O/T Dodge Nitro spongy brake pedal

Bill from Scotland · Oct 5, 2013

Just returned from four week vacation, started up Dodge and immediately noticed brake pedal was spongy. Car has 30k on the clock, brakes still work as does abs but pedal very spongy and will go to the floor if I apply hard pressure on the pedal. Fluid level still fine and no obvious sign of leaks, fluid does seem a little dark. Im thinking bad master cylinder. Did some searching on the web and it would appear there have been some issues and re-call with these in the US due to poor master cylinder castings. What do you guys think? Mine is the 2.8 diesel not the larger gas engine you folks have.
Thanks
Bill

Texasmark1 · Oct 5, 2013

Sponge is air in the system or blow by either in a wheel cylinder or the Master. 30k is really short for a brake problem, especially that one. Might want to pursue your suspicion.

Mark

ShadetreeRet · Oct 5, 2013

I would suspect the master cylinder. Had that happen about a year ago on one of my trucks. Pedal became spongy and then one day went all the way to the floor. I was only able to get the truck stopped by frantically pumping the pedal.

John B. · Oct 5, 2013

Yes like Texasmark1 said, a spongy pedal is a sign of air in the system. I would bleed the brakes starting with the right rear, left rear, right front then left front. A bad master-cylinder usually will let the pedal bottom out only with light constant pressure applied to the pedal. This is called Master-Cylinder Bypass. The fluid bypasses past the rubber cups inside the Master Cylinder.

If you install a new master cylinder or have some one else do it have them change the brake fluid in all the lines. Some companies recommend changing the fluid once a year.

O/T Dodge Nitro spongy brake pedal

Bill from Scotland

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Texasmark1

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ShadetreeRet

Well-known Member

John B.

Well-known Member

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