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Sometimes when I start my car in the afternoon (after sitting all night) and take off the parking break and parking gear, with my foot covering the break pedal, it still moves.
It feels like something is blocking the break (as it is harder to press than normal) and as a result it inches forward (or backwards in reverse) because the pedal is seemingly not able to be floored.
The breaks won't hold a stop basically. But then I'll shut the car off and turn it back on and it's fine.
This doesn't happen every time either. Anyone have any idea?
edit- I also failed to mention that randomly while I'm driving, the Parking Break and/or regular breaking light comes on on the display. This has been happening for months before this new problem though and I just assumed it was a short or something, because once I do actually break and then release it the lights go off.
 
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whoa you definitely should have that checked out by a mechanic. brakes are the last thing you want going out on you while driving.
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Yeah anything to do with breaks I'd take to a Les Schwab (though thats only Northwest I think) or another brake specialist. I usually troubleshoot my own car problems but brakes are something that I'd leave to the experts.
I've never heard of something like that though.
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yea, i don't have time or money to do that. anyone have a clue?
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Maybe the cause of your trouble might be the... what's it called... go dictionary!
brake booster [autom.]
brake booster support [autom.]
brake force booster [autom.]
brake power assist unit [tech.]
brake servo [tech.]
brake servo unit [tech.]
power assist [tech.]
power booster [tech.]
power brake [tech.]
power brake unit [tech.]
Isn't that a nice turnout for one single German word?
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United States282 Posts
Turn off the engine, pump your brakes several times until they are hard, turn on the car and if your brakes stay hard, your brake booster is bad. if the booster is working properly the brakes will soften up after the engine starts.
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how long has it been since you had the brakes done?
brake issues can get way more expensive the longer you wait. most of those brake shops and dealers have saturday hours, go early in the morning and get it checked out.
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On July 10 2009 06:29 mucker wrote:
how long has it been since you had the brakes done?
brake issues can get way more expensive the longer you wait. most of those brake shops and dealers have saturday hours, go early in the morning and get it checked out.
I don't know, I've only had the car for 1 1/2 years now.
yea, my only day off happens to be sunday.
Klapdout, thanks I will try it later. How do I fix a booster and/or how much will it cost?
PS
Brake Booster Description
Unless you're a professional athlete with tree trunks for legs, be grateful that your car has a brake booster nestled between the brake master cylinder and firewall on your car. Your brake booster doesn't make any noise, and it doesn't use any electricity or gasoline, but it ensures that you can stop your car with only a light touch of the brake pedal. Things weren't always like that: before the invention of the vacuum brake booster, cars still stopped. It's just that you had to really stomp on the brake pedal. The modern brake booster is an ingenious device that operates using something that your engine generates whenever it's running: vacuum. The brake booster takes engine vacuum via a rubber hose that runs from the intake manifold, and the brake booster uses that vacuum to amplify the pressure you put on the pedal. A light application of the brakes is translated by the brake booster into significantly more pressure on the brake master cylinder, ensuring that your car stops quickly. So what happens to the brake booster if your car stalls, resulting in a loss of engine vacuum? Early designers realized that gas engines were hardly foolproof, so they designed a little check valve into the brake booster circuit. The brake booster stores enough vacuum to provide full boost for two or three pedal applications even after the engine dies. The check valve on the brake booster is what keeps that vacuum from leaking out. And speaking of leaks, that's the reason most brake booster units have to be replaced. As your brake booster ages, the rubber seals and diaphragms that hold the vacuum tend to wear out and crack. If the brake booster can't hold vacuum (despite the check valve's best efforts), its time is up and you'll need a new or remanufactured new brake booster.
this might be the problem T_T , these things are a few hundred dollars.
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United States282 Posts
On July 10 2009 06:32 CharlieMurphy wrote:Show nested quote +On July 10 2009 06:29 mucker wrote:
how long has it been since you had the brakes done?
brake issues can get way more expensive the longer you wait. most of those brake shops and dealers have saturday hours, go early in the morning and get it checked out. I don't know, I've only had the car for 1 1/2 years now. yea, my only day off happens to be sunday. Klapdout, thanks I will try it later. How do I fix a booster and/or how much will it cost?
After re-reading your OP, my diagnosis may not work, when i hear hard brake pedal I just immediately spout a brake booster check ;p
You say if you shut the car off, and immediately restart the brakes work fine, its only after an extended period of inactivity?
It sounds like your break booster has a small vacuum leak and it drops pressure over several hours.
I'd say its almost certainly the booster, to change it you'll have to pick up a manual on your car it will show you step by step instructions with all tools you will need.
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Yea, I agree. Probably a leak due to corroding rubbers as suggested in that description. Klapdout, do you have any idea where I can buy cheap parts online or otherwise? It's a used 1993 Chrysler Town & Country Van (which just got to 80k miles) to be specific. How hard will it be to change it?
Also, this thing has been nothing but problems for me recently; mechanically and financially, where is a good place to sell?
I'm rather surprised Kbb.com has it listed at 2,900 in fair condition
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United States282 Posts
I've never had to replace one myself, so I couldn't give you anything concrete, all I can say is head to autozone and peruse through a Haynes manual, you can read them while in the store, and get an idea of whether you want to try the repair yourself or not.
as far as cheap parts go, just call all the local parts dealers, autozone, advance auto napa ect. Any others should be listed in the yellow pages, give them all a call for the best price, sometimes you can save quite a bit by doing this.
The best place to sell a car is generally your local classifieds, check any convenient stores for any auto-trade specific magazines for your area, or just use a newspaper.
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Awesome, thanks for the tips.
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I suggest letting off the gas 
but seriously just sounds like you need new breaks (was lazy and didnt read comments)
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On July 10 2009 09:16 StalinRusH wrote:I suggest letting off the gas but seriously just sounds like you need new breaks (was lazy and didnt read comments)
What kind of shitty worthless half assed post is this?
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Klapdout, I tried what you suggested about pumping the breaks and it was fine (after car sitting 5 hours while at work on a hot day).
Funny thing to note though is when I first started to pump the breaks, the pedal was already pretty hard. So I started the car, it was fine. So I turned it off and pumped them again (this time they were soft and I made them hard - no homo) and still were fine upon start up.
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EPT
