Looking for an expert's advice: what's wrong with my brakes?

Question

The brakes on my dodge intrepid are very flimsy. THe odd thing is the brakes are fine in the morning, right as soon as I start the car, but after I drive for 10 or 15 minutes, they get really bad. If I pump the break a few times, while the car is in park, the brakes become good again.

The mechanic I have taken my car to has replaced all 4 pads, but was unable to solve the problem. What's wrong with my brakes?

Answer 1

Sounds like a pinhole leak or air in your breaklines.  Ditch the mechanic who didn't know as much as this blonde woman does, and get one who can change your brake fluid and bleed all four nipples correctly when they're done.

Answer 2

you either have a vacume leak in the brake booster or in the hose between the booster and manifold.

or

your brakes need a fluid change and bleed to get air out of the system.

Answer 3

It sounds like your brake fluid may be contaminated. Due to the chemical composition of brake fluid, it absorbs moisture right out of the air over time. This moisture lowers the boiling point of the fluid, which can make it perform poorly once your brakes get heated up. There are testing devices available to check for this to make sure.

Personally, I recommend flushing the entire brake system every few years anyway, and this is what you would want to do if this is the problem you have. Basically just bleeding all 4 wheels until all the old brake fluid is gone, and replaced with fresh. Besides restoring your boiling point back to where it should be, getting rid of the moisture also helps wheel cylinders, calipers, master cylinders and brake lines last longer.

If you work your brakes pretty hard, you might even consider switching over to DOT 5 fluid, which has a higher boiling point, and doesn't attract moisture as much as the normal DOT3 stuff. You would need to flush the brakes to switch over, as DOT 5 is synthetic, and doesn't mix very well with DOT 3. So you shouldn't just add DOT 5 to DOT 3, and if you were to switch, make sure that anyone who works on the car knows that you have switched, so they don't add DOT 3 afterwards.

Additional Details

Yep, that's what I figured.  ;-)

Answer 4

It looks like the wheel cylinder need repairing.Check out with another mechanic.Take the balance of your brake fluid along.Thats all to your problem.

Answer 5

If you pump your brakes to get results then you have air in the system.

1. Remove all brake fluid from the system.

2. Refill

3. Conduct brake line belling procedures

4. Tesat drive to ensure correct operation.

Regards,

Eric

Answer 6

       If you have to "pump" the brake pedal, that means your brake fluid is low, and brake fluid gets low due to leaks, usually at the master cylinder or a wheel cylinder.

Answer 7

Is that all he did? Change the pads? You need a new mechanic.

Have you ever replaced the brake fluid. One possibility that comes to mind is that the brake fluid is full of water and you are getting some gas bubbles in there once it heats up. Or you could just have bubbles in the lines, period. Another possibility would be a leaky master cylinder.