Solved: 2009 Vibe AWD Brake Pedal Goes to Floor

Discuss any maintenance you've done to your Vibe & Matrix and ask how to perform maintenance on your vehicle
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Geode
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2022 5:45 pm
Location: Albany, NY

Solved: 2009 Vibe AWD Brake Pedal Goes to Floor

Post by Geode »

My son just bought a 2009 AWD Vibe with 82k miles. The brake pedal was very low when we test drove the car, just a couple of inches from the floor. It was firm though, not spongy. The car stopped ok but the feel of the brake pedal was unnerving! The prior owner recently had the rear disc brake pads replaced. The master cylinder appears to be brand new. First I tried bleeding all 4 brakes with a helper pumping the pedal then using the gravity bleeding method. I did a complete bleed twice. Then I disconnected the brake master cylinder lines and bled the master cylinder while it was in the car. I bled all 4 brakes again. No changes to the brake pedal, it still went to the floor.

I disassemble all 4 brakes and here’s what I found:

Rear brake pads were brand new but were not properly fitted to the caliper. The pads had to be pried out with lots of effort. To reassemble, I had to file down the ears of the brake pads, clean the caliper and shims and lube the ends of the brake pads and lube the caliper pins.

The front brake pads had plenty of thickness and the rotors were in good condition. The pads came out of the calipers with a normal amount of effort. I found 3 of 4 caliper pins were seized and corroded. I cleaned the calipers, replaced all the pins and reassembled the brakes.

This solved the issue of the sinking brake pedal. The pedal is now at the right height and feels firm. Apparently the prior owner did not have a competent mechanic do the brake work!!
2009 Vibe AWD, 2.4L, Auto
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