Hard Brakes, Car barely moves on acceleration

[Emergint]

Hi - I was driving home from work a several days ago and all of a sudden my brakes would barely go down - the car was still braking but it was very disconcerting. I was in heavy traffic and going slow and tried to make it a mile or so down the road but as i continued to drive, it also became difficult to accelerate - like something was holding the car back. I eventually pulled over and walked the rest of the way to where i was going.
I returned about two hours later planning to have it towed but when i started it it drove fine.
I had my brake pads replaced a few weeks ago so i thought maybe id drop it off there which is 20 miles away by where i work, so i decided to see how far I could get and I got all the way to work - no problems - everything normal. I was late to work so i didn't get around to taking it in. I drove home and back and forth to work the next day - so I drove about 80 miles before it happened again.
So yesterday i was driving along and it happened again - hard brakes - feels like something is pulling the car back - I had to pull over within a few minutes. I left it where it was for a few hours and then when i went back it worked fine again! Tomorrow is Monday and I'm debating if i will drive it to work.

Who knows whats going on? I have read that hard brakes has something to do with a booster and vaccuum lines but I haven't seen anyone say they also had problems with the car feeling like it's being held back on acceleration. Does this sound like an expensive fix? I'm worried the mechanic won't be able to replicate the problem so hopefully he can just see something when looking at the parts.

Could this be related to the brake pads being replaced or the rotors being shaved down?

[shorod]

It sounds to me like the issue is unlikely due to the recent brake job and more likely due to an engine issue that is causing the engine to either misfire or idle issue and the vacuum is getting so low that the power assist to the brakes is dropping. The brake power assist is provided by engine vacuum.

-Rod

[Emergint]

The engine seems fine though - no problems with idle - If what you are proposing is the case, would that also cause the car to feel like it's being held back on acceleration?

[shorod]

Well, kind of the other way around. If the engine vacuum were low, it would be due to the engine not running correctly, and so much so that I'd expect you would notice it not running well. It would either be running roughly and shaking or the engine speed would be quite low at idle. Does your Liberty have a tachometer in the instrument cluster, and if so, does the engine idle at a lower speed when it seems low on power versus when everything seems fine?

-Rod

[KateMiller]

If you think you have a break problem, I'd get it in to the dealer. It's one thing if you can't start your car, but it's another if you can't stop it.

[Emergint]

The engine seems perfectly fine.
I took it to the brake place that changed the brake pads - he thought the calipers were sticking and took them apart and cleaned them for $80.
Last night which is only two days later, it happened again on the highway at rush hour! The rims on the front of the car were really hot. Basically the brake gets really hard and then it becomes more and more difficult to accelerate until it just won't go anymore. I pulled over out of the way and after about a half hour, it cooled off and i was able to drive home.
The mechanic is coming to get it again today.

[shorod]

Ahhh, with the information that the front brakes get really hot, I now suspect the issue is a twisted or damaged brake hose. If the shop that did the brakes didn't properly support the brake calipers and just let them hang by the brake hoses, they hoses may have collapsed inside so they are acting like a 1-way valve and keeping the brakes applied. While new hoses likely wouldn't get damaged this easily, if the shop let the calipers hang by the hoses or twisted them during installation, they were negligent. However, proving that would be very difficult unless they happen to admit to it.

-Rod

[Emergint]

ok - good to know thanks.
That mechanic didn't show up to pick my car up yesterday until 830 pm at night - i thought he was going to get it in the morning! he was so unclear about everything. i got home at 7:30 and he still hadn't picked it up so i didn't want the keys sitting in it over night so I took them out and then of course he showed up late and i missed his call!
He didn't even drive it when the triple A guy dropped it off - he just
cleaned the calipers because thats what the triple A guy said he thought was wrong.
i'm thinking this guy is super lazy.

Also when I went to pick up my car, i saw my jacket that I had been missing for a month - I had been looking for it everywhere! I guess i left it there when he changed the brake pads.
Anyway my nice jacket was all dusty and being used as a tarp to cover the engine on some old ass car!

I'm just going to take it somewhere else - I don't feel like this guy is putting much diagnostic effort in.
Plus i hate how he answers the phone.
LAZY
I'm enjoying taking the bus for a few days.

To be continued....

[shorod]

Yeah, if he's that lazy, it seems very likely that he wouldn't take the time to properly hang the brake calipers and very likely just let them dangle by the brake hoses. I wouldn't be surprised if the new place you take it wants to replace the brake hoses and flush the brake fluid.

-Rod

[Emergint]

Update #1 on my car saga:

I took the car to a guy down the street from me at a place called Dad and Me Auto which had good Yelp reviews. He did some kind of diagnostic test and said a trouble code was coming up which indicated that the transmission was overheating and the fluid was dirty. So he totally flushed and changed the transmission fluid and filter and said he blew compressed air through the lines. The bill was $428 which a couple friends said seemed pretty expensive.


Update #2
So i thought the car was fixed and it drove fine for about a week. Then on Thanksgiving day, it seized up again. AAA came to get it and the guy seemed to think it was something with the brakes sticking and that I was charged too much for the transmission job. In talking with this guy for a while (we had to wait for a different type of tow truck) - I remembered that almost 2 months ago, my roommate borrowed my car when I was out of town and told me she accidentally added Power Steering Fluid to the Brake Fluid Reservoir. She said it wasn't much and since nothing was going wrong with the car at the time, I didn't feel there was much I could do about it and unbelievably forgot about it through all these problems. Now i am sure that is the issue! And it has circulated through the whole brake system! it has been almost 2 months.

I towed the car to the mechanic near my house, but since it was the holiday he wasn't going to be able to look at it for a few days and I needed to go to the grocery so i went and got it and it worked fine so it is at my house now. it seems to be able to go around 7 miles or so before it seizes up again.

So what do you think - is this going to cost a fortune? Should i go to the guy down the street who just flushed the transmission or should i take it back to the original guy who cleaned the calipers for $80?
Will it be fine just flushing the brake system and and bleeding the brakes or is the master cylinder and other parts going to have to be replaced?
It's getting pretty expensive - if it's going to cost too much more maybe i should just get another car!

[shorod]

Is the brake fluid still clear or does it have a color to it? Does your roommate have any idea how much power steering fluid she added? If not much, it probably won't have damaged anything and flushing the brake system may be sufficient. I doubt that the power steering fluid contamination would cause brake calipers to lock up, but since you know a foreign fluid was added to the braking system, I'd again suggest replacing the brake hoses along with the brake system flush and bleed.

-Rod

[Emergint]

She estimated about a 1/2 cup.

[Emergint]

Thanks for the info - how much do you think is a fair price to flush, bleed and replace hoses?
i've also read online about my cars symptoms and sometimes they blame the "brake booster". Any thoughts on that?

[shorod]

This is completely just a SWAG because I have never paid a shop to do this kind of work. I'd anticipate maybe $40 per brake hose, and plan on 4 hoses. Another $20 for brake fluid and maybe two hours labor to replace the hoses and flush (labor to bleed should be included in the labor rate to replace the hoses). So that would come out to approximately $360 - $400.

I wouldn't expect a faulty brake booster to cause brakes to lock up and remain locked. It would seem more likely to cause the opposite if it failed - a lack of power assist to the master cylinder, resulting in what seems like ineffective braking.

-Rod

[Emergint]

what if I just got it flushed and didn't change the hoses?