Voyager Brake Problems?

[ollyspeed]

I've just bought a Chrysler Voyager 2003 SE, and I'm having problems with the brakes:
a. There is a long and inconsistent brake pedal travel (ie., it is spongy).
b. Sometimes the brake pedal sinks a bit, when sitting at the traffic lights, with a foot on the brake pedal.
c. The brakes make a crunching noise when coming to a stop.
d. The handbrake has to be pulled fully up (all 4 or 5 notches), in order to get it to engage.
e. Sometimes, when putting the brakes on, at high speed, the car feels as though it actually speeds up, a little bit, before it slows down again.
I took it the Chrysler service centre here in Perth, Australia, and they said: "We've changed the brake fluid, and cannot fault it!"
I'm totally gob-smacked, at the poor service I got.
Has anybody else had similar problems, with a Voyager?

[yogi_123rd]

The long/low brake pedal is related to the long handbrake travel. Your rear wheel brakes need replacing or servicing. Those brakes have an automatic adjuster which takes up the slack in the brakes as they wear and keeps the brake pedal travel down to a minimum. The adjusting system is a small cable and a star wheel adjuster. The cable typically can rust thru and the star wheel usually rusts up when it fails.

Crunching noises are not good. A brake spring may have fallen off and is gringing up. It could even be why the adjustor does seem to be working.

A sinking brake pedal can be either a sign of a leak, or a worn defective master cylinder. In your case, I don't think its either of these. If you correct the low brake pedal problem, this sinking pedal will probably go away.

I find it amazing a Chrysler service center could not diagnose basic brake problems. Even then, they usually do over kill and replace everything in the brake system.

[ollyspeed]

Many thanks yogi_123rd, for the information. I'm getting a 10,000km service done next week, so I'll try again to get the brakes fixed (at a different Chrysler service centre). Given that I have to wrench the handbrake up, and the brake pedal is spongy, I though maybe this was normal for Voyagers, but I'm glad to know it is not...Cheers.