Brake Problems.

BlackMark8

Registered
Ive had the car for awhile now and she always treats me right. The brakes always worked good. Just yesterday the pedal is feeling a little funny. The first time i hit the brakes ( for any amount of time ) it works fine, but if i pump it once or twice the pedal gets very stiff and i seem to lose my "power brake". No brake light comes on (in the dash). This similar thing happened to my first gen and it had a bad master cylinder. But it made a hissing noise when i pushed the brake, i can hear the vacuum leaking. But in this case, i don't hear that sound. And my engine does not idle bad (as if a vacuum was leaking.) I checked fluid - looks fine, maybe a little over full if anything. Pads are still in good working condition. Any ideas?
 
Oh, and before that started happening, i noticed that when i hit the brakes that my steering wheel bounces from the left to right just a little tiny bit.
 
Time to pull the wheels and inspect for anything unusual. When where the pads/rotors replaced last? Or where they ever?
 
I know very little from the history of this car before me. I checked the pads they look good, and the rotors look new. Ive owned the car for almost 6 months
 
Yea i think the booster is sticking or failed completly. The FIRST time i hit the brakes it seems to be ok, but if i try to "pump" it at all, the pedal gets stiff and hard to push. As i push harder, it then starts to get easier and easier to push/work. Maan i dont look forward to changing that thing... ugh !
 
The booster runs off of vacuum, if its getting hard to push the brakes, it means the booster is loosing vacuum. When you push the brake pedal down, do you hear a "hiss"? If you do, then you have a leaking booster and will need a new one. If you don't hear a "hiss" then you're vacuum check valve that is attached to the vacuum line could be going bad, or you could have a lack of vacuum flow.

With the car running, pull of the vacuum line at the booster and see how well its sucking by testing it with your thumb, it should have a good vacuum draw to it, also make sure its not clogged up.
 
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