then, you might need to bleed
> the master cyl separately or replace it.
>
> Don Mallinson