nkennedy

I was driving across Houston last week pulling my fifth wheel in bumper to bumper traffic. After about an hour & a half of it the brakes started to feel a little soft, and the peddal went down about twice as far as it usually does. I still had brakes, but not as good as usual. I got a brake light, and an ABS light on the dash. After I got out of the bumper to bumper traffic, and the brakes cooled, the pedal came back to normal, but still had the lights on the dash. Next day I reset the lights by pulling the battery cables. The lights came back on as soon as I hit the brakes, but again the pedal was normal. Then after the truck ran for about 5 minutes the lights went off and all seemed normal. What do you guys think happened, and what should I do now? The brakes seemed normal on the pull home Sunday. Thank God for exhaust brakes too. They saved the day when the brakes messed up. Thank you guys in advance for the replys.

nkennedy

No Ideas? Anyone ever have a simular experince?

BRO

When is the last time you flushed your system? Maybe one of the brake lines is soft and expanding. You may have a caliber sticking a little causing a drag and in traffic you used the brake even more and got your fluid real hot. When is the last time you adjusted the back brakes?

If it was an adjustment issue with the ABS it would of stayed even after the brakes pump back up and you were out of traffic. I am just guessing, I do not have a definitive answer. Just throwing idea's out there.

patdaly

It was the RWAL dump valve on Brownie.

nkennedy

I haven't adjusted the brakes, but they are disks. I haven't changed the brake fluid, but have changed the power steering fluid. I was wondering if the Hydrobooster could've gotten hot, and caused those symptoms.

BRO

So you have a 01.5, disk all around. I think the brake fluid just got hot and the brakes faded on you real bad. These brakes are not the best anyway, but probably not the worst either.

Happen to me coming down a hill with a heavy load, thought I lost my brakes. Fortunately my truck an trailer stopped and I sat their until the brakes cooled and my brakes came back. Have never had another problem like that but I did change my fluid (very dirty) and found that my rubber brake lines were ok. My back brakes (drum) were not adjusted correctly and they were not helping. I adjust my back brakes every time I change my oil now.

In my case I think it was my driving habits (too fast), old fluid and the rear brakes not helping; placing all the work on the fronts only. But like I said, it has never happened to me again, so I really don't know what caused my brakes fading for sure.