How to Diagnose Brake Problems

Video Transcript

"This is Richard Gams. We are in Murray, Utah. We are talking about basic car care. I'm going to talk to you a little bit about how to diagnose brake problems. There are a number of different types of brake problems you might have with your car. For instance you might notice a squealing when you put on the brakes. You might notice that when you put on the brakes the car might swerve to the right or swerve to the left, you might notice the light on the dash of your car, the brake light might come on when you put on the brakes. You might notice a jerking when you apply the brakes and an unevenness in stopping. All of these are problems that require attention and have to do with the brakes. The squealing of the brakes may mean that your brake pads are getting too low and they need to be replaced. The applying the brakes and having a spongy feeling and not a real solid feeling to braking might be a result of air getting in the lines and fluid leaking out of the lines. I mentioned that you might experience an unevenness in braking where you get this sensation of when you apply the brakes of this forward backward motion very uneven braking. this is usually caused by an unevenness in brake rotors in the front, usually not in the back. Usually it is the front brake rotors that are causing this problem. If your brake light comes on that means that you might be low on brake fluid and that could be accompanied by a sponginess in the application of the brake, not real solid braking because air might have leaked into the lines."