brake problems

[slam80sr120604]

hey lvc i am having problems with my brakes.
it has happened twice i about a week and a half that the brake pedal is hard. and is hard to stop the car
the abs and brake light are on
they dont stay on all the time it is kinda intermitant
the brakes go back to normal after about 5 min or so
if anybody can help me out thank

 

[Lincolnlov]

Model,year???

 

[OldSchool1]

hey lvc i am having problems with my brakes.
it has happened twice i about a week and a half that the brake pedal is hard. and is hard to stop the car
the abs and brake light are on
they dont stay on all the time it is kinda intermitant
the brakes go back to normal after about 5 min or so
if anybody can help me out thank

Search for accumulators and brake fluid flush.

Read everything.

Come back here and let us know how you're going to proceed.

 

[slam80sr120604]

its a 1990 lsc

 

[Elessee]

its a 1990 lsc

Brake fluid level normal? See any leaks anywhere? Have you or anyone done any work on the brakes or on the car that might have affect a brake component?

Your symptoms point to low pressure in the system, when eventually the pump shuts off and you've got no power brakes.
-----
The brakes use a high pressure hydraulic pump. Normally, it pumps up the system in short spurts and shuts itself off until it's needed again..

In the event the system cannot maintain high pressure, the pump will run for about 20 minutes straight before it stops.. then it must rest for about 5 minutes. Then it will run again and try to raise system pressure. If it fails, it'll shut down again.

There are many potential reasons the pump cannot maintain high pressure in the system..

----

Here was my experience after taking possession of a "free" LSC... the brake pump would overwork itself and stop working in city traffic (where you use the brakes a lot). Both lights came on. After waiting a while, the brakes were OK for a while.

The brake fluid resevoir has a internal filter. My filter got clogged (polluted brake fluid perhaps). Very little fluid was allowed into the pump. The pump would occasionally run dry and .. you know the rest.
A $6 junkyard brake fluid resevoir fixed my problem.. a problem Lincoln couldn't diagnose, btw.. I'm not bragging.. just giving you an idea of the oddball possibilities.

Any information you can provide might provide a vital clue.. don't be shy..

 

[MARKVII&VIII_chick]

Hmm. Very interesting as my Mark VII does the exact same thing (hard pedal, both brake lights on). BUT in my case my battery completely dies every now and then; considering the alternator/battery are spanking new. Btw, I have a 1989 Mark VII Bill Blass Edition.

And after looking over the car, literally, I've discovered a leaking brake caliper in the front on the driver side

(Prepare for newbie-mechanic talk) I know this is BAD; anything leaking whatsoever is bad. Would *this* possibly create the hard pedal issue? Considering everything is pressurized, the hydraulic brake system compensating for the lost pressure from the leak thus killing the battery...right? My luck in all this the accumulator went on it too.

Hate having to put my weight into the pedal to stop the car; therefore its been sitting for weeks now looking pretty under the carport.

Some days the car is charged up fine, weeks even. Then under a blue moon the battery is deader than a door nail!

Thanks to any and all replies in help keeping my big baby on the road

 

[OldSchool1]

...
(Prepare for newbie-mechanic talk) I know this is BAD; anything leaking whatsoever is bad. Would *this* possibly create the hard pedal issue? Considering everything is pressurized, the hydraulic brake system compensating for the lost pressure from the leak thus killing the battery...right? My luck in all this the accumulator went on it too.
...

That's correct.

 

[slam80sr120604]

thank you for the info i did replace the rear pads a cut the rotors a couple of day before this happing. i will be inspection for any leaks i miss driving my lsc i love that car

 

[OldSchool1]

thank you for the info i did replace the rear pads a cut the rotors a couple of day before this happing. i will be inspection for any leaks i miss driving my lsc i love that car

You're welcome.

Thank ~you~ for keeping another Lincoln mark VII on the road!

 

[Lunging Wolf]

Mine gets the hard pedal too. Only when I haven't hit the brakes for a few minutes. Under city driving where I use them frequently the pedal is fine, and so are the brakes. Usually out on the freeway at cruising speed when I have to hit the brakes suddenly that's when the pedal is hard. Man, it can be scary. Another way to put it is when I hit the pedal hard it fights back for a couple of seconds, then its normal. When I just hit the brake pedal normally, it never has that problem. Any thoughts?

 

[OldSchool1]

Mine gets the hard pedal too. Only when I haven't hit the brakes for a few minutes. Under city driving where I use them frequently the pedal is fine, and so are the brakes. Usually out on the freeway at cruising speed when I have to hit the brakes suddenly that's when the pedal is hard. Man, it can be scary. Another way to put it is when I hit the pedal hard it fights back for a couple of seconds, then its normal. When I just hit the brake pedal normally, it never has that problem. Any thoughts?

Dude.

Stop driving the car now.

Search for accumulators and brake fluid flush.

Read everything.

Come back here and let us know how you're going to proceed.

 

[richardsMk8]

I have just finished working on my master cylinder from front to back because it had a leak somewhere and the car was not stopping all that great. I had to take the plastic container to be able to look through the whole thing. I found out that the hose that goes to the bottom of the container had a serious leak. The hose was all torn at the end of the hose. I went to the auto parts store, bought a length of the hose. I replace the back hose and connected the plastic container, the front hose, bled the brakes and now the brakes work great.