On the road and having brake trouble: 1969 Toronado

[JonW]

I’m heading down to TX for a car show and am having brake issues on my ‘69 Toronado. My brake lights are stuck on. The fluid in the master cylinder is full. The brakes work fine and they are not applied when the pedal is released. But the brake pedal is sitting low enough that it activates the brake light switch. I can pull up on the brake pedal and the lights go off. When I let go of the brake pedal, it falls down a couple inches or so. There is no resistance, it just flops down. Any thoughts?

[ramair]

I think we need more info, does this toro have the J-52 disc brake package?  Does the brakes stop the car and if so does it stop with the same front to rear balance? Has brake system been worked on lately? 
  My 68 Toto that has the J-52 disc brakes had a similar issue about 12 years ago, it was a messed up piston seal in the master cylinder,

I might mention that the 1968 models use the Delco Moraine four piston fixed caliper and the 69 if equipped with disc brakes would have the popular single piston floating caliper

[rocketraider]

This is from the 69 CSM. Maybe it will help.

 

[Oldtech]

If there is a rubber bumper that is missing which is supposed to stop the pedal coning back too far, that can cause it to knock the switch back, which makes the lights come on when it is resting on the booster rod.  I had this problem on a Ford F 600. 

[Frank DuVal]

The brake pedal height is not adjustable (says so in the manual above) because it is set by the return of the mater cylinder pistons to rest position. I've seen low brake pedal caused by dirty master cylinder bores/pistons. Unless the brakes are dragging, just remember to pick up the brake pedal until you can have the master rebuilt. Or find a hardware store:😉

 

I have used a screen door spring to act a return spring back before I found it was the master cylinder being gunked causing the issue. The gunk from DOT 3 ( who knew about flushing the DOT 3 every two years?) is stronger than the internal return spring in the master. Now I just clean (rebuild) the master to fix the problem. 👍

[ramair]

JonW I would suggest that you rebuild your master cylinder as opposed to a quick fix.  We are talking about a 4,400 pound car and I can speak from experience , in 1975 I was taking my girlfriend home in my Toronado and I pulled behind her dads parked car when my brake pedal went to the floor, that night her dad lost his 67 Chrysler 300, I lost my girlfriend, the toro lived on, but not with me, but hey we are all over 21! Of course I wasn’t back in 1975!

[JACK M]

Maybe a bungee cord ?

[ABear]

47 minutes ago, JACK M said:

Maybe a bungee cord ?

How about stopping and fixing it properly?

[ramair]

1 hour ago, ABear said:

How about stopping and fixing it properly?

How about trying to stop and fix it properly ( could not resist!)

[ABear]

1 hour ago, ramair said:

How about trying to stop and fix it properly ( could not resist!)

I see what you did.. 😂

 

What can I say, perhaps it was a "smashing" success?

 

Guess when does stop, it will only take up 1 Zipcode instead of 3 zip codes..

 

Oh, heck, "it will buff out"..

 

Meet my new "compact" version of a Toronado..

 

Not all that it was cracked up to be?

[ramair]

Not to hijack this thread, but…, when I was driving these Toronado’s when they were 6 or 7 years old, I needed a front bumper so I went to a big wrecking yard. The parts guy asked me what I was looking for and he said he has eight 68 and 69 cars in the yard, but no front bumpers.  Of course I said something like others beat me to then? his reply was none of the cars had usable sheetmetal in the front as most toronados can’t stop especially the ones with the drum brakes!