power brakes

[Viator Trudeau #8697]

I had a leak in the brake booster on my 91 Brougham.  Replaced the booster, the pedal is very firm now but it takes too much foot pressure to get good braking, almost like there was not enough vacuum. Could something in the anti-lock system be impeding the flow to cause such hard braking effort. The pads and shoes are very good. Any ideas would be appreciated.  Thanks.  Viator Trudeau   P.S.  When the booster was leaking, the pedal pressure increased at that time, about the same as it is now.

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Gday Viator,

Have you had a look at the condition of the Vacuum line from the manifold to the booster diaphram?

It is quite possible that the removal and replacement on the booster may have caused part of the internals to block the tubing.

Also, I would be checking what vacuum there is with a vacuum gauge.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

[densie 20352]

  I agree with Bruce.  I would check the vacuum with a gauge.

  Problems with the VSS sensor can cause hard braking, but then you would feel a thumping in the brake pedal.

-densie

[Mike #19861]

 The ABS system on these cars is a remote system, and is separate from the base braking system. It should have no affect on pedal pressure.

 Check your vacuum scource. When you pull off the hose from the booster, it should almost immeditely stall the engine. There should be good strong vacuum scource here. Remove and check the filter in the line. It may be plugged. This is fairly common.

  Mike

[Viator Trudeau #8697]

Thanks for the response; The vacuum gage reading at the check valve is 17" W/ lots of flow thru the filter. Coasting W/ the engine off, no vac. in booster it,s almost impossible to depress the brake, I assume all brake surfaces are making contact. Its like the pads-shoes are slick!!  Will look at these possibilities soon.  Thanks

[Viator Trudeau #8697]

Hello again,  Thanks again for the posts.  Today I followed all the advise and ignored mine. Mike suggested to check the filter, so I replaced it W/ a 3/8" elbow & I now have much better brakes. The elbow flows much more air than the filter,it was restricted. Is a filter really needed? I will get a new one.

[Mike #19861]

 Glad to hear you found and fixed the problem!

Basically it is just another air filter. Since air is drawn through the booster on brake application, this filters tha air as it is drawn back into the intake manifold. Just another something to make sure all incoming air is filtered.

  Mike