I have a 2004 Camry. Recently, after coming to a stoplight, I noted that the brake pedal continued to the floor. I have never had a car that did this before. After repeated attempts to diagnose this at the dealer, nothing was done. They had a factory rep sign off that the car was safe to drive. It stops OK, but the pedal still goes to the floor, and pumping the brakes does no good.???
It sounds like you have a bad master cylinder. Get a second opinion.
Is it under warranty? Did they put that factory rep’s safety OK in writing?
The part about a factory rep signing off on it sounds a bit strange to me. Take that with a grain of salt unless you know for sure.
Has anyone inspected the rear brakes, or even considered them? If the rear brakes are well worn or if they have suffered a wheel cylinder sticking the extended position for example, then it’s quite possible for the car to have a low brake pedal.
The car will still stop and the symptom would make one think a master cylinder has failed.
Not sure what you mean here. When you stop, the pedal still slowly descends to the floor or you have to push the pedal almost to the floor before the pedal gets hard and the car stops.
They changed it out and the car is still under an extended warranty. The regional factory rep signed off on it.
I have the signature of the regional factory rep on a closely guarded piece of dealer-issued paper. They replaced the master cylinder, inspected all the brake lines, etc. There is no leakage of fluid at all.
It bis under an extended factory warranty with about 30,000 miles left on it. The factory reps signature is on a dealer-issued document.
When you stop, the car stops. If you continue to push down on the pedal, it goes to the floor. Repeated pumping does not improve the situation; the pedal does not hold and the pedal can stil be pressed to the floor. The car stays stopped. No leakage of fluids. The master cylinder has been changed out to no avail. I have four other cars and many more through my lifetime and never experienced this.
They replaced the master cylinder
Had it shown the same behavior since then? If it is still doing it, I would not want to drive the car until it is properly repaired.Sounds like you are pumping air, if there are no leaks. The dealer may not have properly bled the brake lines to get the air out. I agree that the car is still unsafe to drive if the pedal goes all the way to the floor.
Do you have ABS? This sounds like an ABS problem. That would explain why the dealer doesn’t want to fix it, its expensive. It won’t be as expensive as the lawsuit that your heirs will slap him with. You need to talk with the owner of the dealership and ask him if he has ever heard of the Shelton Harrison dealership in Millington, TN. The guy lost everything when one of his service writers told a woman her brakes were just fine.
Again, has anyone inspected the rear brakes or even considered them? There can be a problem there as I mentioned earlier and this can occur without any fluid leakage.
I’m not saying that’s the problem; only that is the first thing I would inspect.
The brake pedal should NEVER go to the floor, under any circumstances. If it does, there is a serious problem. I would not drive a car in this condition, because it’s not safe. Have this car towed to a mechanic (dealer or otherwise; your choice) and have it repaired. My guess is a faulty master cylinder, but I’m not a professional mechanic.