Brake Pedal not releasing enough?

[jrhea4down]

I'm new here and I apologize in advance if I broke any forum rules for immediately asking a question. I am having an issue with my car and I absolutely cannot seem to find a good answer on my own. About 2 months ago I bought a 2016 Fiesta ST and it has been a blast. Love the car. Anyways... Yesterday when driving it seemed as though my car hit a brick wall and lost power. Wasn't the case at all though, after looking into the situation it turns out my brake pedal isn't coming back out enough after being pressed in whenever I need to stop. It DOES come back out but I have to stick my foot under the pedal and slightly pull up on it towards myself in order to get the brakes to release and allow the car to roll. I feel like it could be a vacuum issue or something with the brake booster? Like its just not getting enough pressure to send the pedal back where it needs to be? Maybe the brake pedal itself has been bent or warped somehow? It's a bit hard to explain but I BARELY have to pull up on the pedal, it seems to be about 1/8th of an inch off, but its as good as ever after doing that. Anybody ever experienced anything like this before? I can try to explain it in better detail if that doesn't make any sense. By the way, my name is Josh and it's a pleasure to be a part of the FiST community!

 

[dhminer]

Dumb question but have you bled everything? How old is your brake fluid?

 

[jrhea4down]

Dumb question but have you bled everything? How old is your brake fluid?

I have not attempted to do that yet, no. The car has had the brakes and everything serviced before I bought the car. I does seem like it’s only one wheel locking up as well so that could definitely be something to consider. It’s just wild how I can barely lift up on the pedal and it’s all good until I have to brake again, then it either gets stuck again or not.

 

[Intuit]

Look under the dash and see if there's a spring on the fulcrum that retracts the brake pedal.

 

[jrhea4down]

Look under the dash and see if there's a spring on the fulcrum that retracts the brake pedal.

I’m heading home now. I’ll check it out asap.

 

[jrhea4down]

Look under the dash and see if there's a spring on the fulcrum that retracts the brake pedal.

So I didn’t see a spring under there. What it seems like to me is that the pin from the brake booster isn’t getting enough pressure to send the pedal back as far as it should be? Which is against the two switches that control the brake lights and I believe the other is cruise control? Not 100%, but those are right there, if I physically move the pedal towards myself there’s about an 1/8 of an inch “click” and then the brakes are free. I probably should have mentioned this too, but the brake booster vacuum line, on the top of the engine bay towards the right, it was making some strange noises after I had started the car this morning and checked out a few things. I know it that line is broken it can take away the brakes on this car entirely. So part of me thinks it could just be that vacuum not allowing the right amount of pressure or that something near the pedal itself is bent or needs to be tightened.

 

[jrhea4down]

I'm new here and I apologize in advance if I broke any forum rules for immediately asking a question. I am having an issue with my car and I absolutely cannot seem to find a good answer on my own. About 2 months ago I bought a 2016 Fiesta ST and it has been a blast. Love the car. Anyways... Yesterday when driving it seemed as though my car hit a brick wall and lost power. Wasn't the case at all though, after looking into the situation it turns out my brake pedal isn't coming back out enough after being pressed in whenever I need to stop. It DOES come back out but I have to stick my foot under the pedal and slightly pull up on it towards myself in order to get the brakes to release and allow the car to roll. I feel like it could be a vacuum issue or something with the brake booster? Like its just not getting enough pressure to send the pedal back where it needs to be? Maybe the brake pedal itself has been bent or warped somehow? It's a bit hard to explain but I BARELY have to pull up on the pedal, it seems to be about 1/8th of an inch off, but its as good as ever after doing that. Anybody ever experienced anything like this before? I can try to explain it in better detail if that doesn't make any sense. By the way, my name is Josh and it's a pleasure to be a part of the FiST community!

 

[jrhea4down]

I sent a video above to show what I mean by the “1/8th inch click” that small amount of space is determining whether or not my brakes are released. When pressed towards me as mentioned, they function as they should.

 

[Intuit]

the brake booster vacuum line, on the top of the engine bay towards the right, it was making some strange noises after I had started the car this morning and checked out a few things. I know it that line is broken it can take away the brakes on this car entirely. So part of me thinks it could just be that vacuum not allowing the right amount of pressure or that something near the pedal itself is bent or needs to be tightened.

Brake booster's job is to use atmospheric pressure to assist. There's a one-way valve to make sure air doesn't enter the brake booster from the engine. By law they're to have enough vacuum to assist with at least a couple of depresses with the engine off. If you want to eliminate it as a factor, release all the vacuum by pressing the brake several times with the engine off. With all the vacuum released, if you find that the pedal retraction behavior is different, you might be on to something. Side and irrelevant note, if you cut the engine, wait awhile and find that it's no longer providing any assist, then there's a leak.
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/brake-booster-vacuum-line.31007/

Regarding the "1/8" play, I'll take a peak under my dash to see whether what observe is normal for my 2016.

I did experience some drag from my rear passenger; backstory in this thread here...
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/caliper-slide-mounts-the-permanent-fix.29023/

 

[jrhea4down]

Brake booster's job is to use atmospheric pressure to assist. There's a one-way valve to make sure air doesn't enter the brake booster from the engine. By law they're to have enough vacuum to assist with at least a couple of depresses with the engine off. If you want to eliminate it as a factor, release all the vacuum by pressing the brake several times with the engine off. With all the vacuum released, if you find that the pedal retraction behavior is different, you might be on to something. Side and irrelevant note, if you cut the engine, wait awhile and find that it's no longer providing any assist, then there's a leak.
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/brake-booster-vacuum-line.31007/

Regarding the "1/8" play, I'll take a peak under my dash to see whether what observe is normal for my 2016.

I did experience some drag from my rear passenger; backstory in this thread here...
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/caliper-slide-mounts-the-permanent-fix.29023/

I appreciate the response! I'll return with the results after I go check into the things you had just mentioned.

 

[jrhea4down]

Seems to be an issue with the check valve in the brake booster vacuum line as mentioned earlier. Going to replace the whole line once the part shows up here in a couple of days. Good chance a little air may made it's way where it shouldn't be due to the pressure so I will most likely bleed the brakes if they need be. I'm pretty confident this will fix all of my problem. We shall see..

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Seems to be an issue with the check valve in the brake booster vacuum line as mentioned earlier. Going to replace the whole line once the part shows up here in a couple of days. Good chance a little air may made it's way where it shouldn't be due to the pressure so I will most likely bleed the brakes if they need be. I'm pretty confident this will fix all of my problem. We shall see..

Please report back after repair to let us all know!

 

[jrhea4down]

Please report back after repair to let us all know!

Okay, so I replaced the booster vacuum line, the check valve on the original one was indeed bad. I installed the new one, went ahead and bled the brakes, then started up the car in hopes that things were back to normal. The pedal no longer had that slight gap in it anymore which was awesome! However... When I went to drive the car around the block to make sure, I couldn't stop very well and the brake pedal was stiff. Parked the car back into the garage and checked the brake pedal, with the engine running, and immediately heard a slight hissing sound where air isn't being sealed somewhere inside the boot of the brake booster. Brake booster is bad and I would assume it ended up becoming damaged while driving with the bad check valve. Luckily I was able to find another brake booster for $50.00 so I will be able to throw that on in a few days and surely things will be resolved! I'm hoping the master cylinder wasn't also damaged in the process. I considered going ahead and just buying a new one regardless to just replace it with the new booster but according to Ford they're on back order with nearly a 200 person waiting list. Crossing my fingers in hopes that my current one is okay! Will return in a couple days with the results. Everything seems to be narrowed down to that. Thank you guys for the responses as well, much appreciated!

 

[FJ16]

Good to hear you have it tracked down!

 

[jrhea4down]

Good to hear you have it tracked down!

For sure! Just so anxious to get back out on the road lol. Car is too much fun when things are acting right.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

How was the system Bled? Pump and hold or power bleeder?

 

[jrhea4down]

I’m back! Sorry it’s been so long. Finally was able to replace the brake booster. Everything seems to be perfectly fine and back to normal now except I’m now getting the orange wrench light and have absolutely no idea why it would be doing that now? Never did it before and everything was taken apart and assembled back together exactly the way it should be. Was actually fairly simple. Just can’t seem to figure out why I’m getting the wrench light? It only pops up after driving a few blocks as well. Makes no sense, car is really starting to stress me out. 😅

 

[FiestaSTdude]

I’m back! Sorry it’s been so long. Finally was able to replace the brake booster. Everything seems to be perfectly fine and back to normal now except I’m now getting the orange wrench light and have absolutely no idea why it would be doing that now? Never did it before and everything was taken apart and assembled back together exactly the way it should be. Was actually fairly simple. Just can’t seem to figure out why I’m getting the wrench light? It only pops up after driving a few blocks as well. Makes no sense, car is really starting to stress me out. 😅

Dude, I’ve had the wrench light for the last 50k and I don’t know why. I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[Intuit]

There are reset instructions on the forum for the oil minder.

You can also read the codes with
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081VQVD3F/
https://forscan.org/download.html

Parts stores often read them for free.

 

[jrhea4down]

There are reset instructions on the forum for the oil minder.

You can also read the codes with
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081VQVD3F/
https://forscan.org/download.html

Parts stores often read them for free.

awesome, going to look into that, otherwise my car seems to be running just as it should. I decided to drive it around for a bit and it seemed better than ever. Back to it's old self.