What does a car do when its' master cylinder is bad?

Answer 1

The master cylinder is part of the braking system.
If the piston does not seal properly fluid can leak around it. Press the brake until the pedal gets hard and it will slowly continue to the floor. The amount of leakage will determine how fast the pedal reaches the floor, sometimes so badly that you can't get a firm pedal at all.
Brakes aren't something to mess with! Get the problem fixed ASAP!

Answer 2

The pedal will feel soft and often times a bad master cylinder will cause the brake pedal to slowly go down when sitting at a stop. A bad master cylinder can also leak or even cause your brakes to lock up and the light may come on if you have a loss of pressure.

Answer 3

You may get the shock of your life when occasionally the pedal goes to the floor with no braking action.A couple quick pumps may restore pressure,either temporarily until the next application,or they may last for the rest of the day.Masters can also leak fluid from the rear (a common old Ford problem) indicating rear chamber leakage/blow out.Masters can also build pressure internally and pop the cap off or force fluid under pressure past the cap gasket.A master cylinder usually isnt expensive,and its very important.Replace it whenever in question.Safety is the upmost importance.

Answer 4

if you are talking about the brake master cylinder, if it goes bad you have no brakes
(or a clutch master cyl.....no clutch)
the master cylinder is the part of the brake hydraulic system that the driver controls with the foot pedal
as you depress the pedal the master brake cyl compresses the hydraulic fluid sendind pressure to the brake calipers and wheel cylinders causing them to press against the brake rotors and drums which slows and stops the car
as the cylider wears out, fluid bypasses the internal parts and the system generates less and less pressure to stop you
eventually you have a no brake situation....and a wreck

Answer 5

You will get a spongy feeling when the master cylinder goes bad and when you come to a stop the pedal will sink all the way down to the floor. You may be able to pump up the pedal but it wont last long.

Answer 6

Once when I was a teenager, the MC on my parent's car failed just when was coming to a red stop light.

No amount of pumping the brakes would do anything to stop the car. I blew my horn, ran the red light, downshifted the transmission to "L" and used the parking brake to slow the car to a halt.

In summary, no master cylinder = no brakes.
Get that sucker fixed, otherwise you might hit somebody.

Answer 7

Usually crashes. Into another car, a tree, or some other undesirable object.

Answer 8

brakes usually go out, or get really hard to mash to be able to stop it.

Answer 9

loses brakes