Brake issues

MSwen22780

Registered User
Greetings,

I have some strange brake issues, It started with having hard brake pedal late last week. Narrowed it down to a bad accumulator. Ordered replacement from spinning wheels, which most places that used to sell them new, don't any longer. Installed new accumulator Monday night and all has been well. Heading home from work last night, stopped for a red light at an intersection and smoke was roaring from under the hood. Stopped to check and found brake fluid appears to have purged from the reservoir??? Then the brake and anti lock light came on before I pulled over into a parking lot. Shut the car off and checked the level, it was extremely low, but not empty. Started the car and continued my venture home with no further issues. Added a little fluid this morning and heading to work, both lights came on and had no brakes, so was careful continuing to work. I haven't checked the level yet, but wondering if anyone would have some insight to my problems. According to the documentation that came with the accumulator, there is no bleeding that needs to be done, but it makes me wonder. Thanks for any help in advance.
 
I never needed to bleed the system when replacing an accumulator. I have done it twice now. I wonder if you got a bad one? Can you trace the source of the fluid? Was it leaking from the connection to the MC?
 
Thanks for the quick reply, this the best site on the web. Thats the weird thing, I can top off the level and pump the brake with no visible leak. Looking the highest spot where there is oil and it seems to be coming from the fill cap.
 
I've seen them bubble out the top cap....

But only when hard braking occurs.....

Are all your lights still on.....
 
After about 10 min, the lights went out and normal brake operation returned. I haven't had to do any hard braking since the install of the new accumulator.
 
Two things - One, fire the motor up, and with someone inside to press hard on the brake pedal, look at both the ARC switch on the proportioning valve (the block UNDER the ABS unit that has a line from the ABS block, a line to the back, and a switch) - if that switch is leaking, you have two choices. The right switch is approx. $100 at RockAuto, but you can use a brake light switch from a Conti (the difference is that the Conti switch turns on with any brake pressure, the original takes something like 400PSI of brake line pressure to turn on).

Another thing is to check the pump motor, and see if it's leaking any.

RwP
 
If it wasn't leaking/losing fluid before, and it is now, it sounds like the o-ring on the accumulator may not be happy.

• Did the new accumulator have a new o-ring on it? Did you put it on with the o-ring wet or dry (I say wet)?

• Did the old o-ring come off with the old accumulator? Did you check the mating surface to be sure it was free of debris before you put the new accumulator on?

I had a leak one time (couple weeks after changing out the accumulator) and thought it was the hyd motor/pump, but it turned out to be just the o-ring - I replaced the o-ring and it's been fine since.

I'd start there...
 
Here is my latest findings....

Pump comes on after 7 or 8 hits of the pedal, runs for a bit and shuts off, like it should. Start the car, pump the brakes, after about a dozen pumps, both antilock and brake lights come on and the pedal is stiff. Fluid is somehow pushed back up into the reservoir and runs everywhere, hence why I was getting a "leak". Im not sure where to go from here or what the problem might be. If I let the car sit for a bit, brakes return. Almost like the thermal swtich is doing its thing. Talk about frustrating.
 
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