No brakes on 89 Dodge Spirit

[dae89]

My daily driver , an 89 Spirit, has lost its brakes. I have recently installed new pads on the front, installed a rebuilt master cylinder, bled the brake lines, and still have no brakes.. There is a firm petal when the engine is not running but after starting the engine, the pedal goes to the floor. Bad vacuum booster?

[dirtyglhturbo]

did you bench bleed the master?

[dae89]

I did not bench bleed the master. I did bleed it after installing on the car. This problem was present before replacing the master cylinder, I had thought the problem was leaky seals in the old master but that apparently is not the case. I bought the car a couple months ago to drive to work and school so I have no history on it. I suspect the vacuum booster since the pedal goes to the floor when the engine is started but again, that's just a guess.

[55trucker]

You've mentioned what you have done to the front. Have you done anything to the rear drums?....Taking into consideration you have no air in the lines...If the drums are out of adjustment (severely) this will cause your pedal travel to also be excessive. Adjust them both up (manually) and see if that clears up some of your problem.

[dae89]

The mystery has been solved! I had a local repair shop put the new pads on (big mistake, should have done it myself). Anyway, one pad was not installed correctly, bound up the caliper so it would not move and bent the steel back of the pad. So, always double check even the simplest of repair work.