My compnay owns a 2005 Freestar delivery minivan and we're having a problem with it. Van has nearly 250k miles, and the brakes have been spongy on it for a long time. Yesterday we had the rear pads replaced and the shop suggested to replace the master cylinder. When the job was done, pedal was still spongy, but somewhat better. One of my guys drove it about 10 miles today to another store, and called from there saying that he smelled something burning and that the rear brakes were getting really hot (smoking), especially on the driver's side. Drove van back to shop, diagnosed as stuck caliper, and had both rear calipers replaced, along with new pads and a new rotor, which were all destroyed by this. Picked up van from shop again, now pedal spongier (like before work was done) and now, if you hold on the pedal, it slowly creeps down to the floor. Master cylinder was a new, not a reman, part. Thinking the sponginess may be another bad cylinder, or may have somethng to do with possibly the ABS system. Also, possibly a brake hose having a weak spot and bulkging when pressure applied??

Wondering if anyone else has run into a problem like this on these vans, and is there something else we may be overlooking?? Have it scheduled to get looked at by a different shop tomorrow, but trying to get input on things for the shop to check. Thanks for any info.

 

Brakes need to be re-bled and check all soft lines. Better yet replace all the soft lines.