# Car breaks sinking and sticking **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [October 22, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292 "2019-10-22T18:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blakensnake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Blakensnake](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Blakensnake)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/1 "2019-10-22T18:45:26Z")
My $800 junk car is on its final limb at 255k, I assumed sticking and squeaking was from low breaks / caliper pin sticking, Now I’m worried that the master cylinder is the culprit, the pump still works and has pressure when I turn the car off and pump the breaks but is there any forsure way to know without a 60-140 dollar diagnoses ? ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/2 "2019-10-22T19:24:02Z")
Brakes not breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Blakensnake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Blakensnake](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Blakensnake)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/3 "2019-10-22T20:39:40Z")
Fixed my problem thanks Volvo! The lower case must of made the breaks stick. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/4 "2019-10-23T02:32:32Z")
> [@Blakensnake](#): > > is there any forsure way to know [whether squeaking and sticking brakes is caused by a problematic caliper or rather a problematic master cylinder) without a 60-140 dollar diagnoses ? No. The most common cause of sticking brakes isn’t either of those. It’s a faulty flexible brake hose; the one that leads to the caliper. Squeaking brakes are usually caused by the pads and rotors, not the caliper or MC. For a sinking brake pedal , if there’s no fluid loss that’s most likely a faulty MC. If there is fluid loss, wherever the leak appears is where the problem is located. ---
**Author:** ![Blakensnake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Blakensnake](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Blakensnake)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/5 "2019-10-24T00:28:05Z")
So if break fluid is full it’s the MC ? 90% chance ? ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/6 "2019-10-24T00:38:14Z")
If the symptom you are trying to solve is that brake pedal slowly sinks to the floor as you push, and the hydraulics are known to be properly bled, & never had to add any brake fluid to top the system off, very good chance the problem is the MC. “Very good” does not equal “for sure” however. There’s always other possibilities. But if I had that symptom on eithe of my two vehicles and there was nothing else obviously wrong via visual inspection I’d replace the MC as the next step. ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/7 "2019-10-24T00:52:44Z")
> [@Blakensnake](#): > > So if break fluid is full it’s the MC ? 90% chance ? There’s the problem, the fluid is broken. ---
**Author:** ![Blakensnake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Blakensnake](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Blakensnake)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/8 "2019-10-24T03:09:17Z")
So it probably just needs a flush then? ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 9:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-breaks-sinking-and-sticking/151292/9 "2019-10-24T09:02:23Z")
It probably needs someone who knows what they are doing, looking at it. Brakes, aka breaks, in this instance, are nothing to play trial and error with.