I have two problems, both intermittent and my mechanic cannot seem to fix them.

1st one that popped up was a brake fade type issue. I usually have good brakes, with no problems. Every now and then they act up. They work as normal for the first 50% of pedal movement, but under hard braking the last 50% of movement adds no extra stopping power. The pedal goes down easy and is mushy. They will act like that for awhile then go back to normal. No rhyme or reason to when and where it acts like this. I put it in the shop and my mechanic replaced the master cylinder, but it did not change anything.


2nd problem is also intermittent, more so than the first. It will drive along just fine then start pulling to the right fairly significantly. Under braking, it pulls HARD to the left. The first time it did that, the front end started shaking a bit then got progressively worse. As if the front wheels were horribly out of balance. This happened on the way in to work. The next morning, it drove home just fine. I took it in to the shop and they replaced one caliper saying it had seized. Ran fine for a bit then started doing it again without the shaking part. I dropped it off again but they found nothing wrong. Then over the weekend it did it again with the shaking and everything for a bit then cleared up and ran fine.



If anyone has any clues as to what this might be I would greatly appreciate a few clues.

Thanks in advance.

 

Soft pedal issue
When is the last time you bled your brakes, changed fluids etc.....id be checking there first...air bubbles are annoying but an easy fix, if you have junky old dirty fluid it will boil much faster...making the bubbles worse.

the pulling issue Sounds like a caliper issue.
if its pulling hard left i would say that the front left caliper is working and the front right is not (or the front right is normal and the front left is freezing)
do yuo ever see the inside of your wheel looking wet (aka leaking brake fluid)
id pull the caliper off and see how the piston moves or if it gets stuck.
if you had to replace one id probably go ahead and replace the other caliper.

look at the pad wear rate, is it even...insides more then outsides etc (that hints at caliper going bad)

if those dont work id start looking at the abs for the soft pedal, my old audi had an abs sensor that worked randomly and id almost loose braking because the abs was turning on...till i snipped the wire haha.

hope this helps.

Edit:
One more thing to check is the wheel bearings....if its bad it can make the car lurch and would explain some of the shaking.....for the shaking another would be to look at the rotors for any cracks.

 

They bled the brakes when they replaced the master cylinder and I still had the occasional mushy feel.

They replaced the caliper after it started pulling, and it still happens sometimes.

Is there a way to temporarily disconnect the ABS? I know on Crown Vics you can pull the fuse.

 

most likely there is a fuse, check for it in the manual for your abs pump....i would also have them check your wheel bearings (or if you know how do it yourself) that can cause a wheel to spin faster than another and really mess with abs
granted this is mostly race car knowledge but should apply to the ex as well