Mystery brake failure

I once agreed with a lot of posters that say it is not the brake booster. It really doesn't make sense to be a booster. As another poster said tough the failure is internal to the booster and causes the pedal to feel long and soft. In my case the brakes would engage with good bite and as I stayed on the pedal the braking force would decrease. Made the car feel like it is on roller skates - would just not slow down consistently.
 
Roebling is very easy on brakes and easy on the curbs.
Could be the booster but as noted the usual symptoms are a hard pedal(no boost), or a very sof deep pedal( no vac relaese) with brakes dragging.

If the car has drum brakes, the wheel cyl could have backed off and or the adjusters might be backed off. MY drum brake cars do this, resulting in a deeper pedal.
Pad knock often results in a slight pull side it side as one brake may not be knocked back.

Snug the front bearings, check the rear cylinders, bleed the brakes.
Check for the brake lines running near something hot . That can cause a very deep or no pedal also. Many cars have the front brak line running across the firewall , if the line gets hot, the front brakes will not work well and the rear will lock.
 
I would say that with the age of cars we are dealing with, going ahead and replacing the booster is not bad insurance either way..............
 
For what it's worth, the new booster did in fact cure the problem. Brakes were not the excuse for my poor lap times at the ARRC :)

Thanks all for your help. I'd have never thought to swap the booster given the symptoms.

Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top