Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: Pedal Slowly Begins To Fade Towards Floorboard When Holding The Brakes
Mar 29, 2009
I have a 2003 F-150 4x4 with cruise control and 4-wheel disc. When I am at a stop light for a while, when holding the brakes, the pedal slowly begins to fade towards the floorboard. I have replace two master cylinders, the original and a reman and then put on a new Motorcraft one...all providing the same problem. I have been told by dealerships that it is my imagination or that this is a "normal" problem. Having my truck roll at a stop light while the brakes are applied is not normal.
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Last week my brake pedal started going to the floor when I stopped, it still stopped and felt fine on the top half of the pedal travel but then it would just slowly fade to the floor. I took it to a local shop and they said the master cylinder was leaking internally and my rear brakes were shot. I have 75,000 miles and the rear brakes were original so I told them to fix it. This is basically what I expected it to be.
They kept thinking they were getting defective master cylinders but after the two Napa parts and two Carquest parts they realized they misdiagnosed it and said I needed to take it to the dealership. I paid for the rear brake job since it needed done anyways and have an appointment for next week at the dealership. What might be causing the problem? I see no brake fluid leaks, no vacuum leaks, the booster was replaced 25,000 miles ago due to noise, no ABS light on, no CEL on, no other symptoms.
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I have a 2000 SCrew KR F150. A couple of weeks ago I noticed the brake pedal was slowly going to the floor while at a red light. I pulled over and popped the hood checked the fluid reservoir. It was full, so obviously no wheel cylinder issues or fluid loss. I haven't had a chance to tear into it yet.
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I bought a 97 f150 4x4 last week. I was cleaning the frame up with a wire brush on a grinder and accidently cut one of the front brake lines. Seeing how this truck has only 100k on it and all oem stuff on it, I decided to replace the front brake components, calipers, pads, rubber and steel lines. Got it all back together and bleed the air out of the front brakes. But the pedal still goes to the floor. I can pump them up with the key off but when i turn it on the pedal goes to the floor. I did not bleed the back brakes becasue I assumed that the master cylinder would be divided and independent of each other- back and front. So it this just that the back brakes needs bled or do I have another issue like bad booster- everything was working well before I cut the line?
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1987 F-350 460 Auto Trans. Brake Pedal slowly going to the floor. Stopped at a red light yesterday on a slight down hill and I noticed the brake pedal slowly going to the floor. I had to put the truck in Park to avoid bumping into the car in front of me. I checked brake fluid level and still at the full level, check rims for brake fluid leak from brake cylinder, none. Could my master cyclinder need rebuilding or is my vacume diaphragm going. Not sure thats what its called.
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So the other day I slammed on the brakes when traffic came to a halt on the highway. As I slammed down on the pedal, all the sudden the pedal lost pressure and went nearly to the floor, but firmed up just before bottoming out. My brake and ABS lights went on as well. Someone told me there is some kind of failsafe that blocks off the line if it ruptures, so maybe thats what happened? The brakes seem to work fine and are not loosing any more fluid, but the warning lights remain and the taillights do not light up.
So when I got home I took a look. On the fender side under the fuse box there was a lot of brake fluid, and looked like the line going from the master cylinder down to some kind of module (abs thingy?) below it was all rusted.
Today I replaced the line, and bleed the rear brakes. There did appear to be a ponhole in it, right where it would have been spraying the fender side where I saw all the fluid. The pedal is very firm right from the get go and brakes seem to be working fine. However the brake and ABS light remain, and my brake lights still dont come on when I press the pedal. Do I still have a leak somewhere or is there something else I have to do to clear the warnings and get my lights back?
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I just joined as I bought my '97 F-150 5.4 4X4 about 3 months ago. The dealer gave me a 6 month warranty but hasn't honored it at all and I've had one problem after another. That's another story though but right now I'm just trying to fix the important issues. The problem at hand are my brakes.
I was noticing a couple days ago (maybe I never noticed it that much as it was a new vehicle to me) that when I apply the brakes it sounds like a bicycle pump and the pedal travels nearly all the way down. It doesn't hit the firewall but I'd probably guess it has 3 more inches or less until it bottoms out. The hissing only occurs as the pedal travels and stops when the brake pedal isn't moving.
Now I'm not sure if the hissing sound is normal as I replaced the brake booster (from the junkyard though) and the new one still hisses when I apply brakes. The brakes seem to work okay, could be more sensitive it's just the pedal feels soft until it almost bottoms out like I stated before and the the brakes grab a little bit harder. What could it be?
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I have a 1997 F250LD 4WD. I was driving and came to a stop light. I hit the brakes and the pedal was rock hard with what seemed to be very little travel. I pushed hard to get to a stop and the abs activated and I came to a slow stop. This has happened about 3 times over the last 1000 miles of driving. I see no ABS or Engine lights. Most of the time the brakes are normal. Pads are fine, fluid is fine. Brake booster seems to work fine, pedal is not mushy or hard to press other than the 3 or so times this has happened. Once this happens I can let off the brake and everything is normal. I have not found any vacuum leaks.
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Have 65k now..OEM breaks. Never an issue.. going along today had to make a fast turn left into a parking area. Hit the brakes doing about 50 made the turn. Slowly found and kept rolling to a parking spot. Went to apply the brakes and found the pedal was rock hard. The truck kept rolling slowly. Pure luck I was were I was.. I tried to shut the truck down and restart. Still rock hard pedal in up position. No breaks.. not enough to stop at idle. Checked the brake fluid and it was fine. Went inside the store to grab the delivery and when I came back out I tried to work the pedal down.. I felt some give.. put it in reverse to check it out..(couldn't go ahead no room.) slowly the breaks came back. Has been fine since.. driving all over town today. No codes or engine lights.
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I have a 97 F250 that is having reoccurring brake issues, It has an intermittent hard pedal with little to no brakes when it occurs. It will stop but you are standing on the pedal with both feet. I have replaced the booster, master cylinder, and the vacuum pump in the past trying to isolate the issue and still had the problem. On this year model the abs ids only on the rear correct???? if it is shouldn't it only be affecting the rear brakes? Since this truck has a dual reservoir MC the front should still work?
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If this was my car or older truck I would know what the deal was. First hill I came down in my recently bought 2003 F250 the pedal pulsed a bit as I tried to slow down...is this the way ABS brakes behave? Never had them on a truck before...she stopped ok but don't know if they are warped or normal ...I'll pull wheels later (not a daily driver)...
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I have a '94 Honda Accord LX 4 cylinder with ABS. The brakes work fine until I press the ac compressor button, then they rapidly begin to fade, letting the pedal go to the floor. When I turn off the ac compressor, the pedal gradually firms up back to normal. If it was the booster, it would be hard to brake, but it's not. If it was the master cylinder, the pedal would be soft all the time as the cups can not magically regenerate when the ac is off. What's the connection with the ac compressor.
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I don't know what's going on maybe some body can shed a little light on this. If you hold the brake pedal down for a long period of time you can feel the pedal slowly go to the floor. So no problem I'll change the master cylinder bleed everything brand new fluid. Don't drive it much we let the sister in law drive it we'll I jump back into it the other day to go to Home Depot and once again I notice it still does it. Could the hydra brake booster be bleeding by or what's else could be causing this it's driving me insane. I really can't imagine the hydra booster causing a problem but it's new to me. I was thinking about bleeding the brakes again thinking there maybe there's air but I have run 2 bottles of brake fluid through how much more??
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I have an 1997 F150/4.2 V6/220,000 miles/4x2. During hot weather (over 90F) the engine slowly overheats. While driving on the interstate (from Indy to Fort Wayne), the coolant temperature shows normal on the gauge. Slowly the temperature gauge creeps up to close to the red area. I am running the A/C.
When I switch the heater on and the heater fan at max, the temperature gauge drops pretty quickly to a normal range. I switch off the heater and the A/C back on, then it takes 30 minutes for the temperature gauge to start rising again.
When I open the hood when the gauge shows close to the red area, the upper coolant hose has a lot of pressure (can not squeeze it), which would mean that the thermostat is open and the water pump is working. Also the fan is running fast.
The coolant was changed out a few weeks ago and the coolant level is at normal level when the engine is cold. At lower ambient temperatures, there is no overheating. I am puzzled what the problem can be. I am thinking of a restricted coolant flow.
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I've noticed that from any higher speeds (over 100kmh) if the brakes are hit hard, they will suffer from severe fade and are useless until they cool for quite a while. Second, I don't know if it is simply my accent, but I just had the front pads done last year (they only have maybe 10 000km on them) and the brake pedal has probably 3/4"-1" of travel before any real stopping power kicks in. My parents just bought an 09 accent and the braking performance is just soo much better! I want to know if there is any way to bring my 02 accent on part with that of newer models. Do the calipers/rotors/etc from an 06+ model year will fit the 02?
I really have a sponge of a brake pedal and really want something done about it and I will go as far as it takes to get better performance out of my brakes.
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What can cause shutter in 1998 f-150 4.6 4x4 4r70w when slowly accelerating?
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I have 1998 F-150 and the heater core was replaced 18 months ago. All was going well until about 2 weeks ago I noticed under heavy acceleration I would smell antifreeze. The smell would clear up and would not re appear for a day or so. Finally the other day when it was 8 outside I got in the truck and got about 5 miles from the house started up a hill and it was like a fog machine was mounted behind my dash the windows fogged up almost immediately so I figured great the core went bad again. Now the temperature has warmed up the last couple of days and there is nothing no fog in the cab the heater works fine just an occasional slight smell of antifreeze. Before I go through the trouble of tearing out the dash is there anything I should check I already checked the connections on the firewall and they were fine.
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I recently purchased a mutt of truck, a 97' F150 heritage w/5.4 Triton motor, 1/2 ton 2WD short bed.
Having a brake issue, the pedal keeps fading. I noticed it first while sitting in traffic on a down hill grade. I am holding the pedal and notice it starts to creep down slowly, I pump it up and it firms up then starts collapsing again. So general logic says hydraulics are loosing pressure right?....No leaks anywhere, so it must MC tight?
I have replaced the master cylinder, brake booster, and both rear wheel cylinders. Long story short they all needed it, truck has 265K+ on the body with 95K on the motor. The only thing I did not do by standard is bleed the MC on the bench, I installed and long bled starting with the right rear working my from longest distance to shortest (wheel speaking). So when bleeding I did of course get air coming out because of the new parts but I still have the same fade issue.
I am confident there is no air in the lines, I have bleed a quart of brake fluid through just to be sure. I have read a lot about proportioning valves and ABS stuff.
I will try and get some vehicle specific photos and attach have hit a road block with this. I am leaning towards the ABS valve thingy mounted on the drivers fender that has four lines attached (2 in and 2 out). Other than that it comes down to hard lines which have no leaks.
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With the hood open and the hood light bulb pulled out, measured the parasitic draw on their truck? I checked mine because it appears my battery is slowly discharging if the truck sits 3 or 4 days. I got 0.24 amps which seems in line with running the clock memory and the computer. I have a feeling the battery is shot even though it is only 3 years old. When I bought the truck it had a ton of yellow fuzz on the terminals. That is cleaned up and with it running I get about 14.35 volts at idle so it is charging. 0.24 draw??
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I Have A 2001 F 150 And I Have Just Noticed That On Cold Morning When The Temperature Is Below 35 That My Transmission Takes A While To Shift Into High. Sometime I Am Two To Three Miles Down The Road Before It Will Shift Into The Last High Gear. Is This Normal Or Should I Have This Checked Out? I Have 53,000 Miles On This Truck And Do I Need To Have The Fluil Changed An Serviced.
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Initially when I start driving, the brakes work just find. But it seems as I use the brakes, the front brakes build up pressure and slowly start to lock up. They don't lock up completely, but they do cause a significant amount of drag. The rotor, calipers, rubber hoses and master cylinder are all very new. I'm thinking maybe the issue is with the master cylinder and am considering going to get one along with a brake booster(since it doesn't have one currently).
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