Diagnosing brake issues - myself....

These past two weeks I've done nothing but attempted to find someone to fix my brakes - someone other than the dealer who charges over $200 per hour just to diagnose and then doesn't deduct that fee if/when then do the work.

The brake pedal sinks to the floor - since I picked my RRB up at the airport parking lot, the slightly soft pedal from before I left became the totally soft-to-the-floor pedal when I returned home.

I had a complete brake job from my trusted mechanics in Atlanta less than 20k miles ago so I'm 99.9% sure it's not the shoes or pads. Next I'm crawling under the truck in between torrential rains and way too cold temperatures to look for leaks, which I don’t find.

Still, I open the cab and search for the brake fluid container to see if I merely need more brake fluid. I don’t find it but I do find the power steering fluid container and see it is at the minimum line so I take care of that.

Finally I find the brake fluid container with the phone help from my mechanic and youtube! This is totally full up to the max line.

So I’m pretty sure I can eliminate both low brake fluid and a leak – even though I’ve walked to the auto store and bought fluid…grrrr

Next, people are saying maybe the master cylinder so I finally speak in real time with my mechanic Amber who at first says she’ll do it but then says it’ll be a pain in the butt and I should probably get someone else.

So I call around to find an independent shop that will work on my Isuzu truck. The one shop I find has a two week waiting period until the work can be done. Grrrr. My work in Atlanta has already taken me off the road and will again next week.

I’m now resigned to waiting until I return from Atlanta, hoping the weather will be better or at least it might only rain at night…