question about brake falure intermitant with strange sound 2003 tdi

[onewheel]

2003 tdi turbo wagon 56k mi..... good pads and rotors. clean fluid....?

hi thanks in advance for any help in diagnosis of this annoying prolbem. the noise started this winter and has slowly gotten worse. now every time brakes are applied the car makes a terible sound like you just ran over a giant woopie cushion. and car lurches like a 3 year old jumpped out in front of your car, giving you various amounts of pressure to the brakes and pedal feel. Ive never delt with this, either brakes work or they dont,....usually. but these brakes work but feel like I bought a u-go instead of a wolfsberg tdi. thanks again for any advice or help.

my thought is the abs is failing due to moisture (because the prolbem started in winter) on some i.c. or somthing like that I would be willing to bypass the abs if this would solve the prolbem. I dont actually like the way the car responds to agressive braking any way.

thanks D

[veedubmechanic]

pumpe duce or 1.9tdi

pop the hood when the engine is running and listen for any vacuum leaks (they sound like a little bissel) arround the airbox and driver side of the engine cover. Since diesels make very little vacuum the require a mechanical vaccum pump. Sometimes the vacuum hoses going to them break causing no vacuum to the brake booster and uneven pressure.

[onewheel]

well I disconnected the abs connectors and the brakes are great! the only down side is the abs light stays on. there is still one prolbem; if you pump the brakes they go soft, but if you just apply them they are quite firm with no fade. bit puzzled thanks for the tip on the vacuum leak Ill check tommorow,
cheers.
D