Lost brakes coming to a stop

[FlashFyre]

Almost lost another 97 B/W.

Decided to take the old girl for a spin today. As I was coming to stop for a red light, the brake pedal went super mushy and sank to the floor. Luckily there was enough residual brake pressure left and me grabbing the parking brake to get her stopped. Ended up stopping about 2 feet away from a stopped car. I was only going 30-40km/h.

I pulled into a parking lot, and checked the master cylinder resevoir and it was full. After 5 mins, a leak developed by the front driver tire. I decided to limp her home using the parking brake. When safely in the garage, I checked the master cylinder and it was empty. Haven't pulled the wheel off as my jack is having issues. Haven't noticed any leaking near the master cylinder. It appears to be coming possibly from the caliper or brake line to the caliper.

Any guesses on what caused it?

I'm going to order some Hawk HPS brake pads for when I get it fixed. Anything else I should get done to the brakes while the wheels are off?

[C.J]

Glad you avoided hitting anyone/anything. Could be bad caliper or hose. Please post photos when you get a chance to look into it.

[bluesrt]

age----------------------------

[Indy]

That's scary!!!! Probably easy to determine where the leak is coming from. God luck with the fix.

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

Stainless Brake Lines NOW, all 4 corners $249.

DOT 4 or 5.1 fluid

Miles on the car?

- - - Updated - - -


That's scary!!!! Probably easy to determine where the leak is coming from. God luck with the fix.

Ironic Typo, but true: he already HAD the 'God luck'

[XSnake]

probably a line. swap them all to stainless

[FlashFyre]

Stainless Brake Lines NOW, all 4 corners $249.

DOT 4 or 5.1 fluid

Miles on the car?

- - - Updated - - -


That's scary!!!! Probably easy to determine where the leak is coming from. God luck with the fix.

Ironic Typo, but true: he already HAD the 'God luck'

16,100 miles. Dot 4 replaced 2 or 3 years ago when tires were replaced. Hopefully will have the tire off Monday and can assess.

[GTSJoe]

Almost lost another 97 B/W.

Decided to take the old girl for a spin today. As I was coming to stop for a red light, the brake pedal went super mushy and sank to the floor. Luckily there was enough residual brake pressure left and me grabbing the parking brake to get her stopped. Ended up stopping about 2 feet away from a stopped car. I was only going 30-40km/h.

I pulled into a parking lot, and checked the master cylinder resevoir and it was full. After 5 mins, a leak developed by the front driver tire. I decided to limp her home using the parking brake. When safely in the garage, I checked the master cylinder and it was empty. Haven't pulled the wheel off as my jack is having issues. Haven't noticed any leaking near the master cylinder. It appears to be coming possibly from the caliper or brake line to the caliper.

Any guesses on what caused it?

I'm going to order some Hawk HPS brake pads for when I get it fixed. Anything else I should get done to the brakes while the wheels are off?

I have a 97 B/W with 16,080 miles. She needs to stay beautiful so I am very interested in your findings. God Speed.

Thanks,

GTSJoe

[Lexciting]

JonB

Those SS brake lines fit a Gen1?

[Coloviper]

Since it was brought up and I am going to tackle complete brake replace soon as all new parts are sitting in basement, what advantages does DOT 5.1 bring over DOT 4? Not to hijack, just curious!

[FlashFyre]

Seems like I found the offender. The banjo bolt attached to the caliper is leaking like a siv. Is that part specific to vipers?

[Indy]

Just make sure you don't have any fluid on the wheels, since brake fluid eats paint for breakfast! And if I can recall, the manual calls for Dot4 fluid.

[St.Char]

Seems like I found the offender. The banjo bolt attached to the caliper is leaking like a siv. Is that part specific to vipers?

Sounds like the copper washers need replaced on both sides of the banjo bolt. Unfortunately, you'll need to bleed the lines. If you need a brake bleeder, I just used the Motive pressure bleeder and it was super easy and fast,plus you an do the job alone. I would definitely recommend it.

[FlashFyre]

Sounds like the copper washers need replaced on both sides of the banjo bolt. Unfortunately, you'll need to bleed the lines. If you need a brake bleeder, I just used the Motive pressure bleeder and it was super easy and fast,plus you an do the job alone. I would definitely recommend it.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll leave it to a shop to get it done. Ill definitely need to get thre lines bled as their isn't much brake fluid left in the system

[Ron]

Curious - was it a damaged / cracked banjo or leaking copper gaskets?

[FlashFyre]

Curious - was it a damaged / cracked banjo or leaking copper gaskets?

Haven't got it to the shop yet. Work, rain, and a wedding are getting in the way. Hopefully early next week. Will keep you posted.

[J TNT]

Good thing you weren't following another Viper at speed !:eek:
Glad it was a positive outcome :)

[FlashFyre]

The viper tax is pretty bad on the banjo bolt copper seals. Dodge wants $7/each and must buy 8. I can imagine it costing more than $1 for all 8. Found them for much cheaper running the part numbers on line.

[RTTTTed]

Probably cheaper if you bought Jeep bolts. You'd need to actually look at a Jeep (junkyard?) to see if they fit though. Getting a wheel alignment on my GTS the wheela alignment shop called Chrysler and the cam washer for the A arm bolts was $115 and would take a week. I walked a block with the stripped one and bought a GM cam bolt for about $3. Please don't tell anyone that there is a GM part in my GTS ...

Dot 4 is the brakefluid I choose. Dot 5 fluid has a slightly higher boiling temp, but it is a synthetic and will not absorb residual moisture in your braking system which means that rusty brakelines could become a possibility in several years. The Dot 5 is also about 5 times the cost. Dot 5 I would recommend for a race car, but not for a street car.

[FlashFyre]

So I got my banjo bolt and decided to install it. The original banjo bolt was finger tight. I found that odd. When installing the new bolt I notice the caliper shifted. Decided to check the mounting bolt and the bottom one was finger tight as well. The upper was MIA.

SOOOOOOO. I guess I found my cause. The old girl will be down another week waiting for the bolt which is in some warehouse in the US.

I checked the other side and things were nice and tight.

Just to a warning to others to check the mounting bolts when you get the wheels off. Could've been deadly for me....

[FlashFyre]

Got the caliper bolt and put her all back together. Bled the brakes and went out of a test ride. All seems good. Going to bleed the brakes again as I kept getting a couple of very tiny bubbles from the pass front side. Hopefully after sitting for a couple of days will solve it when I next bled the brakes.

[Luisv]

It will. If you run the car a bit, get the brakes to temp and the let it sit, any last remaining air will come up.

I wish I would have seen this earlier... I could have saved you the wait on the factory parts...

For others seeing this, the caliper bolts are 12mm by 40mm long. Make sure you get a high strength bolt. Grade 8.

On the banjo washers or crush washers, you could get a pack of the copper crush washers from Jegs, Summit or even your local auto parts for less than $10.

[FlashFyre]

It will. If you run the car a bit, get the brakes to temp and the let it sit, any last remaining air will come up.

I wish I would have seen this earlier... I could have saved you the wait on the factory parts...

For others seeing this, the caliper bolts are 12mm by 40mm long. Make sure you get a high strength bolt. Grade 8.

On the banjo washers or crush washers, you could get a pack of the copper crush washers from Jegs, Summit or even your local auto parts for less than $10.

Thanks for the reply. I'm sure someone will make use of that info eventually.

I'm still really surprised the bolt went missing. It was probably missing when I bought the gts 5 years ago. I'm guessing it took years for those bolts to loosen. I've only put on 5000 miles since I bought it and I drive like a granny most of the time.