My brakes had very little stopping power one time this morning. I had already driven about 4 or 5 miles and was slowing down for a car that was turning left in front of me. I ended up pushing the pedal very hard with not much braking result. I pulled off onto a side road so, THANKFULLY, there was no wreck. I did hear a grinding kind of noise that, at first, reminded me of a transmission noise. Also, I am not sure that the brake pedal went all the way down, but I only thought about that as I was writing this. Brakes worked fine the rest of the way to work, no obvious leaks under the truck, road was clean and dry.
Has anybody else experienced this and what else should I check?

 

I had my brakes go out in a 1966 Mustang as I came up on a redlight at a major intersection. Luckily no one got hurt. The first thing I checked were my pants and determined they needed to be changed.

 

How many miles on your truck? Mostly stop and go -OR- Highway? Was this the first time your truck was driven in 2 or 3 days? I'm sure you have never replace any brake components since your truck is a 01. Did the ABS system modulate (pulsing in brake pedal) the brakes ?

Mark

 

23,077 miles. The brake pads were ok when I checked them at about 21,000 miles. My truck had been parked for 2 days (why do you ask?) The grinding noise I heard could have been the ABS pulsing, but I have felt that before and I did not recognize that as the culprit at first. I checked my brake fluid and it is about 99% full.

I think I'm going to have it towed in to the dealership because brakes should be absolutely dependable.

 

Back to the ABS thing... I have experienced a brief (much shorter than today's problem) decrease in braking force after I bounced over a bump, while braking. Maybe like the bump took some weight off the wheels and the ABS kicked in to keep them from locking, but then went right back to the requested braking force (much less than required to lock the tires) after the bump. Is this reasonable?

 

ABSOLUTELY- This has happened TWICE to me, once in a GMC and once in this SD. When you unload (like the bump you describe, or a railroad crossing for example) the front end, it acts like it's brakeless. The GMC experience happened on a rainy day in a 45 mph zone. I approached an intersection with a set of RR tracks just before the stoplight. The light turned yellow as I approached, and I hit the brakes while going up the RR approach. NO BRAKES. Couldn't stop and cruised through a SIX LANE intersection on a RED light. Fortunately, nobody had started yet.
So, you're not alone on this one.

 

Wheels,

A wise old mechanic once explained this to me. At first I thought he was full of BS, but try it and see what happens. Ever notice your brake rotors appearance after your truck has sat idle for 2 or more days ? Now if it has been raining in South Carolina like it has in Atlanta this could be your problem. After several days of sitting you rotors build up a film of oxidation, otherwise know as rust. The first time you apply your brakes afterwards you actually have to wear this film off. When the rust particles come loose and are trapped between the rotors and pads they act like bearings until the particles wear away. This causes a loss of braking ability. If you apply the brakes very lightly the first application you do nothing but loosen the rust particles. At the next application since the particles are loose you loose stopping power. In most cases if your first application (at speed not pulling out of the driveway) is medium to heavy the particles are worn away and you have no more problems. I know this sounds far fetched, but It holds true to my truck after it sits for 2 or more days. Something to investigate anyway.

Mark

 

The rust theory sounds believable, but I had already stopped, from speed, 4 times plus slowed down pretty good for 2 turns. Does this sound like enough to remove the rust build-up? It had been raining while the truck was sitting for a few days.

 

I would have thought the rust would have been off by the amount of driving you did. Since it's under warranty let Ford take a look.

Mark

 

It is at the shop now. I'll let you know what they find, but I can guess what they'll say.

 

Everybody say it with me...
"Could not duplicate problem"
It sounds like they did a pretty good job off checking everything (brake vacuum pressure, vacuum booster, test drives, etc). The service rep said that possibly it was a check valve that stuck, but who knows. I'll be sure to try to better observe the symptoms if it ever happens again. Hopefully it was a one-time thing!