Soft brakes, heard pop

First let me say, thank you to the forum. It has already saved me a lot of money. I just got done chaning the fan relay switch and it was very easy.

Now, I was changing the front pads on my wifes 98 grand voyager today. I changed the passenger side first and then was changing the drivers side when,..... I was pushing in the piston with my clamp(I thougth I had released enough brake fluid) but then i heard a small pop and some fluid came out what looked like right below the master cylinder brake fluid reservoir.

The van drives and stops but it's very soft. Did I bust a the brake line and if so is that something that's hard to change? When I push on the brakes I don't notice any leaks.

thanks in advance,
Rob

I would suspect air in the system. I would start by bleeding the brakes (right rear,left rear, right front, left front, in that order) and see if that does not solve your problem.

Thanks Bear, I just did that and the brakes are working great. I'm still kind of worried what the pop was and the fluid leaking. It doesn't seem to be losing any of it's braking ability or pressure.

I wouldn't worry about the pop...if it came from above. There's nothing you can break hose-wise that way. It was probably the fluid getting burped from a too full master cylinder. I'm still a bit unsure where you got the air in from if you were pushing the caliper pistons back???

I work in a shop and just so you know...I'm not trying to be mean or anything...but pushing the pistons back in like that is very bad...especially if you have ABS. The best thing to do is to open the bleeder, then push the piston in...so the fluid doesn't go back. You can really mess up the ABS pump. The reason is as brake fluid ages it loses it's anti-rusting ability and copper from the inside of the lines starts to flake off...by pushing old fluid/copper back into the very complicated/many valves ABS pump you can clog it up/damage it. A good rule of thumb is to replace your brake fluid every 2-3 years.

If you don't notice anything in the next week, I'd say you're probably ok. I would get that fluid flushed though.

I also support bleeding the brake system every 2-3 years. I have installed speed bleeders on all of may cars, these are bleed ports with a internal spring and check ball so that you can open the port and then you can pump brakes all you want, while fluid flows and no air can be ingested. I believe PEP BOYS sells them (RUSSEL is one brand) and they are about $30.00 for a set of four.