Off and on brake failure...

[Sticky]

Ok, so I'm heading to a friends house and I hit the brake going down a hill and nothing happens and the pedal goes to the floor. I left off and push the pedal in again and the brakes work. I get there to realize that I had left the parking brake on and the light hadn't come on >_<. So we head out and i'm going towards an onramp and it does the same thing. The brakes have worked fine since the second incident.

Has this happened to anyone?

[Chapol]

Same thing happened to me last week. Entering a ramp at pretty good clip and the brake peddle went clear to the floor. I pumped hard 8 - 10 times before I got the car to stop. A gas station checked it out and found nothing wrong. I assume the problem starts with capital F.

[Paul Masley]

You did not say what year the vehicle was. If it is a new model, look on the left rear axle suspension bars ans see if a weird looking brake line block is there. If so, this is the level sensor for the rear brake pressure. I have this damn thing on my 03 and it drove me crazy with a fading brake pedal. You could have the brakes applied and go around a sharp curve or hit a bump and the pedal would hit the floor.

The repair: Get the break adjustment tool from Snap-On and tighten the rear shoes up until you hear them drag on a complete spin. Then use the parking brake everytime you park the car. The parking brake is what adjust the rear brakes.

[Chapol]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out, even though this is a "company" car, driven by several different people. I believe it is an '02 or '03 model, with on 12,000 miles on it.

[Chapol]

PS, with a crazy set up like that, where you can lose the ability to brake, it sounds like Ford just started making cars. That's why I have bought Toyota's since 1986. My '90 Camry has 196,000 + miles and I never had a major problem, braking or otherwise. It just keeps going. Not to brag, just a fact.

[Froze_Tread]

the springs inside for rear drum brakes like to break way to often giving th above effect and usually a grinding noise of the spring being ground down.