Possible Brake Issue

Mike1220 · November 17, 2014

Hey guys, so like the title says, I may be having an issue with my brakes, which is something very dangerous at any time but especially when you are on the highway going 70 MPH as often as I am. I apologize if this has already been covered but I did not see anything on it after searching this forum and google.

So here's what happened. Last night I left my home in NOLA to go to school 2 hours away in Lafayette. I was taking it wasy and enjoying the drive. I left around 7-7:15. I dropped my girlfriend off at her house and then got on interstate to go to school. After an hour of driving I got into a large rainstorm. I was driving over one of the overpasses and on the downslope I realized that water had pooled at the bottom as it acts as a hill right there on the interstate, bringing you up then down and then right back up to another overpass, all in less than 300 feet. But when I was going down I tried to engage my brakes and THE PEDAL WOULDN'T MOVE!!!! I started to get worried as I knew that there was traffic not extremely far ahead and didn't want to slam into the back of someone as 70 MPH in a rainstorm and traffic. I kept trying to engage the brakes for the next 20 seconds but it felt like an hour. The brakes acted like they would if you had the engine off and you constantly pressed and released the brake pedal until you could not push it anymore from its normal position.

I will say that it seemed like the truck was trying to slow itself down like if the brakes were enabled but I know it was not from me as the pedal was not moving like I said. There was nothing behind the pedal as I made a quick pass under the pedal with my foot throughout all this commotion and looked down for a second to check. I also did a thorough inspection to see if anything was down there that could've prevented me from moving the brake when I got off at the next exit wondering if I had dropped something that could've almost caused serious injuries and possibly death. Nothing was there.

I have only had one other issue with this truck and it is just the oil life remaining sensor and that has never bothered me as I don't change the oil based on % life remaining.

This issue just has me worried about my safety, the safety of my passengers, and the safety of others if this ever occured again and ended worse than it did. I am planning to bring the truck to the dealership Wednesday as I don't have time to do so before that and I won't be needing it again until Friday.

My only thoughts as of right now is that maybe stabilitrack was engaged since I was going around a downhill turn at 70 MPH (it was not a hard turn, but still a slight turn) and the truck could've sensed that one of the wheels was breaking loose or something. But whatever is was, it had me a bit worried during the second hour of the trip.

If this is what stabilitrack does when it engages, I don't think I want it much anymore!! I'd MUCH rather be able to manually override any system especially in this case. The truck slowed down some but very little. More than if the brakes were not engaged but not enough to make me believe that they were slowing the truck down at any significant rate. I also was forced to hit the decent sized puddle at a decent rate since I couldn't get the brakes to activate before hitting it.

ANY INFO ON WHAT THIS COULD BE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Thanks in advance,

- Mike

OldHobo · November 18, 2014

Hi, Mike

Just throwing a couple of things out there for you to consider - I have read about similar things happening to the brakes after driving through deep water, and I suspect a similar thing could occur from driving at speed in heavy rain. The brakes become saturated and do not respond as normal until they are applied for a bit to dry the excess water from them. Another thing for consideration is that driving at that speed in heavy rain can result in hydroplaning which means your tires are making little if any contact with the road surface resulting in little if any braking force until the vehicle slows down enough to make good contact with the road surface again. From your description though, that the pedal would not go down at all, it may be possible that the power brake assist temporarily stopped working for some unknown reason. - perhaps road spray saturated some electrical connectors somewhere. Yup, get it to the dealer as soon as possible and have them check it out for your own peace of mind.

Mike1220 · November 18, 2014

Hi, Mike

Just throwing a couple of things out there for you to consider - I have read about similar things happening to the brakes after driving through deep water, and I suspect a similar thing could occur from driving at speed in heavy rain. The brakes become saturated and do not respond as normal until they are applied for a bit to dry the excess water from them. Another thing for consideration is that driving at that speed in heavy rain can result in hydroplaning which means your tires are making little if any contact with the road surface resulting in little if any braking force until the vehicle slows down enough to make good contact with the road surface again. From your description though, that the pedal would not go down at all, it may be possible that the power brake assist temporarily stopped working for some unknown reason. - perhaps road spray saturated some electrical connectors somewhere. Yup, get it to the dealer as soon as possible and have them check it out for your own peace of mind.

I would be surprised if it was because of road spray getting on something since it has seen plenty of heavy rains on interstate before. Also I feel like it wasn't just that the power brakes went out because I was trying my damndest to smash that thing into the floorboard when it wouldn't go down. It was locked solid. It'll be at the dealer ASAP. I may even be able to bring it tomorrow.

TJay74 · November 18, 2014

How deep was this puddle you drove through?

Mike1220 · November 18, 2014

Not deep. Plus this issue occurred before actually reaching the puddle. I noticed this issue when I went to slow down before hitting the puddle.

It was probably only about 1-2" deep if I had to guess

TJay74 · November 18, 2014

only time I have ever encountered a stiff pedal was when the brakes were rain soaked. Basically the water had to be shed from the rotors, then they acted normal. I have only had it happen once though.

Mike1220 · November 18, 2014

only time I have ever encountered a stiff pedal was when the brakes were rain soaked. Basically the water had to be shed from the rotors, then they acted normal. I have only had it happen once though.

The water on the rotors prevented you from being able to engage the brakes at all or did it just decrease the effectiveness of the brakes?

TJay74 · November 18, 2014

Sorry, just decreased effectiveness with a hard pedal like there was no power assist.

00Silverado4x4 · November 18, 2014

Is it possible you got some watered splashed up on your belt before hitting the puddle? Your belt slipping wouldn't make much, if any squealing and would leave with a stiff brake pedal or near zero braking ability for several seconds. I've done this more than a few time over the years, it scares the hockey sticks out of you every time.

fondupot · November 18, 2014

I guess wet brakes could have caused the issue. But I've never experienced anything like that in any vehicle and I've gone through large puddles, and driven through some heavy rain.

I would definitely have it checked out.

Good luck.

Mike1220 · November 18, 2014

Sorry, just decreased effectiveness with a hard pedal like there was no power assist.

Oh okay, I was just curious. Sorry, I don't know what could've caused it and I just personally find it hard to believe that it could really been water on the brakes but after everyone suggesting that as a possibility, I'm starting to wonder just how sensitive the brake system would be to water.

Mike1220 · November 18, 2014

Is it possible you got some watered splashed up on your belt before hitting the puddle? Your belt slipping wouldn't make much, if any squealing and would leave with a stiff brake pedal or near zero braking ability for several seconds. I've done this more than a few time over the years, it scares the hockey sticks out of you every time.

It did only last around 20 seconds (I would have to guess, it could've been 10 but I was caught completely off guard and with the sitation, it made me feel like it was a much longer ordeal. I know I was trying to hit the brakes as hard as I could incase if something had happened to the power brake system but still it felt like there was a lock on it keeping it from moving.

I guess wet brakes could have caused the issue. But I've never experienced anything like that in any vehicle and I've gone through large puddles, and driven through some heavy rain.

I would definitely have it checked out.

Good luck.

I have never seen anything like this before and have driving in much heavier rain than this. Hell, I drove my last car during a "calmer" part of a hurricane because my dad and I needed to go check on family since we hadn't heard at all from them at all.

TJay74 · November 18, 2014

I am trying to think of how a slipping belt might cause this, maybe on the old hydroboost setups like the Grand National and the diesel trucks use since it is powered off of the power steering pump. Most systems though are vacuum powered so a slipping belt wouldn't affect the brake booster system since the vacuum source is from the intake plenum.

00Silverado4x4 · November 19, 2014

Oh yeah, vacuum power, boy I was way out in left field on that one. Well crap, forget my posting...

So I hope this isn't going to be a recurring problem for the OP. Keep is updated. Now I bow out silently and go get some sleep...I obviously am lacking.

Mike1220 · November 19, 2014

I am trying to think of how a slipping belt might cause this, maybe on the old hydroboost setups like the Grand National and the diesel trucks use since it is powered off of the power steering pump. Most systems though are vacuum powered so a slipping belt wouldn't affect the brake booster system since the vacuum source is from the intake plenum.

Oh yeah, vacuum power, boy I was way out in left field on that one. Well crap, forget my posting...

So I hope this isn't going to be a recurring problem for the OP. Keep is updated. Now I bow out silently and go get some sleep...I obviously am lacking.

I'm still new to a lot of the things under the hood. Just how bad exactly would an issue with the vaccuum system be? Your saying "hope this isn't a recurring problem" makes me wonder and worry about just how bad this is since it has to do with the brake system. Would rather not have any kind of problem with that system.

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