Ford - Focus :: 2001 - Intermittent Pulsation In Brake Pedal
Aug 28, 2014
I noticed a pulsating feeling when I applied the brakes in my 2001 Ford Focus. I figure that it might be warped rotors, but after driving the car for a while, it seems to have dissipated. The car was sitting around for a few weeks. I read that it could just be rust buildup, but I feel that would require more than a few weeks of sitting around. Is there any way to check for myself, short of taking off the rotor?
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My Camry XLS have pulsation when brake pedal is applied. The pulsation get increased with the speed and very noticeable at 60 -70 mph.
Is it front or rear break issue ? If you think rotors has to be re-surfacesd should I also change pads ?
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My car is a 2004 Toyota Camry LE 2.4L. I've been having a brake pulsation problem with my car for few months. I feel the vibration on the pedal and also on the steering wheel when I brake at high speeds. And also I feel like the pedal goes too low and not responsive enough.
So I took the car to a local shop 3 days ago and they told me that the front rotors are bad and have to be replaced. They installed new Wagner front brake rotors and pads. But still I get the same problems described above. Today I drove on the highway and got the same vibration both on pedal and steering when I apply brakes.
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I have two Hyundais - 2011 Sonata SE and a 2008 Santa Fe Limited. here is my problem with the Santa Fe.
Brakes: Changed front rotors and pads - rear had the rotors resurfaced and installed new pads. Still get a lot of pulsation when stepping on brake pedal. Is there anything else I should be checking?
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Ever since I took my 18" wheels off for the winter and put the stock VW 16's with snow tires I have on multiple occasions almost rear ended the car in front of me when I experienced what seemed like a loss of brake pressure. The brake pedal did not feel spongy or anything but often in this situation the abs brakes seem to kick in for no reason. I feel a slight pulsation in the brake pedal which I can only assume is an activation of abs. I'm wondering if this slight pulsation (1 second duration ) is causing my brakes to be less effective. The pavement has been completely dry and I was not traveling fast enough, nor pressing the brakes hard enough to cause the tires to lock and trip the abs.
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Could my brake issue be related to my transmission problem? Neither are constant. Brake problem= sometimes the brake pedal feels hard, like there's no power brakes (I drove a car once. ..looong time ago. .. that had no power brakes or steering) but it will kick in after a short distance. Transmission prob= seemingly unrelated, is a problem shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. This has happened maybe a 1/2 dozen times, the first time and mostly when in heavy commute traffic and when going between 1st and 2nd gear because of the slow commute speed, but also at other times when not in lengthy slow commutes. When it doesn't shift, the odometer doesn't work (shows only dashes) and an engine light comes on (the sprocket/gear looking one). Usually the transmission will eventually shift and the light goes off.
I read that the brake problem might be a vacuum hose problem? Something about a booster? Is this dangerous? or is it like having a car w/ no power brakes? Going to have my transmission looked at this week. Read on another site about dropping valve seats on this year car. If there's a major transmission problem, I'm wondering if it's worth fixing? I changed, timing belt, water pump, front and rears brakes, tires. 143,000 miles.
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I had a front brake job done on a 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup at 85000 miles. When I stepped on the brake, I felt pulsation in the pedal and a sort of wobbly feeling in the steering wheel. Also the brakes were making noises while driving. Classical sign of a warped rotor?! Long story short brand new rotors, brake pads and calipers, later the pulsation is mostly gone but the braking is still not smooth at one point while the tires are turning. Now i do have to older tires on the front but i just bought two brand new tires for the rear. Would it be wise to put the new tires on front to see if there might be some unevenness caused by the old tires before i take it back to the shop?
Also the feeling of the brakes catching on one point seems non existent or so minimal I can not be sure if the road surface interfering while driving slow of applying the brakes gently. But slowing down from higher speeds (above 40 mph) and using more then gentle braking ( not standing on the pedal with both feet) it is definitely there. Before the brake job braking caused the steering turning right. (sign of more braking action on the right - right?). Now with new stuff still pulls to the right but not as strongly. Should not this disappear with the brake job? Or get the new tires on front and see what gives?
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I purchased a 2001 Ford Focus 7/17 from a Ford dealer. While my daughter was driving, at a left turn, the engine light came on, the car stalled, and the steering wheel and gas pedal locked up. A friend did a computer scan and said the code came back that 2 sensors, the crank shaft and cam shaft sensors, needed replaced. So we had them replaced.
About 4 days later, while driving home from school, on a right turn, the car broke down again on my daughter. She said the symptoms were the same, engine light came on, car stalled, the steering wheel and gas pedal locked up. So we had it towed to a local Ford service department. They said the ignition coils needed replaced and the valve cover gasket would eventually need replaced (per the mechanic, this wasn't directly related to the issue but a small leakage was found). So we let the Ford mechanic replace the coils and the valve gasket cover. They ran several tests and put 20 additional miles on the car without failures or issues, scans came up clean.
So while driving to school this morning, on a u-turn, my daughter experienced the issue again....car stalled, engine light came on, steering wheel and gas pedal locked up. After sitting a few minutes, the car started up so she drove it home and hitched a ride from dad to get to school.
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I'm having an issue with my brakes. It was very intermittent, but seems to be happening a little more often lately. 99% of the time they work fine.
I'll try to describe. (vaguely) It will sometimes feel like the ABS is engaging, get a very hard pedal and some pulsing feeling. Sometimes just the pulsing without the hard pedal. It will happen at random times. Today it did it in the driveway going 5 MPH. No reason the ABS should think of kicking in.
I feel confident to rule out anything downstream at the wheels. I am leaning towards the master cylinder, but maybe that's wishful thinking. Afraid it also could be something sticking in the ABS which I assume is $$$.
Brake fluid is 18 months old with maybe 20k on it.
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2008 F250 Crew Cab 5.4, 79K miles, had new brake pads installed at 40K miles. Recently, I noticed front end shudder and some pedal pulsation while braking. It started kind of sudden. My first thought was a warped rotor.
When I took things apart, I found passenger side front rotor was cracked and the caliper pistons were rusted and falling apart, the old pads were only worn about half way. My thoughts on a bad rotor were confirmed, and then some.
I replaced the broken caliper, both front rotors, installed new pads on all four wheels, and bled the brakes. To my surprise, the brake shuddering did not go away. I'm stumped.
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I have a 2013 sonata gls and I bought it new, it only has 4,000 km on it. I don't know if this has always happened and I am just noticing now or just all of a sudden occurred but when I was stopped at a red light today and I had my defrost on, (heat fan on) it felt like my gas pedal there was a slight pulsation that I could feel. I also noticed earlier in the summer when the ac is on it seems like the car pulsates as well or the engine just sounds rougher. It seems to go away when the ac or heater fan is on 0. Is this an issue or serious problem? Why this is occurring?
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I have been having troubles with my 2016 GTI clutch. There has always been a gritty/sandy feeling while disengaging/engaging from the first day.
On top of it, this weekend I noticed that there is a vibration/pulsation in the pedal at higher rpm (3000+), as this weekend my car was close to the break-in 1000 miles, so wanted to take it out for some spirited driving.
While shifting 2-3, 3-4 at 3000-4000 rpm, I can feel a rough pulsation in the pedal (no noise) when the pedal is around mid-way pressed.
I further experimented, to see if this happens in neutral, so parked the car with E-brakes, and then pressed gas pedal, and pumped the clutch. Have the same rough pulsation/vibration.
I took it to the dealer (right infront of my workplace), and they said this is normal, "you are just feeling the engine from your clutch"...
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One tech wanted to replace both rotors and sanding down the pads to re-use (he said my brake pads can last up to one year). The guy in auto part said the surface of brake pads having hard spots could cause the pulsation, replace the pads. Of course, replace both rotors and pads is recommended but I have tight budget! What options do I have? can I just machine the rotors?
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2001 Ex limited 4x2 w/50k miles-- The parking brake pedal will not depress...at all....not even a millimeter. Feels like it is "locked".
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My 2004 Ford Focus Hatchback has 152,000 miles on it. At the end of last year the engine started dying/stalling as soon as I started it - I would have to keep my foot on the gas to keep the engine going. I took it to the dealer and they put in a WHOLE NEW THROTTLE BODY. They also told me I needed a new battery and updated the car's software. Total $700. About a week to 10 days later, the car started doing the dying out after starting thing again - intermittently - didn't matter if the engine was hot or cold, fuel high or low, weather rainy, cold or clear and warm.
This morning I worked for 20 minutes to keep the engine going, made sure the engine was warm, and it STILL stalled out. I called in for a tow, called the dealer and said I'd be coming in, went back out to the car ... and it started right up without stalling. Drove it to the dealer and they've now told me they can't find anything at all wrong with the car. They are keeping it overnight to see if they can duplicate the stalling tomorrow morning. Any thoughts? The new throttle body cost me about $500 in December. (Don't know if it matters, but the defroster fan was super loud this morning, but once the engine was able to idle, the loudness disappeared ...). It's been a great car, but maybe it's time to start looking.
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I have a Ford Focus 2006 and when the weather is cool or cold when I start my car the gas pedal is stuck. I have to forcefully pump it several times before it will loosen and depress. I couple of times it froze will I was driving the car in traffic. Just recently I accidently hit the course control button and when I took it out of course control the gas pedal was frozen.
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I have a 2000 Ford Focus automatic dohc 157K. About two years ago, it started making a noise that has gotten progressively worse. It is very hard to describe. It sounds like an intermittent flopping noise that you would expect from a bad tire. What makes is strange, is that the sound is not consistent with the rotation of the wheels. It does however increase and decrease with speed, but again it's inconsistent with the wheel rotation. It does not roar, or whine like a bearing, and there is not popping noise you usually get with a bad CV joint.
It seems to subside when I turn to the right and become a little more pronounced when I turn to the left. I have new tires, a new axle and wheel bearing on the right (passenger) side of the car. The repair shop checked all of the bushings and bearings, and cannot hear the noise when it is on a lift. I also just changed the sway bar links and all the engine mounts. You can feel the floorboard bumping along with the sound, but it does not telegraph through the steering wheel. There is no shimmy or vibration.
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I bought my girlfriend a 2000 Ford Focus with 150k Miles on it to drive for the summer in Oregon. The car is physically in great condition with no noticeable leaks on it. After a week or so of driving, my girlfriend complained that a couple of times she would be driving the car and while going up a hill "nothing would happen" sometimes when she punched the accelerator. I asked her if the engine revolutions were going up and if the engine made a "vroom" sound (to try to see if the transmission was slipping) and she said it did not.
On a long trip driving from Seattle to Portland, she was driving again and we were climbing a long hill and she suddenly complained that "nothing was happening" when she punched the accelerator. She panicked and pulled off to the side of the road quickly. There was no shaking or vibration. I did not hear the engine wind up when this happened... so I am assuming the tach was not going up when she depressed the gas pedal. I opened the hood and looked inside and seeing nothing obvious, I switched to the drivers' side. No codes were thrown. I drove the car up the rest of the hill and to a flat area and we let the car cool off for a few minutes. I drove the car for the next 75 miles to Portland without event. When we got to her grandparents house, I changed the spark plugs (which were pretty fouled up), and changed the fuel filter (which actually looked pretty new.) and it seemed to satisfy her for awhile. Being that I havent experienced the issue, I just assumed she is not used to driving a small hatchback with a fairly wimpy engine.
In the meantime I had the entire front end redone, control arms, etc and alignment because she had had a slight shake...which is unrelated here but i figured I'd mention it. So, the other night she calls me on the side of the road, slightly shaken. Her latest incident was as such: at the bottom of an on-ramp to the highway, she punched the accelerator and "nothing happened" when she hit the pedal. This time the check engine light briefly came on, and the "OIL" light came on. She was able to pull off to the side of the road somehow and then pull to an exit. She turned the car off and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Here's the weird part: She started it up and claims she put it in "Drive" and pressed the gas pedal and nothing happened and the car actually started creeping backwards. She hit the brake and turned the car off. She started the car and drove away 5 minutes later without incident and drove it 20 minutes home. She said her gas was very low when this happened, close to the gas light coming on.
She took the car to a reliable mechanic in seattle the next day, and they said there was no issues and they thought the car was actually in great shape. Unfortunately no codes were logged and no codes have been logged at all! My only other weird observation about the car is that the tach seems to fall kind of quickly after acceleration... almost comically compared to my volkswagen 1.8 which has a gentle rise and fall to it. It kind of bounces up and down but the ride is smooth. Random, but i figured i'd mention it
Should she just make sure to keep the gas level above low/empty?Should a fuel pressure check be on the docket? The previous owner claimed the timing belt only had 25k on it, but he could have been lying.
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I noticed last week that my brake pedal seemed more spongy than usual. The next day the pedal would go down about half way to the floor before I had pressure. And then the next day the pedal would go straight to the floor. Pedal comes back up once released. I still have brakes pressure about an inch before the pedal bottoms out. Its been like this a couple days now. The vaccum pump works fine. I'm gunna try bleeding the brakes on it tomorrow.
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So, I think that my clutch pedal return spring broke yesterday in my Focus 07 Hatchback when I was at a stop sign. I let out the clutch and felt and heard something like a small cable breaking. Now the clutch still operates fine, but it is softer than before. If it is indeed that little spring, can I still drive it around for a few days until I can get it to the dealer?
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2002 santa fe gls v6. I recently brought the car used and it appears to be in great shape with 135,000 miles, however the car has issues which I'm hoping are minor. Here are my questions:
The brake light and battery light stay illuminated, can this be a bad alternator? Speaking of alternator there is a rattling sound coming form the alternator area, do the bearings go bad? If it is the alternator, does it matter if I use a 95 or 110 amp? Is the alternator difficult to replace?
There is intermittent jerking when in drive. Is it possible that a malfunctioning alternator not delivering proper voltage can cause this type of issue possibly affecting the system computer? Could the jerking be due to something else like crank position sensor?
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