ok.. ive been having a lil bit of a problem for a couple days... first off.. my drums; rotors and pads are all new... (changed them about 8 months ago).. and theyve worked fine up tilll now.... i accelerate.. and when i brake either they work perfect, or they will be all squishy and hard to stop.. this is a serious problem i know ive almost crashed once.... i slammed on them and my tires locked up and made a screeching sound ... than next time i braked they worked perfect... its like an on and off... thing.. i checked the fluid... that is good.... anyone have this or know of a problem like this .. let me know asap

Sounds like two separate problems. Probably need a can of brake cleaner on the drums. And probably need to bleed the system.
How long have you let it go like this?

welll actually i thinkin a couple days.. i just really caught onto it today.... i mean its not horrible bad.... but if somone pulls out inront of me im screwed.... its really just how far i push the pedal down changes.. and i dk how i didnt catch it sooner but yea sooo bleeeding the system and brake cleaner... anything else guys?

could it be the master cylinder?

96sunfire wrote:could it be the master cylinder?

i had a problem like this on my 94 and it was the abs pump the solenoid wasnt completely resetting or wahtever and the pedal travel changed all the time, i replaced the master cly/ abs pump unit with one from the wrecker and it solved my problem, im assuming your talking about your 96 sunfire, if so it uses the same delco abs system so it could very well be your problem

yea thats more along the lines of what i was thinking... so ... how much that run ya, and is it alot of work?.... and is it dangerous to travel from a to b with a bad one?.. its not gonna give out and fail all of a sudden is it..

hmmm.. well ima bump this up 1 more time.... ok... the guy i work with told me it sound slike the brake booster.... so how can i make sure if its the booster or the master cylinder??

Why don't you start with a $5 bottle of brake fluid and flush your entire system? I would eliminate that possibility first so that you don't spend all kinds of money on a master cylinder or booster.

Typically, if your master cylinder is going bad your brake pedal will continue to go down towards the floor if you are stopped (like at a traffic light).

what exactly woudl that do?... its already full of brake fluid

Brake fluid absorbs moisture over time. The more moisture it has absorbed the easier it is for the brake fluid to boil. Once you boil brake fluid you have lots of little air bubbles that compress when you push the brake pedal-- thus giving you a "spongy" feeling pedal.

but that spongy isnt constant.... one time i push it its spongy... then next time its hard

It isn't always constant (at least in my experience).

changed the power booster .. nothing