brakes,froze?

[pack84]

has anyone ever had this prob?,my brakes feel like they are froze,real hard to push brake pedal.till the car really warms up going down the road?anyone else experiance this with a C4?

 

[kenmack]

POWER BOOSTER

Have a mechanic check the vacuum supply to your power brake booster, or possibly the booster itself is toast,or close to it.
Good luck!!!!

 

[doublefoxed]

Sounds like the booster is on the way to the trash. But before you
go junking it make sure no vacum leak... However if it had a leak you
would be able to tell by how the car idles. Even a small vacum leak would
be noticed on idle..

 

[pack84]

the brakes are fine after the car warms up ,and only when we see outside temps around 40 or below does this happen,Still booster?

 

[tonylong]

Very odd. I just read of many Jeeps having this exact problem on a Jeep Forum. The consensus was that it's just something that happens on colder weather. However I've not had it happen on either Vette or Jeep. Other things yah, but not that.

 

[kenmack]

cold weather problem

The diaphram and or your vacuum hoses are a lot more rigid and less inclined to "seal" in colder weather.This could be why it shows up when colder.

 

[tonylong]

The diaphram and or your vacuum hoses are a lot more rigid and less inclined to "seal" in colder weather.This could be why it shows up when colder.

That makes sense. especially on an older car where the soft stuff is getting a little "hardening of it's arteries" anyway. just like us. I wonder if a little beer would help. It helps me.

 

[kenmack]

No Kidding

Beer is actually a great temporary fix.
Weird thing is it's never a permanent fix,and when the hangover fades the problem is still there.

 

[CorvetteArchives]

The diaphram and or your vacuum hoses are a lot more rigid and less inclined to "seal" in colder weather.This could be why it shows up when colder.

I absolutely believe this is the problem. Mine has been doing this since I bought my 84 about 17 years ago.
I originally thought it might be a leak in the booster or perhaps because the 84 booster is metal-some sort of condensation problem (especially since they went to plastic booster in 85). I had a trustworthy mechanic check it out and it was "fine". No vacuum leaks either. Fresh fluid and still the same thing. I did notice that the problem is less noticeable since I replaced my rubber brake hoses with the stainless/teflon.

But still, the colder it gets the longer it takes to work properly. It might be just 5 feet or it might be 15...kinda unnevving when backing up thats for sure! I've gotten into the habit of anticipating the momentary lack of brakes and try to warm up the car and pump the brakes a couple times just as I start moving. They always HAVE worked eventually!

 

[G Winter]

I would suspect a problem in the anti lock system . Maybe the self test is malfunctioning. I know my 90 does the self check in about the first 10 seconds or less from initial move.

Glenn