Hey everyone I changed my front and rrear brakes late last summer. NOw I got some ?s and problems.

Problems
Truck does not brake like when I first got it.
I can slam down on pedal and no abs lock up occurs. I don't feel that pulstaing feeling in the brak pedal. Feels like a non abs car now.
Pedal is kind of mushy.

Now for the ?s

Would bleeding the brakes fix this. I never bleed the brakes after I changed them.
I plan on changing the pads again. I am just not happy with this. Should I go get stock ford pads or is there something better out there.

 

pads are designed to operate in a temp range and if you are not inbetween that they will be lacking in the performance end of it.What are the pads?factory pads are designed for everyday use so their performance is going to be better on first apply.ceramic pads are just the opposite after a few hard stops they start to work.STan

 

Wow

I have the two things here in this post that can MAYBE "finally help me too. Someone with a simular prob, and the Brake Man himself Stan

JK my Brother, I think I may be of some assistance in letting you know what "WON'T HELP" (if we have the same prob).
I have had no Brakes for well over a year now, and I mean NO Brakes.

I have tried diff pads (NO CHANGE)
I have bleed the Brakes (NO CHANGE)
I have bleed them again (NO CHANGE)
I have even tried a Crane Vac Canister, (NO CHANGE)
I have tried Reg Brake Pads, I have tried Ceramic Pads
You guessed it, (NO CHANGE) (NO CHANGE)
Once I changed the Power Assist, Check Valve Thingy
and it seemed to have stopped the prob for quite a while,
but them WAM it came back again.

I have 18-20lbs of Vac on idle, so that is not the prob
Mine is also mushy, BIG TIME.
My truck still only has maybe 14K on it, the Ceramic Brakes in there now are maybe 2-3K old.
Mine like yours, simply dont stop anything like it use to.
But neither did the reg Pads before I tried these.
Does your ever all of a sudden come back ??? Mine do ???
It could be once a year, once a day, or once a month, but once in a while all of a sudden WAM I have a nice high hard pedal and brakes, then WAM as fast as they came, they go back to mush for another few months. (Very very low pedal too)
Also if I first start it up and take off, and then have to stop short, "YIKES" it aint happening

I trust NO Dealer, NO Brake Shop, so I must figure this out myself.
What makes me wonder if we both have simular probs is your talk of the ABS system. Mine actually does one thing very diff, mine will actually go into a ABS dance even at 3 MPH (if I happen to be turning into a driveway for instance while hitting the brakes and turning). It also went into a violent ABS dance at Eng Town once and actually released the pass seat which slamed up and threw everything in the truck flying. Last year at Cecil I dam near took out the wall. Yet last time I was at Eng Town they were fine.
But right now, they absolutely SUCK

If yours is simular, please come back here and tell us what you found ??? GOOD LUCK BRO.

Sorry to say so much, I just pray maybe I can help you, and you can help me, and maybe Stan can shed some light ???

 

Rob,
Did you notice this problem after the line lock install?? I'm starting to believe that opening the system for the line lock lets air in and affects the ABS. I noticed a problem one time after install, and I was very careful not to let air in. Maybe you could try pulling the caliper's and compressing them to force the fluid back to the master cylinder and the air will go too??
JK,
Did you install a line lock prior to this problem?
Bryan

 

Rob, I understand and know EXACTLY what you're talkin about. My brake system has done that and continues to feel mushy over time. I tried everything and nothing was resolved. My brakes work well, but they don't work like they did when I got my Lightning a few years ago. I guess this is because our trucks are heavily modified with excessive boost and vacuum pressure. I'm not the technical expert, but I know when something is not right with my truck. If you figure out something, please let me know soon.

 

Stan
I have regular replacement pads. I think Wagner or what ever the auto parts store sells.

Rob
I never get the brake pedal to feel hard. Someone on one of the other sites said it might be glazed. Now when I changed the pads I never had the rotors turned. Plus now that I think of it, I had a run with an M3 when these problems started. I never broke the new brakes in right. I had maybe 1 mile on them. I think that is my problme with the rotors and pads being glazed.

Plus My truck is no where near modifide like you and other people on here. My drivetrain is stock. SO that can't be it at all.

 

Always machine or replace rotors when replacing the pads. I know I'll probably see some posts come back with: "I've been doing brake jobs for 30 some-odd years, and I ain't NEVER machined a one of 'em." or something along those lines, and that's fine by me. If you don't want to do it the correct way, don't.

With use, the rotor loses its friction face which plays a big role on some applications, but not so much on others. Simply put, the longer the rotors are in service, the smoother they'll get. As they get smoother, the pads will have less of an effect trying to stop the vehicle.

Has anyone tried to back bleed their system? For those who don't know, back-bleeding forces brake fluid through the caliper bleeder screw, and pushes it back to the master cylinder. Almost no chance of cavitation like the pedal pumping method can cause.

SL

 

Not sure I would want to force the garbage from the dirty fluid back up thru the ABS system into the master cylinder....

To me that would be worse than any cavitaion...

another option would be to vacuum bleed them - suck the fluid thru ....

 

I was amazed at the crap and how dirty the fluid was when I bled them after putting on the TCE fronts. This was at about 3000mi. on the truck. Dark fluid and lots of particles in it .
Bleeding them is a good thing anytime.

 

I've seen this before!

In my case it was the rubber piston seals in my calipers.

On new brake systems, it seems that when ever you press your brake peddle in, the pistons are pushed into the pads, but the seals retract the pistons back into the calipers about 1mm when your off the peddle. Over a period of time the pistons themselves will push past this 1mm point to compensate the 1mm of wear from the pads themselves.

On older systems, I don’t know if it’s a combination of being pushed past this point in conjunction with the heat issues, but the seals can become brittle and the pistons will not retract like they did once new or they will not compensate for the 1mm of pad wear (self adjustment). The more you wear the pad down the more peddle is required because the piston is not sliding past the seal to ride at the proper distance. <- this is also why is magically comes back at times after a hard braking session.

Try a caliper rebuild kit for new seals and you can also clean the old junk out at the same time..... 2 birds 1 stone.

Just my 2 cents and here's your change.

 

I have always had a disturbingly soft pedal. Always.

With the Brembos on the front, it's still soft, so caliper seals are out.

I have had three different pad compounds, so pads are out.

I have stainless front lines, so line swell is out.

I have had stock and aftermarket rotors on both axles, so rotors are out.

I have probably used more brake fluid than motor oil, so bleeding has not worked.

Sometimes the pedal is so soft I cannot get the ABS to engage.

Like the others, every now and then, I get a nice, hard pedal. No real rhyme or reason to it -- just every now and then.

It sure feels like air in the lines, but damn if I can find it. I am beginning to wonder if the ABS in our trucks traps air or something.

The plus side is that having no brakes forces you to learn the line better on track.

 

You sound like you have a master cylinder to caliper volume mismatch (sponginess & aftermarket brakes).

That doesn't explain the sometimes works statement thou.

 

There is an ABS cable and function on the NGS perhaps the ABS has some special steps requored.. I read somewhere that there is a reservoir in the ABS system that can fill with air and the NSG scantool is used to fix that some how

Edit

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...c/10234-1.html

http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/te.../bleeding.html

 

Oh my god, who would have thought?

It almost seems as if Ford engineered in some job security for the dealers.

 

Also doesn't explain why they have been spongy since the day I drove it off the lot.