A vital component known as the master cylinder converts your brake pedal's movement into hydraulic force. As time goes on, the master cylinder experiences a lot of pressure-related wear and tear, which eventually leads to failure. Unfortunately, many car owners struggle to identify the signs of master cylinder problems.
This article takes a closer look at three poor braking symptoms that may stem from a failing or faulty master cylinder. Spongy or Unresponsive Brake Pedal. Few brake problems cause as much stress as a brake pedal that doesn't produce the desired stopping power. A spongy or unresponsive pedal reduces the effectiveness of your brakes. In extreme cases, your brake pedal may even sink all the way to the floor without producing any appreciable effect.
This nerve-wracking problem usually stems from a leak in your brake fluid system. Leaks may occur in a variety of places, including the master cylinder itself. Inside of a master cylinder resides a piston. When you depress your brake pedal, a connecting rod pushes on the piston, increasing the pressure acting on the hydraulic fluid. This pressure increase causes your calipers to close. A master cylinder with an internal leak struggles to achieve the necessary hydraulic pressure. Another symptom commonly seen for newer vehicles is an illuminated Check Engine Light.
The braking systems on newer vehicles may have brake fluid level and pressure sensors installed in the master cylinder. If they detect that the pressure has dropped, it is possibly due to a problem with the master cylinder.
As the brake master cylinder is essentially the heart of the braking system and vital to reliable brake operation, it is an important component to the handling and safety characteristics of the vehicle.
A vehicle with a bad brake master cylinder will have inoperable or compromised brakes, and therefore will be unsafe to drive. For this reason, if you suspect that your brake master cylinder is having a problem, have the brake system diagnosed by a professional technician from YourMechanic to determine if it the car needs a brake master cylinder replacement. This article originally appeared on YourMechanic. Autoblog is partnering with YourMechanic to bring many of the repair and maintenance services you need right to you.
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And free is good, right? If you'd be so kind as to allow our site, we promise to keep bringing you great content. Inside the master cylinder are two pistons and two springs, which the pushrod presses against. Attached to it is a reservoir filled with brake fluid, which floods the master cylinder via small ports.
These ports are regularly closed, but when the pushrod is pressed against the pistons and springs, it causes them to open, allowing fluid in. The fluid then gets sent through the brake lines to the calipers, allowing them to carry on the braking process.
Once you release the brake pedal, the springs return it to their regular position. If your vehicle is equipped with brake fluid or pressure sensors, then it will likely give off an alert if either of them drops too low.
If it lights up a brake light indicator, then you at least know which system is having an issue. You have to remember that the master cylinder is mandatory for your braking system to function. For this reason, be sure to tackle the issue before it leads to something worse. When the rubber seals breakdown over time, their secure connection is damaged. The destruction of the secure connection can lead to the contamination of the brake fluid.
If you have contaminated brake fluid, the fuel filter can get clogged and cause issues. The seals not only help keep the brake fluid from coming out, but they also prevent dirt, debris, and other contaminants from mixing with the brake fluid and causing a higher master cylinder cost and signs of a bad master cylinder.
If this were going to happen in your car, the brake pressure would not be as strong as if you step on the brake pedal to stop your car and slow down the vehicle. This can result in your pressing down harder on the pedal to get the vehicle to slow down like normal, requiring more physical pressure on the brake pedal and causing a higher master cylinder cost for a repair or replacement. Along with these other symptoms, you will start noticing the brake pedal not springing back up to the top after you have removed your foot from the brake pedal.
The damaged brake pedal shows clear signs of a bad master cylinder. The damaged brake pedal causes the pedal to sink slowly to the floor, making it hard to repress the brakes when needed. The soft pedal can become a real driving hazard since you cannot re-press the brake to stop the car. This is a clear sign that you need to fix the master cylinder right away to prevent any additional signs of a bad master cylinder.
Brake master cylinders usually have two different circuits used to separate brake fluid to the wheels in two different pairs, to the front and the rear wheels. The two different circuits prevent a complete loss of braking on the occasion that there is a leak on one side of the braking system. More often than not, these brake circuits will control one front wheel and the opposite rear wheel. The distribution of the braking circuits prevents a complete failure if one circuit has failed.
If one circuit has failed, you might notice the car pulling to one side when you're braking. This will be most apparent when you press down on the brakes really hard, as the front brakes have more power of stopping than the rear brakes.
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