I POSTED THIS IN THE 5TH GEN FORUM BUT DIDNT GET MUCH INFO AND THE THREAD DISAPPEARED SO HERE IT GOES AGAIN...

2000 5spd...
i was driving the other day and noticed my brake pedal was a bit loose at the top, meaning not much pressure just when you press it. also when i was just starting to move there was a bit of resistance and brake noise, not squeeking. a few blocks later it felt as if there was no pressure in the pedal at all, it just went to the floor with no resistance. i pulled into my driveway and by that time my brakes were virtually not working. my rear right rim felt extreemly hot, and there was a strange burning smell comming from that wheel. i cheked my brake fluid level and it was full.

so it was either my handbarke was up, and the heat caused the loss in the peadl pressure...is that possible??? but then both rear wheels would be hot or smelling of heat. or my caliper locked up???

next day i took it to my mechanich who drove it and said everything felt fine. he took off the caliper and everything cheked out ok, or so he says. today (a few days later) i was driving and noticed that the pedal pressure feels somewhat low from time to time. one minute if feels fine, the next its goes down with very little resistance. the rear pads have like 5mm on them and they were just put in 5 months ago! they look wierd too, like they got some rust spots or something?? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE???
PLEASE HELP, THANX.

 

sounds like your rear calipers are siezed.. very common problem on the 5th gens..

rebuild or replace the caliper and put new pads on it..

the strangeness you're feeling on the pedal is because the caliper is continually pressing on the rotor causing it to get extremely hot and it's boiled the brake fluid inside the caliper... so now you have a siezed caliper AND air bubbles in the brake lines.