Low Brake Pedal ? It's not air in the system... 

2weeks without driving and trying to find out the problem after bleeding the brakes 20times.... This video made my whole day. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very important detail most people never do .. always make sure caliper pins are cleaned and greased and move freely

I've been having brake issues with my car *spongey brakes* for months, watched tens of videos, untill I saw this video and the problem was solved! God bless you Mr. Kenny.

Had this exact issue on my truck for a while now. Watched the video and tore into it the next day and sure enough had one rear pin froze solid and an inner pad stuck on the other side. Solved my problem.

I am 43 years in auto repair and I was always told never pack grease into the caliper holes, because it will hydraulic lock and never get any grease on end of caliper pin! I see this done all the time, where people cover the end of the caliper pin! Rainman Ray does it all the time. But his quality of work has dwindled since he is his own boss! Sorry had to throw that in there. Good videos. Glad you moved and are happy about it!

You know what I like about you Buddy? You my friend, are not afraid to get your hands dirty. I see so many Pretty Boy Mechanic Apprentices on RU-vid head for the throw away latex gloves before they go a wrenchin' and put them on, as if they were gonna catch some kinda of disease from what they are working on. I just grin and bear it. I never wore those things, I can only imagine they would be more of a hindrance than a help. I used to just keep a container of Go-Jo and a toothbrush for the nails handy and that was it. Anyway, a big Thanks for all the fine Videos you've been putting out for us to watch. They are very helpful, and a big thumbs up to you!

My VW TDI Jetta wagon had a low pedal problem. It was a seized park brake cable that caused the problem. The adjusters were seized on the rear calipers because I never used the park brake. Once the caliper adjusters and park brake cable were repaired, the low pedal problem was gone. I had the dreaded death wobble on the front end of my 1996 Cummins diesel pickup. On a smooth surface the truck performed normally but if it hit any sort of bump on the road, the front left tire would violently shake to the point that I thought the truck was going to fall apart. After years of trying to diagnose this problem, I discovered that the rear right park brake cable was seized. I replaced the cable and the death wobble was gone. I never in a million years would have believed that a seized park brake cable could cause the death wobble but it did.

Your a god send, no mechanic can figure out this problem, replace master cylinder I've told. It's not. This is the problem. Thanks.

I’ve seen this problem many times, since I’m in the Rust Belt. What I like to do in this case is remove the caliper bracket and wire brush the pad contact points, then just a touch of brake grease on them along with cleaning and re-lubing the slides. Never had a comeback after that. Good video bro, great detail.

Great video! You've demystified one of the thousands of automotive discombobulators out there.

The black grease is only for the back and ends of the pads . It will thicken up over time, and should not be used on slides. Only use a silicone based lube on the slides, such as Sil-Glyde.

Purchased a 99 Suburban a few months ago and from the receipts supplied by the previous owner the brakes had been maintained less than one year previously. But for some reason the car was pulling to the right when the brakes were applied. Upon further inspection I found that the slide pins had been installed without the rubber dust boots and whatever grease had been applied had combined with the brake dust to form a glue-like substance that had seized up the slide pins. I had to press the slide pins out with a C-clamp, clean the bores with a rotary brush, wire wheeled the pins and re-inserted them with silicone grease and new dust boots. Now the old car will stop on a dime and leave 8 cents change.

Rav4s are known for low brake pedals, especially and mysteriously after pad replacement...for no apparent reason. There are guys on the Toyota forum pulling their hair out for this suddenly appearing low pedal, which is then about halfway to the floor than before the repair. I'm going to check all these caliper pins on my Rav, otherwise I'm going to have to replace all brake hardware including rotors. Great vid, btw.

On older vehicles that only have drum brakes, having to pump the brakes means the master cylinder seals are worn and fluid is bypassing the seals. So in order to get enough volume to the brake cylinders you have to pump the brakes. I remember as a child our 1937 Chevy had that problem. Lefty

Thank you for this video. I was about to bleed the brakes on my Astra and this makes far more sense as to what might be the issue. I'm not a mechanic so just being pointed in the right direction is a huge help for time and sanity!

Thank you for comfirming my findings I have a new Ford that had this pedel problem, plus the sticky caliber. The local Ford dealership wanted to rebuild the transmission (15,000 miles) telling me it was in reverse and forward at the same time. We don't go there anymore. The caliper pins were all dry as a bone, I removing the pins, doing what you've demonstrated and greasing fix the problem.

Exact same problem I had been chasing on my 1996 Saturn Wagon a few years ago and finally stumbled upon the root cause of the issue. Nowhere could I find info about seized up guide pins causing a soft brake situation so it’s nice to see you published a video that discusses this issue.

I had a Camaro do the same thing . Both rear calipers on my car. Replaced calipers fixed it😊. Good video

I lube the pins, more to the front of the pins and it spreads out the grease when I push it into the caliper. I never put lube in the hole per se, if just cakes up and make them hard to slide. Too much lube is one of the reasons for a stuck caliper pin. And the type of lube is important, also. Enjoyed the video.

I am an old school Mechanic I just watched you Video I have very similar problem with my 2020 4 runner some times I step on the break and the pedal sinks lower, In my mind it remined me of a bad master I pump it a second time and its fine. only happens randomly. I can not seem to duplicate it. your video gave me some incite where to look Thanks you..

You are my hero. Just did my brakes and have an intermittent spongy pedal. Its and old car and I didn't clean the pins. Back to the garage.

I do this every tire change winter and summer up north. I also remove the rust on the tabs/ears of the brake pads and lube them a little so they also slide nicely with guide pins lubed up too. I also use silicone on the piston and clean it and press it in so I know they work as intended and are not stuck. I also put some grease on the piston metal lip and on the claws/tooth on the outside caliper facing the pad. Result so far over the years is completely even wear and a nice brake pedal, no squeaks, I also know how worn my pads are with 6 months roughly increments. Thank you Kenny good advice as always

Your video has been a lot of help, thank you. My car is having the same issue it sounds like to where the pedal goes to the floor almost on first press then stuff like it should be on the second press. It's a relief to know that this may be the resolution. A mechanic diagnosed it as being the booster without touching anything. Doesn't sound like a booster issue according to my research. Thanks again!

I chased it for a week on an Audi. GREAT VIDEO. One of the BEST on DYI

Great Kenny ! I now know how to fix my problem ! Trinidad & Tobago. West Indies.

Get bore brushes for cleaning firearms, their made of brass with brake clean you can scrub those bracket holes out good. As others said you can also take a drill bit if you have a good set of drill bits with odd sizes you can save a bracket just don’t overbore the hole. Last don’t overfill the hole with lube you can hydraulic the pin, work that pin in/out till it moves freely purging any air trapped in there. Put a good layer of brake lube on the inside of those boots to help seal them from water infiltration. Very good video help explains how a caliber moves not many people get that.

You've just cleared my 2 week headache and a ton of $$! I honestly can't thank you enough for this video. For me it was the slider pins and possibly a shim that had come loose. Thanks again!

Dow & corning make a special grease for slider pins, it’s for minimal movement applications like slider pins, when things don’t move much in normal use they seize up & normal grease drys out & is like glue.

Great info and video, I you saved me a lot of time. I would have dived into bleeding first, but the pads were worn uneven and they were stuck. Cleaned and lubed all is good. Thanks!

I live in the rust belt and don't even bother trying to clean up caliper slide pins anymore. I just take a small round brush out of the engine cleaning set from Harbor Freight, cut the end off of the handle, chuck it in a drill and run it in and out of the bracket for a few minutes. Then, I flood the hole with brake cleaner and blow it out with compressed air. The slide pins are cheap enough at the chain parts stores that I just replace them. After that's done, EVERYTHING gets a good helping of the purple Permatex lube. Now, if I could just get my brother to reimburse me just for the parts for the front brake job on his Toyota! That poor car needed EVERYTHING from the rotors out including both calipers! Those pins were so frozen that I had to buy reman calipers WITH brackets. Even my oxy/acetylene torch didn't help!

I've been doing this for every brake for yrs. To me it was common sense if you understand how Caliper slides and pins work. Also if the boots are worn, stretched, turn, etc replace it

I use a 410 shotgun tube brush for such moments.

Just did your suggestion yesterday on my 86 Mazda, clean and fresh grease caliper mount bushings. Caliper must be free floating for normal pad to disc clearance under light braking. Definitely improved brake feel. Thanks again pal!

I have had 3 Toyota Camrys, and they all had a low pedal. It goes down further than I would like before the brake catches. I checked the brakes on all three, and even replaced and bled brakes on one. Same thing. My old '95 Safari brake pedal hits as soon as I put my foot on it.

A major mistake people do is put anti-sieze on them. You need to use caliper grease. I'm fortunate to live in the south so I only need to grease them when I swap the pads.

Good place to start diagnose the problem start with the simple stuff

good insight to uneven braking solution, one problem, packing the pin hole with grease will create uneven wear also as the grease keeps the pin from its full travel, a little dab will do ya

Thanks for the video. I'm dealing with a Subaru with soft brakes that's never had the system opened. I'll give this a shot.

Excellent video. Have a 96 Chevy Express van thats alway had spongy brakes even after many bleedings. If this turns out to be the reason i owe you one!

Brake fluid will naturally absorb moisture into it,water will act as a hydraulic but will boil a lot faster.

THANK YOU KENNY, you saved me from making the mistake of replacing the master cylinder. The front brakes on my 2012 Yaris are disks and my issue was like yours except the problem was worse, I have just over 100K on the original Toyota pads and I don't know if the problem was original to the manufacture of the car or someone did something to the brakes but one boot on the passenger side on one pin was pulled off and that pin was rusted in pretty solid. I was finally able to break it loose, clean off all the rust and lube it up to where it felt normal again. The inside pad had more wear as you stated but after fixing that pin and lubing up the other all is well again. Not really in the rust belt, we are in Maryland. You saved me a couple hundred dollars for a new master cylinder and a lot of work that would not have fixed the problem. You are da man.

I always use my Mother In-Law small tooth brush to pack that grease into the screw hole tight, it does a good job.

Another couple of things to consider besides stiff or frozen guide pins when it comes to a low soft pedal is the parking brake. On many middle aged to newer all wheel disk vehicles the rear calipers are used as the parking brake. You can tell by a lever on the back of the caliper going to the parking brake cable ( new new vehicles will use electric parking brakes but same idea). If the parking brake is not used often enough or the self adjuster fails it wouldn’t account for pad wear and keep the pad close enough to the rotor ( might be the reason for your mysterious self retracting piston? ). The same applies to vehicles with rear drums, poorly adjusted rear brakes, infrequently used parking brakes or failed adjusters will cause the same low soft brake. Just a thought on what to check. 😊😊😊

Just today, I found BOTH of the inside pads on my wife's outback worn out with the outside pads barely worn. The hidden side of both front disks was badly scored. I had followed bad advice to use anti-seize on the sliding guide pins. It caused the black rubber inserts on the guide pins to swell enough to lock them. I feared that I would have to replace the sliding caliper brackets but eventually found a puller to remove the pins. After new disks, pads, pins, and rubber seals, I will only use silicone grease.

Great vid. Just did my front brakes. One of the slide pins needed a boat load of motivation to free up. But we got er' done. New sub here.

Excellent video. I think you've highlighted the problem I have with my CRV which is also from upstate NY. The brakes feel soft and low. The video "Brake Caliper Slider Pin Grease - How Much is Too Much ?" explains why you should not pack the pin with too much grease, especially the tip of the pin. This prevents the pin from going in fully and the grease also acts as a buffer.

You can get air in your lines without a leak. If your brake caliper gets to hot from a bad bearing or continuous hard braking it can cause the brake fluid to steam or boil which in turn puts air in the line.

In the Midwest, they'll be rusted so bad, I'll have to torch them to get that slide out. Usually the rotor will be hotter too. spongy and maybe a slap back sound, if you slide your foot off while pressing.

Have this issue in my work truck. Gonna give it a go. Cheers. Makes sense to me

thanks, I know now what is wrong with my mercury grand marquis. I knew the dealer was full of it. more work to do.

If you have old fluid, the boiling point goes down. Boiling the fluid most definitely puts gas in the line. So it is possible that a never opened line, driven the same as always all of a sudden has air in the line. That's what happened to me. Those exposed Toyota pins on Tacomas, we replace every spring. Every spring. I have a truck that drove for 13 days in New England, and Florida dealership refused to service it for warranty

A big help! Will be nice, to be able to fix it myself instead of waiting for a shop to have an opening, and forking out $$.

Exactly my problem. Thanks for the video

Great video! Thanks Kenny.

THANK YOU for making and sharing this video. I have exactly the same symptoms in my Mazda MPV for a long time. This is the kind of problem most mechanics will not make efforts to find out it’s underlying cause. I look forward to having mine fixed ASAP

Thanks Kenney this is exactly what is happening to my f150

I’m going to check this theory on my 4runner. Same exact symptom. A quick pump and it’s firm but mid drive it’s about half the pedal stroke that it finally engages brakes. Front pads were replaced just before I bought the truck (used) and I figured maybe it had air in the line so I bled them. And they were fine. Also my reservoir was way over full. Hope this works

good video!!, seems like those slider pins get tight about every 2 years, and if you get a customer that drives ( or brakes) hard you need to use the newer ceramic high temp lube, the regular stuff will harden if the driver is driving like a nascar racer, also wanted to mention that calipers can let air in, it is rare in newer cars but anyone that owned a 1970s corvette knows what I mean, I did have a Chrysler 200 in my shop that had a spongy pedal, you could just open the bleeders for a minute and have a solid pedal, I noticed I only got air from one wheel, a new caliper fixed that one

Excellent presentation, good explanation, good lighting, and good attitude ! I hit subscribe ... one of those obscure details in making sure all components are free and doing their job. I noticed the same soft brake pedal that just started to manifest, I looked all around, no apparent leaks, brake pad material ok, just a bit uncertain what to do, buy new calipers ? .. no first thing now check the the caliper brace. Mahalo nut loa !

Awesome diagnosis 👊💥😁 Makes a lot of sense... Thank you..

Glad I found this! My 05 Kia Sorento has started to do the same thing. Guess I missed that part when I redid my brakes.

I have a '66 Chevy with power factory disks all the way around. It's a nice car, no rust on anything. I was cut off THREE TIMES in a 20 minute drive three weeks ago and I _smeared_ the brakes on hard, each time. No problems, this thing stops well. But last week...soft brakes. Previously the brakes were heroic. M/C pretty damn full. No leaks on my garage floor, nothing wet under the car. Replaced all the bleeders as SOP. Vacuum bled, brakes a bit better. Brakes will lock hard, car will stop in a short distance. But spongey at a stop. Engine off, nice firm pedal. I won't bleed engine on as the fan will put DOT 3 all over the paint and that's a no-go. Small cam in the engine, makes 15" Hg which should be fine (and has been previously) for the brakes. I'm beginning to think my front soft rubber lines are swelling, But I'll take the wheels off again and check if there's anything like a seized pin or four. Thanks for the idea!

Learned something new. Thanks for sharing.

Happy Father's Day Kenny!

I had soft brakes on my 2006 Murano. Found out I had 4 x 100% seized rear brake caliper pins, had to use a blow torch to move them. Replaced them all, greased...fixed the problem

Great tip! I cant seem to bleed my brakes! Going to grease up the caliper bolts! Wish me luck 😜🤞🏼

You're just fantastic. I learn loads from you and you're so thorough. I have a slight blown head gasket on my hyundai i30 2010 and block test didn't show a leak but I still suspect it as white smoke but I didn't rev anx HOLD for a long time like you did at higher rpm. Will try

There are 2 types of brake grease , one for metal to rubber and the other is for metal to metal. If you put wrong type of lube to the caliper pin then it might damage the rubber boot and gum up the pin. On the other hand if you put low temperature tolerant on metal to metal part then it might cause fire. Most of silicon based lube operating temperature can be up to around 575F. Synthetic lube can be up to 3000F. Between shim and back of brake need grease to reduce noise. I use rubber friendly silicon based grease to lube caliper pin and synthetic grease to lube metal to metal part.

Thanks, I think thats whats wrong with my brakes, I need to rotate the tires and ill give the brakes the once over.

The weird scenarios are the best to hear !!

Bought a 2002 vehicle in 2013 and found the front caliper pins rusted and almost jammed. The brakes locked up on one wheel (Squealing). I found a receipt in the glovebox showing the previous owner had done the front brake pads within the past year (2012) but the shop never touched the pins!!!! I cleaned up the pins (Wire brushed) and lubed them up and have driven the vehicle for almost 10 years. I just replaced the rear brake lines myself because one blew (Drum brakes). Now I am thinking (Thanks to your video), I need to recheck those front pins! After bleeding, my pedal is still not right.

Thank you for sharing this information with us. It will come in handy.

This can also happen if the linings are loose on the shoes of drum brakes.....even if it's just the rears.....Some are rivetted on and some are 'bonded' , which can loosen if contaminated by brake fluid from a leaking cylinder (over time).....All it takes is one, and the pedal will require two pumps to take up the slack between the lining and the shoe......John (west coast,Can.)

Good stuff...as he mentioned a prime warning is rust on the outside of the disc.That means stuck pins.I have seen lots of guys buy new calipers when in fact it just had stuck pins.Stupid mistake.

When caliper sliders are seized the symptoms are usually vibration. That's because only one side of the rotor is getting pressure. I don't think the pedal softness is caused by that.

I've been fighting a sorta soft pedal for awhile now. Although the pins are not the problem. When I got the truck the pass rear brake line was completely gone. Apparently someone had high sided it in a ditch. So the driveshaft was bent (It's aluminum), no rear brakes, transfer case had exploded and was in a box, transmission housing was cracked the output shaft all the way to the bell housing, and various other things. I replumed the rear brake lines with new lines. It had really soft brakes once I got it running again. So I pulled out the old parts cannon. I replaced the booster, master cylinder, cylinders, drums, and shoes on the rear, and new calipers, rotors and pads in the front. As far as brakes go. There's a VAST improvement from before. It's safe to drive and all and you can come to a solid stop w/o pumping them. But if you pump them once, the brakes are THERE right away!! Which is how it should be for all the work and parts I've put into them. My next course of action is going to be power (pressure) bleeding them.

Brake cleaner & WD40 works good.

Best thing I got for my shop for stuff like that was a cheap gun cleaning set 20ga wire brush fits great and cleans it really good just something to think about if you already have one

My Honda accord does that! I'm gonna check those pins.thanks Kenny!

nice info on brakes and pads and pins

Thank you. My pedal getting soft, but observed no leaks. Just about to replace master cylinder ... for nothing.

I really liked your video. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience on the mushy brake pedal. I feel I picked up some knowledge on this matter. I'm not a car mechanic, I'm a security guard who owns a 2017 Toyota camry. I would love to fix problems on my car when they arise and I love your step by step teaching on this problem. Keep them coming.

I use a properly sized drill bit. By hand to clean bore out. Brake clean also of course.

The worst brake pedal I felt on a 'yota was an older Toyota Tundra with drum brakes in the back. The brake pedal was to the floor and it was hardly braking. Turned out to be the parking brake cable was way out of adjustment and so were the brake shoes in back. Add a brake fluid flush and a front brake job and it actually stopped way better.

I appreciate your video very much. You have a really fine informative delivery giving details to how, what, and why you are doing for each step in dealing with sticking slide pins and how to get them back into normal movement. It makes the view enjoyable as well as teachable. Thanks very much.

They sell wire brushes that you can put on the end of a drill at Harbor Freight. I think it's called an engine cleaning kit or something. They work great for cleaning things such as the brake caliper bracket slides.

If your vehicle is over 10 - 15 yrs old, consider replacing the rubber brake hoses. Over time they become spongy and absorb some of your brake line pressure. For me, it's made all of the difference.

I diagnosed this on my own yesterday, installed new pads, removed the pins and they weren't moving as freely as I remembered..took the truck for a spin and the pedal felt different once stopped... boots are 20 years old and soft, replacing them this afternoon..I use Silglyde...

Hey brother I just want to thank you for doing this video and I stumbled across it by accident but I hope it fixes my problem. Only difference is that I feel and hear something with the abs when I depress the brake pedal but only for the first 15 minutes and then the brakes act normal but I am double pumping it. I’m a father of four and my wife and three sons are disabled. We are poor as poor can be and only one person is getting assistance so it’s not like we have three grand in SSI coming in every month. I’ve put so much money into this 2007 pathfinder. O2 sensor, cat converter, crankshaft sensor, mid exhaust pipe, spark plugs, coil #3, I now need coil #1 and a new muffler. I knew how to do some things and I have tools but I had to learn how to remove the intake manifold and that was scary. I’m trying my best but every time I fix something another thing goes wrong. I know that that’s how it is when you own a car but damn I wish there weren’t so many components to these cars. Why can’t they make them like the 60’s with simplicity. They want us to be forced to bring it to the dealership or garage and spend more money after we paid thousands of dollars for the vehicle 😩. Sorry I got to ranting 😂

Thanks for the excellent job.

Please wear gloves, all them chemicals will cause some type of cancer. skin cancer, etc.we need people like you..

To clean the slider pin bores better,a gun barrel cleaning brush works great on any small bore for me,closed or open! If I dont have slider pin grease available I just use never seize on the pin bores! Thanks Kenny!

I use a combination of nickel anti seize thinned out with aerokroil. The anti seize is rated for up to 2400 degrees, and the aerokroil keeps it thin enough to make sure it doesn't cake up with time or low temperatures.

Thank u I’m going to look into it on my Tahoe truck

This is my exact issue...07 Tahoe. new rotors, pads, 2 full bottles of brake fluid, plus power bleeding ABS 3 times.

As soon as the video started and saying your issue I said caliper pins same happened to my 06 sienna it's from ny too

I use red rubber grease on the sliders

I got the same issue with my 2008 Honda Odyssey, tried everything but not sure if I’ve done this! Will give it a try. 👍🏼

Thank you so much, I thought it was air in the line

Gonna try that tomorrow