Hello everyone,this is my first post and unfortunately a bad one.I belong to several other forums and I thought I would become a member on here also to see if I can grab a bit of information or ideas.I have a 2002 lightning that I just did a complete motor swap in.I went with stage 2 comp cams incase the question comes up.

I have absolutely no brakes,with the truck rolling at about 5mph,I have to put all my force into the brakes to get it to slow down.After the first pump the pedal becomes extremely stiff.After looking at pictures for the past couple hours it looks like all my vac lines are hooked up correctly.

Green vac tube goes to the top of egr
Pink tube on top of actuator,black on the bottom facing firewall(goes from the back of the actuator to the intake tube)
Actuator solenoid has pink(which was capped off from previous owner) on top and black on bottom.
Brake booster goes to the top nipple on the back of the plenum
Vac line with green adapter(same size as ^^^^) goes to bottom nipple on back of plenum.
Vac lines attached to passenger side of plenum.

Actuator is closed when truck is off,opens all the way when truck is running,if you blip the throttle(still keeping it in the lower rpms) the boost actuator slams the flap shut.

What am I missing here?What else would cause the brakes to not work?

Thanks for any help.

 

Check all the brake lines under the hood and for the front brakes to make sure you didn't damage any during the transplant.

Check the vacuum resivoir (my spelling sucks) and the lines going to it. Should be behind the battery. If it's cracked it may not have enough vac to operate the brakes. Also take a look at the check valve on the booster (where the larger hose attaches).

Put a vac guage on the manifold to be sure you are making enough vacuum, should be about 18-22 inches (I think)

Not saying any of this will fix your problem, but it is where I would start my search.

 

sounds typical of a vacuum robbing cam choice, time to look at the hydroboost conversion from a super duty truck

 

All the lines look fine none that I can SEE look crimped or cracked.The booster had some vaccum to it when I pulled the hose off the front of it just now.I had a mechanic friend tell me, with the truck off,pump the breaks until they get hard,then fire up the truck,if the pedal drops the brake booster is still good,if it doesnt drop the booster is bad.Can anyone confirm this? Maybe try it on your vehicle that you know your brakes are in good working order? I tried it just now and the pedal doesnt move at all when you fire the truck up.

 

More info,I replaced a couple of dry rotted vac line adapters(the rubber piece that holds 2 plastic lines together) and my vac went from 12 to 15 at idle.I havent checked the valve on the booster yet,I guess one way you should be able to blow air through it,the other way you cant?

 

Tried it on mine tonight and it worked as your mechanic said. Pumped it about 5 or 6 times and got a hard pedal, fires it up and the pedal went down pretty quick.

Might want to disconnect the booster and plug the line, then see if your vac at idle goes up. That should tell you if it is leaking at the booster.

 

Thats wierd,my daily driver (2000 ranger) does the same thing and the brakes are fine.My mechanic told me the pedal should drop by itself,maybe a inch or so,when I do this it basically just turns soft for the first pump.When you say plug the line,I guess you mean get a cap to plug the nipple on the side of the plenum?

 

Yes close off the vac line to the power booster and then see what your manifold vacuum reads. If it is higher then you probably have a leak in either the hose or the booster it self.

 

Alright im borrowing a vac guage from my mechanic friend(which I will be using it tomorrow to finally pin point the problem) but I wanted to ask,are cardone break boosters any good? I have heard mixed things about them,1 mechanic said yes the other said no.

 

I put a vac guage on it and it shows the same 15in reading as my boost guage inside the truck.