2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission No brakes problem

[Traveler]

Yesterday I was coming down a long, steep mountian in Co. No trailer attached. Got to the bottom of mountain and the brake pedal went to the floor! Brake and ABS lights both on. I pulled over and kinda coasted to a stop. Looked under the hood for a vacum leak or something. Everything seemed to be ok. A few minutes later started the engine and took off. Brake pedal was ok, ABS and brake lights out??. The brake pedal going to the floor seems to me to be master cyclinder problem, but usually it does not go away? What am I missing?



Thanks

 

[Joe G.]

Were you using your brakes a lot? You may have boiled your brake fluid if you were on the brakes a lot on a long down hill.

 

[Ron Bissett]

Do not use the truck until you fix the brakes , Bleed and refil the system ,fallow the book or have some one that knows and will help you or go the the steeler or other shop . keep posting . Ron Bissett in LOUISVILLE KY.

 

[Bhale]

Traveler,

I agree. Don't drive it till you get the problem solved. Intermittent brake problems mean Intermittent disaster. Personally i'd flush and fill the fluid as a first step and keep an eye out for contaminents like rust and water. Did you just recently need to add a bunch of fluid to the master cylinder? If it gets too low you can get a large air bubble in the lines.





Bye the way, i see in your sig you have a large gas tank. Doesn't it run on diesel? :-laf :-laf :-laf Just razzin you!



Keep, us informed!

Brian

 

[FBFISH]

Traveller- I had a similiar problem and read somewhere on this list or the TDR that the rubber vacuum hose which feeds the booster gets mushy from oil after a while. When this happens, you lose the boost, and it feels like you can not stop the vehicle. I tow a 10,000 lb load, and it does get your attention. I was concerned enough about the problem that I checked to see if there were any TSB on this problem and found out there were. Dodge has added a check valve at the vacuum port, and they will sell you a kit which has the check valve and a new vacuum hose. I bought the kit and later found out my truck already had the check valve. I did not like the looks of the hose Dodge supplied, so I got some better hose at NAPA. Have not had the problem since. BTW, the hose I removed was mushy and would colapse under vacuum. HTH

 

[Missouri Mule]

If were using your brakes a lot coming down, it could of been brake fade.

Have your brakes been sticking?



Being a 95 and apparrently you pull a trailer your front brake hoses mite be getting weak.

If these brake hoses get warm they tend to collapse keeping brake fluid pressure on pistons. Then when you really neeed the brakes you don't have them.

 

[dan_gilson]

My dad had the same problem coming down the grapevine on I-5 in CA. He temporary boiled over.



You really need to do two thing: Bleed the system with new fluid and possible change your braking habits. My dad was getting on and off the brakes frequently. This is a no no. We talked with a neighbor who was a retired big rig operator and he recommended that you never fully come off the brakes. I had long seen truckers seem to rid their brakes that thought it was crazy. Here is what I found out:



What we believe happened in my dad's case was, he crystilized the pad surface because of the frequent heating and cooling cycles. This reduces the friction coefficient of the pads so that they have to work harder next cycle. If you ride the brakes slightly so that the pads are still in contact (and they stay warm but not hot) you eliminate the crystilation.

 

[Bob Cochran]

Pumping the brakes will let oxygen in and can cause a fire. Does not happen very often but has. Hey if you have mag wheels, and we don't, get them burning and you will not be putting them out.



You don't really apply brakes hadly just almost just lay you foot on the pedal enough to keep them warm all the way. Best bet is exhaust brake a lot of us gear down and us the brake and hardly use the brakes. The only way to go!!!

 

[Traveler]

Update on brakes. I have put about 800 miles on them since I had the problem. The problem has never returned. Thanks for the replies though. Some of the replies miss understood my symptons, I know what brake fade is... . you apply the brakes but no stoppie. You still have brake pedal, the pedal dosen't go to the floor. My problem was that the pedal went to the floor with NO resistance at all.



Anyway thanks

 

[dan_gilson]

As mentioned before: That is a symptom of a temporary boil over. It is really important that you replace the brake fluid in the system by bleeding the old stuff out! If you do not the next time you get them hot it will happen again. Not stopping when you want to is no fun!

 

[Big John]

Traveler, look at the vacuum line that runs under the battery on the driver side. I had this symptom and it turned out to be the battery acid eating away at the line under the battery. This line also feed s the cruise control. It will stop working when the line gets bad enough.



Just a thought. The extra demand on the system by the mountain may have shown the problem that is not there in normal driving because the vacuum pump can keep up with the leak.



Big John