Brake Woes!!

[Necaras]

Hi,

 

I'm having brake problems with my '95 Monte Carlo Z34 Auto/FWD.

 

Here's the symptoms:

 

- Brake pedal is somewhat ok for first press, and gets harder with every successive press.

 

- ABS light turns/stays on. (I have a code reader, but it doesn't do ABS codes!)

 

- Vacuum reading is 16 in-Hg steady.

 

- No leak in vacuum hose or in check valve.

 

- If I start the car with the brake pedal depressed, the booster appears to kick in and the pedal sinks further. The ABS light will also turn off, and will turn back on when I release the brake pedal.

 

- The booster appears to be air-tight; I ran the car for a while to charge up the booster, turned it off, waited a few minutes, and the brake pedal was ok for first press, and got harder after several presses.

 

I have a mechanic telling me that the ABS 'problem' is affecting my braking system. But I thought that the braking system is disabling the ABS...and that a disabled/non-functioning ABS system shouldn't affect the conventional braking system?

 

What do you guys think?? Could it be a partially collapsed vacuum hose? I don't want to pull the booster without knowing for sure, since I'd have to remove the intake manifold cover in order to get the booster out!!

 

I also don't want to get 'hosed' by the mechanic on account of a hose. :>

 

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

Necaras

[Aaron]

I'd replace the brake booster line, it runs from behind your plenum to your brake thingy beside the throttle body. It is cheap, just rubber hose.

 

Your's might be cracked or kinked. How is your car's idle?

[Necaras]

The idle is actually quite rough...I'll replace the hose and see what that does.

[Aaron]

I bet that could be causing a lot of your problems.

 

If the hose had a hole in it or was off the nipple, then it would idle right around 2500. Mine did. With open headers :oops:

[WhiteOut]

If the ABS light is on I'd guess its your accumulator ball. I had the same exact problem with my Trofeo, after about a day of driving the pedal got so stiff that it was impossible to even move it. Obviously I pushed things too far so not only did I have to replace the accumulator but I had to replace a pump of some sort too since I burned it out in the process of being a dumbass. Long story short, $1100, about $700 of which was in parts alone.

[Necaras]

Correct me if I'm wrong....but doesn't a brake system have a power booster OR a pump/accumulator system, not both? I'm pretty new at this stuff, so bear with me here. I wasn't even aware that my car HAD an accumulator, not to mention where it's at and what it looks like. My car has the ABS unit attached to the side of the master cylinder, which is in turn attached to the booster...but I don't see any bulb-like object in there that might resemble an accumulator. I'll check the owner's manual to be sure. Thanks for the tip.

 

What's a Trofeo?? :>

[Necaras]

Update: I replaced the booster vacuum hose, and that seems to have fixed all of my brake problems. Good, cheap fix :>

 

BUT...the ABS light still turns on after driving for a couple minutes...no idea why. It used to stay on when the car is started before I replaced the hose...now it seems as though it's unhappy about something else. I guess I can't do much more without a code reader for ABS codes.

[cutlassdude96]

a Trofeo is a Oldsmobile Toronado model