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You're getting good advice from Brian. Some other things to check (with 'degree of difficulty' ratings:)
1) Easy -- see if there's enough fluid in the reservoir. If it's low, air will get in and give you a spongy pedal. Once air gets in, the only way to remove it is to bleed the brakes.
2) Moderate -- Bleed the brakes. 'Bleeding' means getting the air out of the system. There are several techniques for doing this -- the one I like involves using a tool called a 'Mity-Vac,' which costs about $30. It's a hand-operated vacuum pump which sucks air bubbles out of the hydraulic system.
Once you've checked the fluid and bled the system if necessary, see if the brakes are behaving themselves. If they are, you can just keep an eye on them to see if they get spongy again and/or if the fluid level goes down. If it does, you've got to have a leak somewhere. Things that can leak and may need to be replaced:
3) Hard -- master cylinder. This is especially tricky because it can leak WITHOUT visible fluid loss -- instead, the fluid just leaks past the seals on the piston but stays inside. If this is what's happening, you'll get poor or no braking effect but the fluid level won't change and you won't see any visible leaks. The only cure is removing the master cylinder (hard) and rebuilding it (even harder.)
4) Medium -- front calipers and/or rear wheel cylinders. If these are leaking, you'll almost always see a lot of fluid around the wheels. Again, the only cure is to reseal or replace. Fortunately, rebuilt calipers and new wheel cylinders are still available for your 96 from some of the specialist suppliers who advertise on this site.
5) Medium -- flex lines, front or rear, can get porous and develop leaks... although it's maybe even more common for them to collapse inside so the brakes stick ON. Again, you can get either OEM-type or braided steel lines from the specialist suppliers.
6) Hard -- the metal hard lines that run from the master cylinder to the flex lines can rust and deteriorate. Usually you'll be able to see leakage, but on a 96 (unlike most cars) the hard lines run inside the car (where they're protected from rocks etc.) so you'll have to lift up the carpets and floorboards to check them. There are hard lines on the rear axle tube as well. A brake shop can bend new hard lines to replace your old ones, but this is a tough job because it's tricky to get the old lines out of the car and the new ones in.
So, I would say check the easiest stuff first and see if that finds the problem. Then start looking for leaks. If you don't see any leaks and the fluid level never goes down, but the brakes still don't work well, it's probably the master cylinder.
posted by 68.13.13...
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