Thread: How do brakes work?

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Here's a link to a good primer on the system. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-p...ter-brake1.htm
If your problem is in the master cylinder (pitted bore, leaky seals) then you may not have much braking of the secondary loop - the pressure developed can bleed by and cross over in the MC reservoir and you don't get any pressure until the first spool bottoms against the second. The idea of the two loops is to stop in an emergency, not to give you full pedal and perfect brakes if you spring a leak at one wheel. Also, if you do not have enough pedal travel to allow for the MC spool compression then you'll lose all braking. If you lose the fronts you have lost most of your braking power, from my experience.