No brakes! Need help bad!

matt89sc

Registered User
I was driving home last night, when my brake and anti-lock warning lights came on. I still had good brakes and continued on. Next thing I knew, my pedal was hard as a rock, and it wouldn't do much at all to slow me down. I made it home, but as I was pulling into the driveway, the "dummy" lights went out. I backed out and had my normal brakes again. If I tapped the brake pedal, the red light would flash, followed by the yellow anit-lock light, but they still worked.
This morning, it was the same thing. They went out and then came back again after about 15 minutes of driving. The car has 155,000 miles on, so I'm guessing the ABS system might be going back? Anyone want to explain the accumulater setup for me? But would it cut out and then come back again? Might there be a relay sticking? Thanks for any help!
 
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you may also want to check the ignition switch. I had similar problems with may 35th, and it all turned out to be the ignition switch had came lose and needed to be glued into place.
 
Man the same exact thing happened to me about six months ago, and it was some sort of gadget that I cannot remember the name of. It is a gadget in the brake system, and I feel stupid because I just told the dude at ford to replace it and it costed over $75.00 whatever it was. My brakes were solid as a freaken "ROCK" until they replaced this thing. It is NOT electrical in nature that I remember, and it is somewhere under the master cylinder behind the engine. I know that fluid flows through it too. Sorry that I could not be more clear man.
dirtybird91:(
 
off topic

Matt,

do you have any bigger pics of your intercooler mounted?
Also, how much more of a performance gain did you see when compared to the stock IC

Sorry this is off topic.

Thanks,
Jonathan
 
Sounds like the ABS pump relay. Passenger side firewall below the test ports and wire bundles. Its the brown relay. P/N is R647.
 
Boostman23,
I'm confused on how the ignition switch would mess with the brakes, if possible could you explain that a little more? I have had the car do nothing when I hit the key, but then start again on the next try so maybe?
I replaced the brown relay, still nothing. SO, I pulled the entire Master cylinder/ABS pump from my '89 parts car and did a swap. Still nothing. My '89's brakes worked fine when parked, and I transfered everything from the ABS computer, to the system itself. I thought maybe it needed to be bled after the swap, but I'm still not getting any fluid to the rear calipers. When I had someone turn the key on, I could not feel the accumalator pump turn on or even move. It felt warm to the touch, but I couldn't feel it move at all. I am getting power to both of the fuses for the ABS. I pulled the 4 prong connector that plugs into the ABS and with the key on there was power to 2 of the prongs. This is not the bottom plug that attached to the ACC. pump. What else is there? Would the rear brakes pads being too thin cause the censor to tell the whole system to shut down? I really need my car and am flipping out. If everything is different, why do I still have the same problem. Thanks for any info!!

Jonathan,
I added the intercooler setup along with a most of the major mods in the sig, so I can't say how much it helped my car, but on the car it was built for, there was a noticable difference.
 
it is in fact your ignition switch, i believe
1989 XR7 did the same thing, and as you know that is the same car....pretty much. Take it to ford and they can replace it for under 100 dollars. If you have the ride control that stuff screws up some of the time when the ignition switch is screwed up
 
well, i had the same problem a few months ago. fortunately for me it was just because the vacuum assist hose had popped off. however, i was unfortunate because the reason the line popped off was because the motor mounts tore and the motor dropped.
 
Matt,

if you remove the steering column covering to expose all of the wiring that is in after the steering wheel you will notice that where your key goes there is a long connector. This connector has points in it that need to line up correctly in order for all of the electrical items to work correctly. On my anny I noticed after my brakes went out that if I turned the key slowly there seemed to be two points that supplied power to different parts of the car. I looked at the ignition cylinder(?) and noticed that one of the retaining tabs had broke, cause the slide mechanism to not come in contact fully with the rest of the assembly. I glued the connector into the assembly and had no futher problems with it.

This may not be your problem, but this is what I experienced. I think also that if you take 10mins you will know if this is the problem or not.

I will try to find a diagram of what I am trying to explain.
 
Well, I'm going to put a new one in just for the fact that I have nothing else to try. But the reason I don't think its in the ignition switch is, I'm getting power to the relay and to the pump. If it was the in the switch I should be getting anything that far into the system should I? But I've already got the steering column loose and since Ford's switches are supposed to be faulty anyway I'm going to try it. Thanks again, and if you have any more ideals, PLEASE keeep them coming!
 
Boostman23,
What are those special torque bits that hold the switch on called? Any ideal on where I can get one? It looks like a size 30 bit, but the screw has a nipple which means I'll need a bit that is hollow.
 
I believe wreckless is right, but that is why I choose to just glue it, as I did not have access to the correct tool, and I needed my car to fixed that night. Never had a problem with after that, so I left well enough alone.
 
Well, the bit is a size 27 star bit, as called by "Great Neck" tools. New ignition switch, but still no brakes. But, thats one more thing I know its not now.
 
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