Soft brake question

[ratdude747]

Question: I’ve noticed my wife’s 2003 Taurus seems to have a soft brake pedal.

Normally I’d think this would be air in the brake system… but AFAIK nothing has been recently done to the brakes. I also am not aware of any line leaks (last I checked it wasn’t loosing fluid).

Due to the lack of an air source, would this mean a failing master cylinder? The only other thing I can think of is an ABS valve issue, but IIRC that issue is limited to Kelsey-Hays RWAL systems (this has 4 wheel ABS).

Suggestions?

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Well” post=144974]heat up the drum with a oxy acetylene the try.[/quote]

I strongly recommend against this practice.^

That said, the puller that was mentioned is probably your best option. Perhaps you can rent one from a local auto parts store.

There are MANY things that can cause a soft brake pedal. Starting with the rear brakes was a good idea. I wrote about brake issues like this here where I cover many of the things that can cause a spongy pedal.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems

Good luck and keep us posted.

[ratdude747]

Didn’t think of renting one…

Sadly I didn’t get this until now… Half way through removal of the spindle. Broke a seized bolt that holds on the rear strut… This car gets worse and worse.

Damn POS.

[ratdude747]

Got the assembly off… had a stabilizer link break when I tried to remove it too (no force, looked to have been already cracked and about to go). Had to cut the ABS sensor too; I read when rusted they never come out and I broke it trying to prove them wrong. The other end of the cable in in the engine compartment (why????) so I’ll cut the JY one too and splice it. Not too proud of splicing and using used struts, but given the rusty POS status, it’s what I gotta do to get it running.

After lunch, off to pull-a-part with tools, PB blast, and a handy assistant (aka my wonderful wife). With strut it’s about $56 bux… plus a bit for the link and sensor (we shall see).

Yes, I feel as pathetic as I look… having to redo half the rear suspension over a stuck brake drum.

[ratdude747]

Didn’t get the parts today. Ran out of time, I’ll be back tomorrow. At least i found a 2002 taurus whose rear suspension was in great shape minus heat cracked brake shoes… so much easier to work on. Even found out the ABS cable does have a plug closer to the wheel, between the rear control arms (no wire splicing, yay!). However, it too had brake line seizing issues and I busted the line (only a $5ish part at Auto Zone, so who cares). I’ll also buy fresh brake HW and shoes, since the home one has nasty bonded shoes (eww) with rusted out harware and as mentioned, the JY one has heat cracking (shame, they were riveted and barely worn, hardware still shiny)

Some pointers I figured out for future reference:

-parking brake housing clips on fords can be removed using a 13mm box end 12 point wrench over the clip. This was one thing that held me up at closing time; I figured it out messing with the carcass taurus at home and an old parking brake cable that used to be on my ranger.

-Getting around the stabilizer links w/o a jack (like in a JY yard): undo the lower nut on both joints and undo the two bolts holding the stabilizer bar bushings, allowing the bar to drop away and off the links. Again, figured it out messing with the taurus at home after I got back from the JY. I also found out the link on the right side, while not broken, is badly rusted and bent with bad bushings, so I’ll snag both links off the JY taurus.

TM things should go quick; once I get the parking brake cable un-snagged and the links detached, I’ll be out of there and on my way to getting the POS running again.

—

side note- while i have it on 4 jackstands, I figured I’d take care of the right inner tie rod end that was bad (had the part for a while, only recently got the tool as there was no room for an ETCG style pipe wrench maneuver). I also found out why it failed, failing steering rack seals washed away the grease :pinch:. Looks like I know why it is slowly loosing PS fluid… Would this be a good place to use lucas or the like? Yay having free alignment deal with the used tires my father in law put on it (he was a cheapskate, I hate used tires).

[ratdude747]

Got R done.

Pulled the assembly… had trouble with the parking brake cable due to the “two rim” jackstands that they use getting in the way… but between myself, two screwdrivers, and my wife, it came out in usable condition.

Ultimatly with tax I paid $58 at the JY… but as the stabilizer links were shot on the JY car, I opted not to pull them.

So, I ended up buying new:

-New shoes (they were bonded, ugh, oh well)
-New hardware (both springs and self adjuster, it was needed all around)
-New stabilizer links.
-new brake line (sold straight, I opted for 12″ which I hand bent, too bad those eastwood pliers don’t grow on trees 🙁 )

One thing I found out the hard way… don’t pedal bleed brakes with the drum hardware/shoes removed!!!! Lets just say I had a big mess and a couple wheel cylinders to put back together. While they didn’t leak after (I cleaned the parts the best I could), one didn’t want to stay compressed after being rebuilt… I had to gravity bleed it while installing the hardware (FUN, not). I ended up gravity bleeding the lines, got all the old fluid (which wasn’t too dirty but obviously old). Took it for a test drive after, the brakes feel a LOT better.. probably old fluid, malfunctioning drum brakes , and who knows what else.

On to a new thread for the next potential PITA… the crooked steering wheel courtesy of the previous owner getting it one spline off when replacing the torque converter (want to fix it before I have it aligned, for the alignment guy’s sake).

[EricTheCarGuy]

Yea, those wheel cylinders need something to push against. Without the drum in place it can get messy. Glad you got things sorted though. Sounds like you have a better brake pedal as a result. Well done.

Thanks for keeping us updated and for using the ETCG forum. Stop back if you have anymore trouble.

[Author]

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