Intermittent Loss of Power Brakes

CMac89

Registered User
For a while now, my car has flashed the ANTILOCK and the BRAKE lights whenever I pressed the gas pedal and then they would go away. If you slammed on the brakes, then the pedal would get hard for a second and then go to the floor. A few days ago, I lost power breaks and had a hard pedal, but the car would still stop with some leg into it.

Soooo, I finally bought an accumulator, put it on today, and it didn't make a difference until I drove it for a little bit. Whenever I was going down the highway, I got the pedal back, and then I slammed on the brakes to test for the momentary hard pedal. It stopped better than it ever had, so I know the accumulator I had on it was bad, and the one I bought was definitely better. The lights went out about 30 seconds after that and I thought I was good.

I was driving to AutoZone, from school, and both lights came on and stayed one, but the pedal was still working well. I stopped at an AutoZone about twenty minutes later, came back to the car, started it, and didn't have any power brakes, again.

Taking a stab in the dark, I'm going to guess that the ABS motor is bad. I figured that I could try to jump the motor to see if I can get it to run. I'm open to suggestions, though. What do you guys think?

Thanks, in advance.:)
 
>For a while now, my car has flashed the ANTILOCK and the BRAKE lights whenever I...

Once the lights appear under those circumstances, the countdown to other issues begins. Best to start repairs asap when this happens.

>...going to guess that the ABS motor is bad.

Sounds like you've taken the 1-2 ABS punch.

Accumulator goes, causing the hydraulic motor to work overtime. Left like this long enough, the motor can/will overheat (it does have a 20 second overheat trip circuit, I believe). If this happens enough, it can push the motor over the edge and fail.

Might be time to find another entire unit.
 
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yep, thats kinda the boat im in with mine - however sometimes adding brake fluid brings the brakes back for a few days

its developed a leak somehow now -i've stopped driving the car, except to move it, so i can work on my other junk

i no longer drive it cause i hate that feeling you get...when the brakes arent there

you dont want to end up in a wreck and hurt the car, let alone you or some-one else

i'll be going the non-abs route very soon - been to busy on other projects

but yeah you should park it till you can fix it
 
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