Loosing brakes?

[mmurray70]

A friend of mine just told me a story of how he lost the brakes in his cavilier and had to use the handbrake to stop. He said he noticed the brake was a little funny at a light and at the next light the pedal went right to the floor, nothing at all and had no use the handbrake to stop. Ended up being a leak in one of the lines.

My handbrake has been siezed solid for years and this has me kind of worried. I always thought I could loose the front or back but not both at once? Is it possible to loose everything at once in a camry? Will I see a warning light if the brake fluid drops too low because of a leak or anything like that?

Please help me ease my mind. Car is a 93 4cyl auto. Thanks!

[nodrogkam]

i think you should get ur hand brake fixed.

Uhm yeah you can looose all brakes. I believe all brake fluid is connected so you should see a warning light but by then it could be too late if u were driving on a hilly road or something.

Anyways...its always good to check our ur car and keep it in good maintenence.

[Streetglower]

todays cars are much more complex and use a dual master cylinder. This way if you have a leak in say one of the rear brake lines, you will only lose hydraulic pressure in the rear brakes and still have the front brakes. the difference in pressure in the master cylinder will turn the warning light on though.

you can loose all use of them though if you leave your brake fluid in for too long of time. If your fluid is severly old and worn out, has too much moisture in it, the boiling point will be too low and you will lose all brakes. once the brakes start heating up, the fluid will boil.

get your parking brake checked out. You may just need to adjust it.

[mmurray70]

Originally Posted by Streetglower

todays cars are much more complex and use a dual master cylinder. This way if you have a leak in say one of the rear brake lines, you will only lose hydraulic pressure in the rear brakes and still have the front brakes. the difference in pressure in the master cylinder will turn the warning light on though.

you can loose all use of them though if you leave your brake fluid in for too long of time. If your fluid is severly old and worn out, has too much moisture in it, the boiling point will be too low and you will lose all brakes. once the brakes start heating up, the fluid will boil.

get your parking brake checked out. You may just need to adjust it.

So is my camry like this with the dual master cylinder? If i did have a leak in the rear could it drain the whole system and leave me with nothing?


The park brake is finished. If i had to fix it the only thing I could reuse is the lever. Everything else is shot trust me.