Some of you are saying that the petal goes to the floor. And then you say it bottoms at the master cylinder.
That is two entirely different things and it's VERY important to know the difference.
Mitch next time you bleed your brakes it will be very easy to see the difference. Open a bleeder and push the petal down. It will go down but not to the floor. (And what I mean to the "floor" is the petal is against the carpet or mat.)
Now keep holding the petal down and have a partner open a back bleeder and see what happens. Feel the petal give and drop about another inch to the "floor?" You just bleed off the second piston and now you have no brakes what so ever and the petal is now really on the "floor."
Why is this important to know? Because it changes the strategy of what to do if a line ever fails. If you have a secondary system (which all vehicles in the US have since the 70's) you need to press the petal very hard and keep on pressing it until the vehicle comes to a stop.
This is what the OP did and it worked for him. Why? Because every vehicle made since the 70's has a redundant system and his backup system stopped the vehicle he was in.
More reading for those that want to learn.Baffled or partitioned off master cylinder with common fill point.On edit: Again, for those that want to learn:
In the event of the loss of one hydraulic circuit, the remaining circuit would be operated in part by the failed circuit piston and the brake pushrod. If the primary circuit were to fail, the loss of pressure would cause the primary piston to move forward in the master cylinder bore, until it bottomed against the calibrated spring and the secondary piston. The primary piston would then act as a connector between the brake pushrod and the secondary piston. If the secondary circuit failed, the secondary piston would move forward against the secondary piston spring, until it reached the end of the master cylinder bore. When the secondary piston reaches the limit of its travel, the primary piston is then able to build pressure in the primary brake circuit.
