Stuck Brake Pedal After Rear Brake Line Replacement on 1998 Winnebago Adventure

[PapaMac]

Hi everyone. I have a 1998 Winnebago Adventure with 65,000 miles. 454 Vortec on a P30 chassis. My wife and I purchased it 7 years ago from an elderly couple that were leaving the camping world due to health. Because I had never driven it before to know the feel of it, I unknowingly purchased it with dragging rear brake calipers. The old man didn't know either. He told me, it doesn't like the mountains. Well, we have enjoyed camping with it but in 2024 the brakes failed in the mountains of North Georgia. 5 days later and after mechanics came on site to check it out I had it towed to an RV repair shop locally. All 4 rotors were replaced as well as all of the calipers and pads. The master cylinder and the hydroboost were also replaced. The shop gave me the all clear and we used the camper last summer and put about 400 miles on going to 3 campgrounds. On our last trip the house HVAC unit caught on fire. Put it back in the shop and they for whatever reason took 8 months to replace the heat pump in the ceiling. I was obviously disturbed by this. When it was finished I drove the 14 miles back to my house. Halfway there I had smoke coming from the rear of the coach when I got home I crawled under it and found the rear calipers so hot that 40 minutes later it hurt to touch them. At this point I noticed that the rubber lines from the steel lines to the calipers had never been replaced. They had replaced everything in the brake system except for the lines that likely caused the original problem. They then personally came to my house to replace those lines and when bleeding the brakes, they have now got the pedal stuck in the down position and it won't move at all. Does anyone have any idea what has happened here. I was thinking maybe it is air locked. They have ordered yet another master cylinder and are supposed to be coming back to my house next Tuesday. We are booked in Bryson City North Carolina for Memorial day weekend and I this machine to work safely. Thank you for any help offered.

 

[Morich]

Sounds like the main big problem is that you have gotten involved with a very poor shop! One of the big issues on most things is age and that age gets into far bigger issues if any vehicle is not driven frequently. Things like water in the brake fluid is often boiled off if the thing is driven but collect when not driven. So water in brake fluid is common in older vehicles of any type. That water eventually gets into all of the parts like master and wheel cylinders to rust them.
My first guess would be that most of those parts were rusty and instead of smooth shiny parts that slide easily, they were rusty pieces of junk that stuck!
A definite rule for me if sorting where to take the RV--- or not!
RV repair is famous for being extremely bad! Take that as something to consider when choosing repair.
Second is that RV are "houses" built on trucks. If we want the truck part repaired, a shop who does trucks/cars is far better as they do it every day. If you have part of the house that needs repair, you may need to take it to folks who do that? Broken window to a glass shop. But if the door won't open, that may be an RV shop. But yet again, if it is some item like the frig, we sometimes need to do like we do at home and find somebody who works on RV frigs.
RV are a trek to keep repaired and finding the right folks IS a problem. One big thing is that RV do have far more "special" items and the good old boy down at Camping World may not be able to know plumbing, electrical, air condiooning, and engine work all at the same time! Most of us onluy have one or two jobs that we really know about?
Sometimes we get people who know even less than many of us! If you are getting folks who can't fix brakes, you may have the wrong folks?

 

[PapaMac]

Thank you for your reply. I agree somewhat with you about being involved with a poor shop. However of those in my area, this one would come as the most highest recommended by far. Other shops and mechanics have had no clue including a Chevrolet dealership. Believe me, my Winnebago has been an absolute nightmare. I will try and get information on a completely different issue with the Autopark transmission brake on another thread. It too was replaced as well as the transmission that it destroyed and the new Autopark doesn't work either leaving multiple mechanics and two separate shops scratching their heads. Back to my current brake issue. The components are new. Calipers, brake pads, rotors, hydroboost and master cylinder. The brake pedal is now stuck in the new master cylinder in the down position. Could this be a situation where air has it locked ? I have replaced master cylinders on vehicles and boat trailers before but I haven't had the rod stick in one yet. I suppose water could have somehow got inside but seems odd with a whole new system unless something is leaking. It is like they are throwing parts at it to see what works. When I got it back from having the brake components replaced, I took it to another RV repair shop several miles away and let them look through it to make sure I was safe. Another 350 dollars for that. I was given the all clear and then they seized up again. That shop also missed that the rubber lines had not been replaced.

 

[creativepart]

Can I make a suggestion… perhaps you would find more helpful insights if you broaden your quest for crowd sourced responses.

It’s natural to think, “I’ve got a problem with my Winnebago, so let’s ask the Winnebago forum to see what these other owners have done in this situation.” But actually you’ve got a 28-ish year old Workhorse chassis problem and it’s one that only a handful of members here have any experience with.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to ask here and it is possible someone with this experience will come along. But the IRV2.com forum has a Workhorse chassis forum that may be a better source for your specific situation. Here’s a link to that forum:

Workhorse and Chevrolet Chassis Motorhome Forum

This forum contains discussions related to Workhorse and Chevrolet motorhome chassis.

www.irv2.com

Best of luck

 

[Morich]

Fully agree with above on choosing which repair to take different parts of the RV to let them look.
The problem we often get into on repair is that shops are not prone to letting customers know when they have no idea about things!
In this case, brake fluid has a property that makes it draw moisture out of the air. On things that move often, it gets hot and the moisture is "boiled off" when we drive. But if the vehical sets, that water collects in the fluid and if we drive, it moves all thourgh the whole system. Rv are bad so setting way too long and if we are not aware, we can drive it and the rust that may have formed ruins lots of things.
After setting, there are test to show water in the brake fluid and if it is there, the correct move is to totally drain and flush the brake fluid to get the water out and good fluid in!
But a stuck pedal is some form of mechanical problem. Either the parts inside the master cylinder are rusted or deformed in some way or something simple is bent, hanging up, or such that somebody needs to look under the dash or maybe some part was not put back correctly?
The problem with RV repair shops can often be as simple as nobody can know details of everything---but who wants to admit to their boss they have no idea! So the guy who really knows tires and brakes is not likely to also be the guy who really understands how the ignition, refrigerator, and air conditioner works! If we go into a big auto dealership, there are different sections where different people that know a specific part of the car do their work. The guy who fixes the radio, doesn't also change the tires!
But if we pull into an RV shop, we often find one guy is expected to know it all and we may not get the best!

 

[Our ride]

Hi everyone. I have a 1998 Winnebago Adventure with 65,000 miles. 454 Vortec on a P30 chassis. My wife and I purchased it 7 years ago from an elderly couple that were leaving the camping world due to health. Because I had never driven it before to know the feel of it, I unknowingly purchased it with dragging rear brake calipers. The old man didn't know either. He told me, it doesn't like the mountains. Well, we have enjoyed camping with it but in 2024 the brakes failed in the mountains of North Georgia. 5 days later and after mechanics came on site to check it out I had it towed to an RV repair shop locally. All 4 rotors were replaced as well as all of the calipers and pads. The master cylinder and the hydroboost were also replaced. The shop gave me the all clear and we used the camper last summer and put about 400 miles on going to 3 campgrounds. On our last trip the house HVAC unit caught on fire. Put it back in the shop and they for whatever reason took 8 months to replace the heat pump in the ceiling. I was obviously disturbed by this. When it was finished I drove the 14 miles back to my house. Halfway there I had smoke coming from the rear of the coach when I got home I crawled under it and found the rear calipers so hot that 40 minutes later it hurt to touch them. At this point I noticed that the rubber lines from the steel lines to the calipers had never been replaced. They had replaced everything in the brake system except for the lines that likely caused the original problem. They then personally came to my house to replace those lines and when bleeding the brakes, they have now got the pedal stuck in the down position and it won't move at all. Does anyone have any idea what has happened here. I was thinking maybe it is air locked. They have ordered yet another master cylinder and are supposed to be coming back to my house next Tuesday. We are booked in Bryson City North Carolina for Memorial day weekend and I this machine to work safely. Thank you for any help offered.

Something in linkage is binding or installed wrong.Start under dash and look at all components going to/thru firewall for anything binding or sticking.I it is only front or rear brakes then a rubber line connecting both sides is collapsing inside itself.

 

[JackK-WO]

Master cylinders have a small port that allows the brake fluid to flow back into the master cylinder reservoir after the fluid has done it's work in providing pressure to all the brakes. If the fluid can't flow back, your brakes would be be applied all the time. There is a good possibility that this port is clogged with some type of debris, usually from an old deteriorating rubber cup that seals the piston to the champer. It could also be rust that had been previously encountered from aging.

 

[JackK-WO]

Dang spell check, should be chamber, don't even know what champer means.

 

[bigbAZ]

Another tidbit, when bleeding brakes with the old fashioned pedal method is is possible to extend the piston in the master far beyond where it has been traveling which is not good, that unused section could have seal damaging rough spots on the cylinder. That's why most pros use a power bleeder.

When you say the pedal is stuck down, can you pull it up with your hands?

 

[tderonne]

P32 brake jack shaft (or whatever it’s called - changes the direction of the brake rod) is known to size up. There’s a grease fitting on it that often gets missed.