I decided to change the front brake pads on my 86 Custom Cruiser. That was the easy part...had no problems. However now my brake light keeps coming on. I pumped the brakes before I drove it...any ideas why the brake light would keep coming on? Also that stupid Power Master booster keeps cycling and I hear vacuum leaking when the brake pedal is released. It goes away when I apply the brakes. Do I need to bleed the system after changing the pads? The booster worked fine before I changed them so not sure. Ugh...any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

It couldn't hurt to bleed the brakes. You might have gotten air in the lines if you compressed the brake pistons with a C clamp. This would push the brake fluid back through the line into the master cylinder. You might have had some overflow with the fluid oozing out the top of the master cylinder.

 

If the light comes on it sounds like your proportioning valve moved to one side or the other and half your brakes are not working. Try hard braking a couple times in a row to recenter the valve then bleed the brakes. See if that takes care of your problem

 

Thank you for the responses...I'll do that. Fortunately with the Powermaster system bleeding the brakes is pretty easy. According to my shop manual, it's all done right at the master cylinder.

Let's hope that works!

 

Better re-read the shop manual. It is not physically possible to bleed the entire brake system from the master cylinder unless you suspend the car upside down. You will need to bleed each wheel as well. Even after doing that, you run the risk of having the differential pressure valve moved to one side or the other, setting off the light. Is the light on constantly, or only when you apply the brakes? If the former, the valve is hard over to one side. If the latter, you have air in the system.

 

Yeah the light only comes on when I apply the brake...and it's not every time, more so on harder braking.

Haha...my car is upside down! I have a Chilton manual and it lists a separate bleeding procedure for the Powermaster....but I guess I'll do it the old fashioned way

 

Well I tried the easy way out first (of course) and slammed the brakes pretty hard a few times. Each time the light came on, but went off faster after each as well. Finally the light did not come back on. I drive it to the supermarket (about 5-10 miles roundtrip) and no light at all. Let's hope that fixed it...

 

Thankfully the brake light problem went away...hasn't come on in quite a while. Weird thing is my front brakes still squeak...is that normal for new pads? I really haven't driven it all that much since changing them...maybe 150 miles tops. Just not sure why they would still make noise though...any ideas?