legacycentral bbs

I just recently bought a '91 Legacy Sport Sedan. Overall, I am very pleased with it, except the fact that it takes quite a bit of pedal play before the brakes grab. I tried messing with the pedal a bit to get it to pick up a little quicker, but that didn't do the trick.

It has new pads, rotors, front lines, the brakes have been bled through with new fluid, and generally well taken care of. The pads have had plenty of time to seat themselves, so I doubt that's the problem.

Anyone have any suggestions? This is really disturbing.

if this is your first subaru it may just be you were use to a car with a much stiffer initial travel on its brake pedal.... otherwise i'd suggest driving another subaru and comparing... if it is still mushy i'd be looking at the master cylinder (assuming everything you mentioned is in working order)

This is actually MY second Subaru, and the third in my family.

In my previous scooby, a '94 Legacy wagon, the brakes picked up a bit earlier. In my mom's '03 Legacy wagon, the brakes are MUCH quicker on the uptake.

On nasioc, one of the guys suggested it may be the brake booster.

may want to try bleeding the brakes.....including activating the abs. If after all that you still have mushy pedal....or excess travel....the MC could be going out.....or it may just be the way it's supposed to be....

I have a similar thing going on with my 92 L Wagon 2.2 5MT AWD but with the clutch pedal.
The travel is quite long before the gear kicks in.
The clutch seems fine but is somewhat "sensitive".
Overall it is very different than others vehicles I had before (including other Subies: three HBs and one Loyale).
I am not complaining but would like to know if other Legacy owners experience the same thing.


Louie