When my dad got his 93 SE i noticed right away after driving it that his breaks were MUCH more powerfull and responsive than the ones on my 88 LE. both cars have discs up front and drums in rear. So i figured there was something wrong with my master break cylinder (like a tired seal). considering it had 200k miles on it, i changed it. performance of the breaks didnt change. the system has been bled with a bleeder several times so that rules out a air bubble in the lines.

here are some quirks of my breaks:
1. odd break travel, it takes an inch or two of pushing on the break before the breaks will respond.
2. if in gear, apply breaks, then put in park or nuetral, the break pedal travels down a inch or so.
3. seems impossible to lock my breaks
4. there doesnt seem to be a correct relatioship between the amount of work put into the pedal to the amount of stopping. on my dads it feels great and natureal, but on my 88 ive trained my foot to put down the right pressure for the desired stopping.

im posting about this now cuz last night my car was loaded with my buddies and i slammed on my brakes as hard as i could and the car traveled a much longer distance to stop than it should have.

notes: the 93 has ABS; 88 doesnt. my e brack does work properly.


thanks in advance-

Bleed your brakes.....BY THE BOOK. If that doesn't solve your problem, come back and tell us all about it.

id go with what bill said, also...

Bills going to boot me for assuming...but I think your power assist is going south...
because it should be that when you start your car that the pedel goes down an inch...
strain the sytem maybe... turn the wheel and try it, you'll probally get a whine or somthing... I think your power steering pump might be messed, because I think it assists the brakes

you mentioned the power steering pump...it went out today, it was making a groaning nooise for about a week then this afternoon after i started it, it made a horrible rattleing noise. im changeing the pump out this weekend. ill bleed it by the book ( i do have the GM issued shop manual) and we'll see what happens, ill be sure update you guys.

thanks-

just went through teh same kind of crap w/ my 92 ssei....would press the breaks and sometimes it woudl just sink to the floor...we bleed them...nothing really...got a new master cylinder...that fixed it...it still takes a little to get them to go but i duno what that is! good luck