My brakes failed today..

[ProMaX]

yea so the names pretty much sums it up.. on my VN series 1 V6, my brakes failed today in peak hour traffic, but never fear i and my car are ok luckily i did some quick thinking by pulling over into the shoulder and slowly easing my park brake on... so my question is

Does anyone know why this happened?

I mean they were working fine til i dropped my mates keys off to his house for like a minute then i started the car and worked fine for abit but felt abit soft (like i had to push further on the brake than i normally would) and then all of a sudden BAM! they're gone...

any ideas how to fix it?

and i'm aware that it could be my brake fluid i haven't changed it in awhile but i'm doing that as soon as i can

besides that any help given will be much appreciated

Cheers

[VNPOWER]

did the brake light come on at all ? my guess you've got air in the lines

[Morgasshk]

bugger, not good man...

something would be buggered up with your lines I think...

usually degraded fluid you would notice over time, not just a sudden let go, and to another point, same with air in the lines, just builds up and need to bleed, but would usually notice it getting gradually more spongy as you go...

would check for broken lines, check at all connecting points, master cylinder or booster could have shat emselves...

[ProMaX]

yea cheers for that guys
yea i forgot to mention the light that looks like ((!)) came on but thats after i pressed down n noticed there were no brakes
i was thinking there was a leak in the master cylinder or booster but not sure how to change it or fix it if there was something wrong.. i might put it in for a complete service soonish wen i get the funds togehter

thanks again for ur help

[CSL]

check the booster line from the throyttle body,l it's a vac line and if it popped or found it self a hole then their is no booster so it would be hard to puch the peddle, but you said peddle was loose so check fluid, or a line under the car, looks like you lost pressure

[holden#1]

not saying its the problem but I had a scary experience soon after buying the calais. the brakes failed suddenly, although I must say they didn't feel the best beforehand...

turned out to be that the front rotors were like so worn that calipers at full extension (pads were bout 30% also) did not fully grip the rotor! replaced rotors & pads and all was good!

[Garth]

check the vacume line is there, it's on the brake booster in the engine bay, on the right hand side of hte enigne, and connects to the manifold

press your brake down, if you hear a hissing then it's the master cyclinder
(only works if engine is on)

if that one is fine remove front right wheel (closest to cylinder)
fill up the booster bottle with a bright colour brake fluid, and simply bleed the one wheel only, go untill the new fluid comes threw, once it's threw, make sure no more air comes out, if air is still comming out by this state the master cylinder is buggered

cheers
garth
either way, it's nasty to drive it like this, take it easy

[s_pack]

Might sound stupid, but is your brake booster and cylinder staying dead still when you depress the brake pedal

[vt1538]

A sudden loss of brakes can be a few things.
One of the flexable lines have burst.
The master cylinder has done a seal.
A piston seal has let go.
A brake pad has fallen out & has caused a piston to overextend.

[Demons1964]

Easy way to check the brake booster is with the ignition off put the foot firmly on the the brake pedal. Start the car and the pedal should drop just a smidge if the booster's ok.

I had a similar thing happen in my VC a few years ago, but fortunately just as I was coming out of the driveway. Master cylinder was the culprit. Didn't take me that long to replace it, except the first reco one I got from Repco ($165) had a faulty piston so I had to replace it with another. Bleeding of the lines in the absence of a hoist is what takes the longest time.

Anyway ProMaX, from the way you were describing it, doesn't sound like air in the lines. You would experience that as a gradual loss of brake function (ie. increased pedal sponginess). Sounds more like catastrophic failure of one of the types vt1538 has mentioned.

Mark.

[ProMaX]

well at first i noticed sponginess on a slight pressing of brake to slow down.. then i'm like wtf? turned a corner without coming to a full stop so i didn't have to press the brake on for long mind u, then then next time i pressed the brake it totally dissapeared.... 15-20mins after that I tried the brake again and it worked just fine...well with a slight delay on braking when pressed, so i can't imagine anything indefiantely broken then closest description i thought was air in the lines... but i have no idea to be honest

thanks for ur thoughts everyone

[lazyass]

Mate ! Best thing to do is get a qualified brake mechanic to check .Matt over at Race Brakes Sydney can help.Most people are saying check your booster or vac lines and someone said about if it is hissing its the master cylinder. WELL just to let you know any hissing noise is a vacuum leak (not master cylinder ) the Booster works off vacuum not hydraulics so it probably isn't your Booster if the pedal went to the floor .You will find it is pressure related or mechanical and without seeing the car sounds like the master cylinder could be bypassing as I said best leave these things to some one qualified.
vt1538 has the right ideas and they should be checked first.

[commy92]

i had something simalar not long ago i was having FUN.. lol and lost all brakes come back after about 10 minutes of driving. opps my bad

[hotrod32]

Sounds like it could be your fluid getting hot and becoming thin, should replace that. Allthough that doesnt really explain why you completely lost all brakes. I thought it could be one of the rubber lines wearing a small hole and letting air into the lines and fluid out, this is a common problem on magnas. Have you driven the car again since and had a spongy pedel ??

[NORTI]

MIne has done that to me before (not VN) but it was brake fluid becoming hot & therefore becoming thin & failing to work. Damn it that I noticed whilst towing a trailer! Damn lucky was the corner before home.... But that was an increase in spongyness that wasnt overly noticable.... left it for awhile & brakes were fine after that. Did fluid change anyways.


D.

[Ygoford]

it sounds like its a typical problem with the vn's i have recently got my vn and it did the same thing to me they were working fine then me being the usual smart ass went fast into a car park and went to stop and the brakes didnt work luckly the cement block stopt me it was quite freaky at the time when u rely on something and it doesnt work , well anyway we just pumped my brakes and we were fine but however a few days later my brakes started making a grinding noise and i took it to a brake place and needed new discs and pads so it might not be a probelm for u but get it checked out we got ford drivers on the road running us off we dun need u to run it off for us

[JSTPOZN]

Same thing happened to me with my vn calais v6 series 1..
Except i wasnt as lucky and hit the car infront... When i checked the brakes next day they were perfectly find