Ok well i have a 1998 Volkswagen Cabrio. It's my first car and i bought it for 500 dollars from my neighbor. It's an automatic, has 187,000 miles on it and the transmission sticks a bit but all around it's been a great car. But now im having some troubles with my brakes. The brake pedal almost touches the floor and the pedal squeaks when i lay off of it. Now my dad is very good with cars and he and I changed the pads and put brand new rotors on the front tires. We also put new shoes on the back tires cause they use drums. however my pedal still goes pretty far down. Is it my master cylinder? How can we check to see what the problem is without taking it to someone and paying 100 dollars fo him to %26quot;look%26quot; at it. My dad was saying on his chevy's there are little star nobs on the back drums that allow you to adjust how far the pedal goes? Is that the things i just need to adjust the star? Please if anyone could give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much in advance.Brake problems with my volkswagen?Well to start with, yes, there should be %26quot;star%26quot; adjusters on the back of your rear brake drums. Let's start easy. Those seldom need adjustment because they are self adjusting brakes. They may just need to be snugged up some. Snug the adjuster up just until the tire/wheel will turn about 1.5 turns while jacked up. Then, while in reverse, %26quot;stab%26quot; the brakes, this will help adjust them. It could be your master cylinder and is a likely culprit. After all the work you and your dad did though, let me ask you this...Did you bleed the brakes and put nothing but new and proper specification brake fluid in? If you did not do this, that could be the problem. Water, air and contaminants get into the brake fluid and ruin the hydraulic properties at play in the brake system. Bleed the brakes thoroughly with the proper class brake fluid. After being bleeding and sealing the brake system, check for leaks and to see if the master cylinder is losing brake fluid (when pumping the brakes). If you have thoroughly bled the system and are not finding leaks or a loss of brake fluid level from the master cylinder, the master cylinder is shot. You can rebuild or purchase a new one. Good luck, dealing with brake issues is a pain in the butt.Brake problems with my volkswagen?Jim has done a terrific job handling this one. Good job Jim!!
I will add that the Master Cylinder is not rebuildable on this Volkswagen, and I would NOT recommend you try to do it.
Sounds like air/water to me. A good bleeding should repair this.
