I took a sportage for a test drive with my wife tonight, at first the brakes felt a little spongy, I thought no worries ill just have to bleed the brakes are remove all the bubbles.
but about 5 minutes down the road I puled up at the lights and gave the brakes a pump to get them firm, then a Red light came on on the dash, I wasnt sure what it was so i pulled over, but when i put my foot on the brakes it went straight to the floor, I jumped on the hand brake to slow up while continuing to pump the peddle, it helped a little but was 95% useless.
While pulled over i pumped the peddle a heap to check if there was a leak, but there was no fluid leak and the reservoir was still full. the red light on the dash would turn off each time I pumped the brake. So i assume its some kind of general error light but the breaks were the fault causing it this time?
I assume the problem is that the valves in the master cylinder have failed?
Just wandering if anyone else has had this problem and or knows what the problem is?
If its easy and cheap enough to fix I might offer a lower price on the car and just fix it up myself.

I have never heard of a car doing this before, I hope its not rare thing? I dont want to be forever paranoid of loosing the brakes while crusing down the freeway at 110kph
cheers
Glen

Hi Glen,

Sent PM as well to your other questions.

My Sporty had the same problem when I first bought it. Mine had under 100000 km Can't remember exact km's but I think it was 94000 on it when I bought it.

Had it for about a week and the same spongy problem but no light. thought here was air in the brakes and tried to bleed them up but only made it worse. Worked out the Master cylinder had failed. I was lucky and not driving on the road. Any way took it back to the dealer I bought it off and had it fixed under their warranty. No issues since.

How many KM's was ont he one you drove? Maybe it is around a 100000 km replacement? Any one else had the same proble at these Km's

Cheers, Chris.

So to clerify, you bled the brakes, topped the resevoir, test drove, the light came on, the level was then low, but no leaks found? the fluid must go somewhere.. a few things to consider: in general a sudden new problem is a result of a recent work done. Purhaps a slightly stuck open bleeder? It's common for master cyls to fail just after a bleed job and heres why: when you press the brakes on a normal operating brake pedal, it doesn't go to the floor. therefore you are only using a portion of your master cylinder's travel. the part that never gets used gets debris and contaminates in it stuck to the cyl walls. An unsuspecting person bleeds his brakes by pressing the pedal to the floor, thereby pressing the cylinder's seal over that contaminated area and ruining the seal and creating an internal leak where the fluid bypasses inside causing a weak pedal or a sinking pedal. But this will not leak externally and loose the fluid. nor will it cause a brake light issue also.. your rear wheel cylinders can leak inside the drum where you won't find fluid leakage untill you pull the drums. all i've got for now.. G.L.