Brakes gone after a puddle

[5VZ-FE]

It’s been torrentially rainy here in Norcal and I’ve had to drive through some pretty deep puddles to get around.

A few times when I go through deeper ones I’ve been hearing a belt squeak, which was weird.

I went through another pretty deep one (the Prius in front of me had water above the doors) and heard the belt squeak, then when I got out I had almost no braking power. The pedal went almost all the way to the floor before I felt any resistance, and it barely stopped. I parked and pumped the pedal and it felt a little better so I drove home, mostly engine braking.

Brake fluid looks good and I couldn’t see anything wrong at any of the wheels…

Master cylinder?

 

[spartacus]

AC compressor pulleys tend to squeal when cold or wet. The brake booster check valve might be going out. when you blow through it it should only work one way.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

That really shouldn’t happen just hitting a big puddle.

Do you have any rusty brake lines?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[G_Raw]

any loose brake line connections ? Water enter the system somewhere and f the fluid up?

 

[5VZ-FE]

So they feel a lot better today (it’s dry now) in terms of stopping power compared to yesterday. However, now they are lurching. As I was driving down a long hill and I was slowing down towards a light it felt almost like the brakes were pulsing, a little like how ABS slows and then it releases a little and then slows again. But this definitely isn’t abs. Also when I was parking on the street I think one of the front brakes locked up.

I’m gonna take it to a mechanic that’s done some work for me in the past

 

[Bad Luck]

So they feel a lot better today (it’s dry now) in terms of stopping power compared to yesterday. However, now they are lurching. As I was driving down a long hill and I was slowing down towards a light it felt almost like the brakes were pulsing, a little like how ABS slows and then it releases a little and then slows again. But this definitely isn’t abs. Also when I was parking on the street I think one of the front brakes locked up.

I’m gonna take it to a mechanic that’s done some work for me in the past

Lurching typically points to the rear brakes. If your rear drums were warm/hot enough you could have warped them when you entered the water.