Important-brake problem!

[speedster1]

Dear Kia folk, I am experiencing a brake malfunction with my '99 Sephia. Currently the pedal goes more than half the way down with reduced braking power. I have disc front/drum rear. There is enough fluid in the reservoir. I have ahunch that only the front are doing all the work. wOULD this be a master cylinder malfuncxtion? The parking brakes don't work worth a darn last I knew. How woudl I diagnose this dillema? Any input would be greatly appreciatyed. speedster1(driving slowly)

[kiaracer]

Originally Posted by speedster1

The parking brakes don't work worth a darn last I knew.

replace the brake shoes.

[ron1004]

It may need brake shoe replacement as "kiaracer" mentions, but it could also be that the rear brake show auto-adjusters are not working.

Sometimes yanking the hand brake up and down while holding the foot pedal can get the adjusters to tension up, but that's abid "sometimes".

Best get the brake drums off and inspect.

[ky-sephia]

Check to make sure that one of your front clippers slide bolts are not seized. I had the same problem a year ago. I keeped replacing things. The master cylinder, rebuilt the rear brakes. nothing helped, but when I went to check the front brakes I found that the front slide bolts were rusted and had absolutly no caliper grease on them. It had seized so bad that the caliper was bent. And the caliper I bought from the salvage yard one of it's bolt had no grease. Luckily no rust. I greased up all the caliper bolt and no problems since. Please note my car is also a Sephia.