Poor braking performance

[Guest moldymac]

Ever since I bought my 88 the brakes have been an issue (the reason the seller sold the car to me). The original issue was a rusted brake line in the rear and the brake pump was seized. I have since replaced all the lines for the rear brakes. I purchased a replacement pump and bleed the whole system. The front calipers bleeders snapped off, so new calipers went in.

The car stops ok, but not as good as it should stop. The front brakes appear to be working properly, but the rears don't seem to be doing their job. There is still spotty rust on the rear rotors on the stopping surface which tells me the calipers are not putting enough pressure on the pads. I verified that both rear calipers do move and are not seized.

I ran the ABS codes and came up with the following:

22 (LF inlet valve)

13 (could not find)

33 (RR WSS)

48 (3 sensors)

77 (RR WSS)

I ran the codes several times to make sure I read them right. The code 22 would make sense to me to be an issue with the rear brakes, but that's on the wrong pair of brakes. I'm not too concerned with the ABS working, I just want the car to stop right.

[Ronnie]

I suspect air is in the rear brake lines. Did you bleed the brakes following the instructions on my website? The normal way of bleeding the rear brakes will not work on a Reatta.

How To Flush & Bleed Brakes*-*ReattaOwner.com

Another possibility is a malfunctioning proportioning valve. You didn't remove it did you when you replaced the brake lines did you? Proportioning valves are available in The Reatta Store. Look on the second page of the Brakes section.

I assume the yellow ABS warning light is on. The ABS codes will not determine how much braking power the car will have. You should get the power assist part of the brakes working properly before addressing the ABS issues.

Edited May 21, 2012 by Ronnie (see edit history)

[Guest moldymac]

I did bleed them per your websites instructions. I kept the proportioning valve in there as well. I only brought up the valve issue because I thought if it was stuck maybe it wouldn't let pressure though.

One thing I forgot to mention which may add to your thought on air being in there, when I press on the pedal you can hear a swish sound come from the master cylinder.

[Barney Eaton]

I suspect the rear brakes are not adjusted properly.

You parking brake is probably out of adjustment and the automatic adjustment is not working

Try this.... Jack up one side of the rear and have a helper apply the brakes as you turn the rear wheel. Do the brakes hold the wheel to the point that you cannot turn the wheel?

Let us know

If the rear brakes are not holding you have several choices......

(1) new pads will take up gap caused by old pads

(2) You can manually adjust the piston to close the clearance.

(3) New rear calipers.

[harry yarnell]

Can you still buy caliper rebuild kits?

I used to rebuild Fiero rear calipers that had the clearance issues you may be discribing.

[Barney Eaton]

Harry..... I have "serviced" calipers without a kit. Not something I would normally do but to see if the self-adjusting rear piston could be made functional and they always seem to work after cleaning.

I did not list that as an option because not everyone has the interest in experimenting like some of us. It is not something I would recommend to most people as they end up calling me every 30 minutes with another question.

For anyone that has not disassembled a rear caliper piston, the self adjusting was done with friction acting in one direction. Over time the brake fluid get enough water contamination to gum up the friction area and it no longer works.

[Guest moldymac]

Sounds like I have somethings to check this weekend (after I get the carpet back in the car). Barney, your right about the parking brake, I have to pump that pedal at least 5 times and even then the parking brake doesn't hold.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

Sound lime a good time to throw on the 96automated caddy brakes.