Quote:
Originally Posted by quatin
This is a long saga spanning several years. It started with a "catch" in the brake pedal, as in you depress the pedal, it would get hard halfway down as if catching something. Then if I press the pedal harder, it would give and I get full brakes again. During the catch period, I would get partial brakes. Once it gives, i can hear a "clank" noise coming from the rear of the car. Everytime I use the parking brake lever, it would catch in the first 2-3 brake pedal uses. I have also had it happen randomly when driving.
My mechanic couldn't figure it out so I went brute force approach with replacing things. Here's where I'm at so far:
Things I've replaced in order:
- brake booster hose and valve. No effect
- Mechanic replaced the brake booster. No effect.
- front calipers & rotors, flushed brake fluid (brake fluid was dark). Problem improved, with less force required to get pass the catch.
- wheel cylinders in the drum, no effect
- master cylinder, no effect
- drum shoes, shoe adjuster, parking brake cable (the 8'' one inside the drum) Problem improved, now only catching lightly with parking brake lever up and me pumping the brake pedal in park.
From what I've read, this sounds like a "tripped valve" in the proportioning valve. It can be the valve being faulty itself or something tripping the valve. However, I'm not sure what else is left for me to replace.
Things I haven't replaced (let me know if there's anything I've missed)
- Brake hoses. (inspected and doesn't look cracked or leaky)
- LSPV (Just discovered it recently, bled it, problem persists)
- Drum springs & clips (autozone parts didn't fit so I reused the originals, looked fine)
- Drums (looked fine)
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The parking brake and the hydraulic braking system are completely separate systems all the way up to the point of the actual brake shoe engagement inside the drums. So the fact that you say that parking brake use effects the situation leads me to believe that the brake shoes inside the drum are not installed correctly. There's lots of adjusters and springs and small parts that have to be in the correct place to function properly. I'd be willing to make a heavy bet that's where your problems lie. I'd start by removing your drums and comparing what your setup looks like to a known correct setup photo.
Post a photo of each side with the brake drum off and we should quickly be able to tell you if something is way off.
