'99 Villager brake pedal low on 1st touch
 

Just got this very nice Villager Estate w/ 82k on it. I suspect the master cylinder w/ that many miles, but not so sure.
The pedal doesn't lose any height while sitting at a light.
It's just on the 1st touch of the pedal, it goes nearly 3/4 of its travel before feeling normal braking pressure.
If I release & reapply, pedal travel is a normal 1/4 - 1/2 of its travel.
And it doesn't loose any of its height while I'm on it.
Then if I drive for like 10 secs. , same thing all over.

I was wondering if that is actually the power brake booster losing pressure. Not really familiar with how booster operates. (all ears).
But I also understand that the master cylinder plunger could just be
losing pressure when it in its resting position.

Any opinions welcome. Thx.

Also think the front struts are shot. Seems to bottom out very easily & very bouncy.
But was thinking that would be the springs themselves. But no spring came up on an ebay & kyb site search.

I wouldn't use KYB. Cheap stuff. and springs make it bouncy, shocks/struts dampen the bounce to smooth out the ride. Check the level of brake fluid and make sure it's topped off. You may also have to bleed the brakes (ABS systems can be weird about this... some need two lines bled at the same time) and I would let a mechanic do that (especially one that has the tools to bleed all four at the same time - kind of a flush at the same time). The check valve on the brake booster may be shot. If the brakes work better under idle RPM than cruising RPM then that's probably it.

Had this probem at work. The resedint parts changer put a master cyl,abs pump to no avail. Wound up being the pedal spacing [pedal height] from the floor fixed it. I'm figuring the master fixed it but he needed to adjust the pedal height. Pretty sure you need to use a scan tool to properly bleed the brakes because of the abs but I work on many cars & without the service info in front of me I could be wrong.

A great article indeed and a very detailed, realistic and superb analysis of the current and past scenarios.


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