Hey guys, last night I drove around with my E brake partially engaged. not enough for me to notice when driving, but enough to heat em up real good. Anyway, I parked it set the brake and realized I hadn't fully released it. steped on the brake pedal and it went all the way to floor. then pressed the pedal again and it was solid. it would do this with the parking brake both on and off. in the morning the pedal was fine. I took of the rear tires and inspected the brakes. they were in fine shape (all parts replaced a few months back) no cracked linings no leaking wheel cylinder. fluid resevoir was full. anyone know why it might require pumping to build up pressure and then fix itself by morning? when driving I noticed nothing weird about the pedal only when I parked it. Brake system is completly stock 9" drum and master cyl. for 64 valiant. Any ideas?

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64' Valiant Signet 5.9, 64' Dart 170 moredoor 3.7, 67' A100 3.7, 00' Dakota SLT 4.7

Try driving slowly, holding the handbrake release out and applying the parking brake as you move along. If you detect a pulsation effect, then you ovalised the drums when you heated them up (by driving with the brake on) and then applied spot-pressure at one particular diameter (by applying the parking brake the rest of the way). In this case, if the car happens to be at a point where the shoes are expanding out to the major diameter of the oval, the pedal will be soft, but if it happens to be at a point where the shoes are expanding to the minor diameter, the pedal will seem normal.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

One possibility is thet you got the rear brakes hot enough to boil thee fluid. The "steam"would be easy to compress. Once cooled it would return to normal. If this is the case, bleed your brakes and flush out the old fluid. Dan could be right too, check as he said. We could also both be right with a combination of both problems.


good luck

tophat

If I got the drum out of round in one spot it would have been in that spot in the morning when I went out to move it. but the pedal was solid. I was worried I might have done that since I had new drums on the back so I already checked (have access to brake lathe). and the pedal wasn't soft it was non existant. like I had a line open. and when it was applied after it went to the floor there was a solid pedal again. would the boiling fluid build up pressure like that? I had no problems with the brakes until I parked it. A fluid change is probably a good idea. I guess the root of all this is dont drive with the brake on and you wont have a problem. I should make my oil light the brake is on idiot light.
thanks for the suggestions
JA

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64' Valiant Signet 5.9, 64' Dart 170 moredoor 3.7, 67' A100 3.7, 00' Dakota SLT 4.7

did you replace the master cylinder? i did that on my car and i guess i got a crappy rebuild(imagine that) and my brakes did that to me getting off a freeway one time. talk about being scared. stepped on the brakes, pedal went to the floor, next pump, just fine. the m/c started bypassing internally less than 8 months later.

zedpapa

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1970 dodge dart w/225 /6 bored .040" over, holley 390cfm w/vac. sec., compcams 252s, clifford shorty headers w/2.5" exhaust w/flowmaster, f-body 11" front discs, aluminum A-833OD, 8 1/4 w/3.21 SG
soon to have 5 gears!!!

Try driving in revers and applying your brakes in order to get the brakes to self adjust. This happened to my dad one time in his Datsun and he did three 0-20-0 stops and it solved the problem.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

I think tophat was right. super heated fluid produced vapors that didn't compress as fast. Brakes have felt fine for a few days now. Driving with E brake on is just a bad idea. (DUH!!!!!!)

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64' Valiant Signet 5.9, 64' Dart 170 moredoor 3.7, 67' A100 3.7, 00' Dakota SLT 4.7

You really should do a fluid flush. You can have this problem without getting the fluid near its boiling point if there is moisture in the system. If you have not flushed the brakes in couple of years there will be some moisture in there.

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Mopar or no Car!

I'm not loosing fluid. I'm positive of that. I've been driving it since the first post and have had no problems since then. I find it weird because the problem fixed itself. If the pedal still went to the floor that wouldn't be weird. that would be a problem. problems I can fix.

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64' Valiant Signet 5.9, 64' Dart 170 moredoor 3.7, 67' A100 3.7, 00' Dakota SLT 4.7