The brakes on my truck feel too soft to me. We just had them done at PepBoys last night (I wanted to do it but dad had them do it anyway )

I havent gotten to go out and look at it just yet (it was dark when I got the truck back) but so far my impression is that there is more play in them than I would like.

Is there anyway to adjust this without putting all new brake system on it?

Thanks.

 

Is their more play in them now than their was before the brake job?

 

it feels like it.

Also, the other day I was stopping hard and the brakes just sort of popped and the pedal sunk way down. It wasnt the ABS, it just went way soft on me.

 

Did they do fronts, rears or both. Did they replace hardware or just friction materal? ( boy I am just full of questions!! Sorry) lots of things make pedal feel soft or travel farther than it should. Something as simple as a softer front pad material could cause you to have to push harder to get the same braking effort. If they did rear shoes they might not have spent the extra time to adjust them properly. ( Several hard stops while going in reverse can help this problem)

 

They worked on the back. Im not exactly sure what they did there(they are drum brakes in the rear, and they said the pads had stress cracks so I am pretty sure those were replaced). They also put a new rear seal or something like that (said the previous owner must have towed a boat because there was condensation in there and the pads had those cracks).

In the front: new rotors and pads, same calipers. And it looks like they may have changed the brake fluid because they got some all over that side of the engine compartment...

I drove by there earlier and talked to the tech who worked on it. He said if it doesnt tighten up after a few hundred miles bring it back in and he can tighten it up for me.

Since I drive about 40 miles a day that shouldnt take long (although this is mostly highway so not a whole lot of braking going on).

But I will try braking hard in reverse tomorrow in my driveway and see if that does anything.

Ok I got the invoice:
PG Plus Brake Pads (front)
Raybestos PG Plus Brake Shoe (rear)
labor - premium pg+ rear drum labor
F Disc Brake Rotor Raybestos Brake Rotor (x2)
Rear wheel seal CR wheel seal (labor - R&R seal, rear wheel one side)
R Brake drum Raybestos Brake Drum (x2)
Pro stop wheel cylinder (x2)
labor - Wheel cylinder R&R with brake job

So I'll see what happens in a few days.

 

did they fill the master cylinder up after they were done? If not this could be the culprit.

If their is fluid on the side of the engine, I'm guessing they didn't remove any (or not enough) before compressing the pistons in the calipers. The fluid then spilled out of the master cylinder all over the engine, and depending on how quickly they were compressed, may have sprayed up on the hood.

Did they have the calipers off? When the pedal suddenly 'sunk' was probably an air bubble being forced out.

 

It's mostly full (it's up to the top toward the front, but it is under the MAX line and a bit low toward the back of the tank). Im not sure what level is "full".

There isn't any on the engine. It just looks like a good bit of it dripped down (I can see it on alot of the plastic down there by the brakes and under the fluid tank).

I would imagine they took the cylinders off since they put new rotors and pads on it...unless you mean they took then off the line. In that case I dont know.

They feel like they are getting a hair harder, but they are still too soft for my liking. Will let it go for the rest of the week and see what happens.

 

Sounds like you might try bleeding the brakes. They might not have bled them properly, if at all.

 

They're getting tighter so we'll see where it goes

 

The fluid is from when they bleed the rears after putting the cylinders on. The easy way to bleed is to take a full bottle of brake fluid and turn it upside down in the master while you bleed. That way you don't run the risk of running the master low and pumping air into the system instead. tends to spill a bit ( especally if you rock the truck geting in or out and it tips over. Being water soluable I would have expected them to clean it up . Sounds to me like they just did a real quick job. Regular stopping ( going forward) dosen't bring up the adjusters like going backwards. The weird pedal before you job was the rear seal oiling up the rear brakes and making them not function properly.